This story is part of the #MissingEntrepreneurs 2023 campaign, which features an OECD-EC report analysing the challenges that underrepresented groups face as entrepreneurs. We will shine an entrepreneurial light on the stories of women, young people, seniors, people with disabilities, immigrants and unemployed people.
During my conscription in the Finnish army, I served with a few young entrepreneurs. They debunked the myth of entrepreneurship as a mystical, inaccessible realm. Instead, I learned it’s about starting where you are, with what you have, be it grand or humble.
When I embarked on my own venture, an online jewelry gift store, during a gap before university, I felt what entrepreneurship is really like. Supply-chain complexities and a significant loss of stock during the 2020 Mother’s Day peak really tested my resilience and could have persuaded me to throw in the towel. But we got through it. Its that feeling of overcoming seemingly impossible situations that makes entrepreneurship so rewarding.
My perspective on entrepreneurship was broadened at Aaltoes, a non-profit organisation run by students to encourage start-ups, based in Finland. Far from a regular student club, Aaltoes is the birthplace of groundbreaking initiatives like Slush, Junction, and Deep Dive, all significantly impacting the entrepreneurial landscape. Entrepreneurship, I understood, is our best tool to address any problem. It’s a mechanism to test, scale, and validate solutions in a democratic, market-driven manner. After a year of setting up a programme at Aaltoes to teach digital entrepreneurship to students, I was elected as president of Aaltoes.
Together with our board, we realised that impactful businesses often stem from scientific domains. This symbiosis between academia and industry became a cornerstone of my philosophy.
Now, continuing the work we started at Aaltoes, my co-founder Ghita Wallin and I are working on MIMIR, making the Nordics global leaders in research commercialization with students leading the way.
“I am glad my generation has a strong desire to improve the world. However, we should all consider how to channel that energy”.
Ahmed Hadi
To me, entrepreneurship is the most powerful route, offering a way to not just highlight problems, but to harness our collective creativity and drive real, scalable solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges.
Reflecting on the start of my journey, I’ve realised that entrepreneurship isn’t about glamour. It’s about the grit to get things done together, about bringing to life projects that otherwise might never exist. It’s for those moments when you know if you don’t do it, perhaps no one will. It’s tough, but the sense of purpose it gives you makes even the toughest struggles worthwhile.
Find out more about The Missing Entrepreneurs 2023 here.
A serial entrepreneur and a CS student with a deep appreciation for science, Ahmed is the co-founder of MIMIR, making the Nordics global leaders in research commercialization with students leading the way. Previously, he founded ajewelrygift business, scaling it to a six-figure annual revenue. He also served as president ofAaltoes, the world's largest student entrepreneurship association. Ahmed’s strengths lie in understanding people,initiatingprojects, and taking them from concept to realization. His commitment is to encourage students to harness their concern for global issues like climate change, redirecting this energy into research commercialization, turning their passion into tangible solutions.