Starting young as a trainee engineer at a thermal power plant project in Karachi, Pakistan, Husam has just the right energy for life. “Life is about being continuously hungry. The meaning of life is not simply to exist, to survive but to move ahead, to achieve, to conquer. I have always been hungry for success and that is the motivating force of whatever I have achieved till date.” Once facing obstacles, making sacrifices himself, he today consults other small and budding entrepreneurs and businesses.
A well-known name in the engineering and construction business, he brings a rich experience into his current stint as a leading consultant for engineering firms – helping with selling, merging, buying firms. A leader, lauded for his untiring perseverance and relentless energy, Husam has successfully trodden through the waves of competition.
A Global Citizen
‘Where are you from?’ – might sound like a very simple question but it is a tricky one for him. Growing up in the Indian subcontinent, he has experienced the greater Bharat – the one that existed pre-partition. He remembers the “pure joy” of childhood. He was born in 1957 in a rather indistinctive village, Mohammadpur, where he spent his initial eight years, living with his grandparents, mother, Hasbun Nesa, and three siblings while his father, Nizamuddin Ahmad, worked in Dhaka. “Basic facilities were out of our reach. We had to walk miles to reach a railway station and schools were in bad shape. My grandparents were my family’s strongest foundation; they passed on important family traditions and life stories that I relish till date. They loved me, spoiled me and took care of me, so I ensured that my children also grow up in the care of their grandparents. Gilli danda with friends was my sport back then!”
From his father, he learned that great things come from hard work and perseverance – no excuses, no second chances. “He was a strict but fun-loving father and it instilled discipline and hard work in me too.” His mother taught him the language of love. “She never expected anything and yet was the strongest supporter of the family. She’d always ask us to do our best without expecting much in return.”
Husam’s father worked in Dhaka when the 1965 India-Pakistan war broke out. “I was in grade 4 when we moved. I was always a good student. One of my teachers too had come from India to Bangladesh; he taught us Urdu. My classmates and I would make fun of him and yet he would invite us for debate practice over lunch.” Quite an orator, Husam often won school debates.
The 1971 Bangladesh Liberation war uprooted the family once again. This time, they lived in Nepal for a while and then they made themselves a home in Karachi, Pakistan. “Birds of a feather flock together. I made friends with Shafiul – there was a lot in common between us. We both were born in Uttar Pradesh and lived in Dhaka before meeting in Karachi. Our bond is still strong.”
Beginning Small
Husam won a scholarship for his outstanding performance and decided to study engineering from Iran. But fate had different plans. A political mayhem shut down all universities there and he had to continue his studies in Karachi. He took his first step into a bright future in 1982 when he joined MLC Construction as a site engineer. Starting with PKR 1000 per month, he has now begun to help many freshers earn $6000 every month!
His career path has been awe-spiring. Working in Karachi, he realized the need of upgrading his skills – he completed his post-graduation at The City College and started working at Gandhi Engineering, both in New York. “It was a wonderful place to work at… it was my playground to learn. It was one of my best decisions and I’d always be thankful to Mr Gandhi.” There, he also found out that the bigger US companies have to support the women and minority-owned companies by 10–15%. This impetus gave birth to a new idea.
He, along with his friend Kamal Shahid, started out on his own, HAKS, naming it after their initials. He was bombarded with challenges the moment he took up the new role but he ironed it out with ‘take the bull by the horn’ attitude. They grew to 100 people in five years and kept growing.
The experience as a new entrepreneur turned him into a sharp stalwart with a keen business acumen, visionary strategies. His hunger for success gave him the ability to connect with people and build a fortune.
Well Begun is Half Done
Within 10 years, HAKS became the primary and general consultant. “By 2017, we were no more a minority company with 720 people working. And there still were more challenges awaiting me. Like they say, when it rains it pours.” In 2018, a mishap crumbled everything Husam had created. He had to sell HAKS; perturbed and shocked, he weathered the storm, took his time to understand himself. He started afresh with Infrastructure Business Advisors LLC which changed the entire course of his success. “I won’t shy away from saying that I miss being an engineer. I consider it to be my life’s biggest setback but as my mother used to say, ‘What is yours will come to you at the right time’. Holding on to this, I started again – I started living, enjoying and living again.”
This was also the time when he experienced the stark contrast of life – he started being at home and his wife, Uzma, became an entrepreneur. While he took care of their home, she established Lozier, Inc to provide engineering and environmental services for New York City and New York State clients. All this and a lot more, she did without any prior experience and studies in the field. “She is an amazing lady. When we got married, she was in Lahore and working with the World Wildlife Fund… I’d always joke about her interest in animals leading to marry me,” laughs Husam. Uzma quit her job to take care of her family in the USA. “Isn’t it simply a wow that she single-handedly has brought up all our four children so well and is now leading the industry like a champion.” Their kids, Huma (31), Faisal (29), Amal (20) and Nabira (18) bond over ice-skating, biking, billiards, taking vacations in different countries and they yet are dynamically different in their choices of studies and careers. “I was being a very traditional parent in wanting Faisal to study civil engineering and help me take my business forward. Also, it is very high in demand in the USA. But he had other plans. But look at it now – Nabira is filling in my shoes.”
Husam utilized this sabbatical for self-awareness and polished his old hobbies and developed new ones. “I started exploring new places and cultures. I also realize I haven’t visited India in a long time. I always wanted to do something for the children of parents who couldn’t afford a good education for them. And here I had enough time for this! I have seen the struggles of the young kids up close and I wish to bring some change.”
New York-based Ahmad Family Foundation, founded by Husam, operates 14 pre-schools in six cities and provides monthly fellowship to 253 students. It also operates health clinics in Mohammadpur, Adamjee and Chittagong and provides free health advices and medicines. The Foundation also imparts vocational skills, like sewing, salon skills, rickshaw plying, etc., to women and also provides them with rickshaws, sewing machines, etc. Knowing its importance in rural areas, it also installs deep tubewells for potable water and constructs public toilets to maintain hygiene standards. Projects to fight hunger, epidemics, natural calamities, etc., run parallelly.