Ahmed Sidky’s journey begins as the son of an Egyptian entrepreneur, starting his first business selling rice door to door at the age of 12 which leads to forming multiple prestigious business agility organizations helping countless people achieve greatness. We talk about the struggles of being a Muslim in America during 911, he shares his deep passion for helping others and the importance of grounding himself in being the best father and husband he can be. This was the first time Ahmed SIdky and I met face to face, even though we’ve shared space together before. I wasn’t prepared for the warmth, brilliance, and inspiration radiating from Ahmed. The smile you see in his photos is genuine, and I’m grateful for our time together. It’s easy to understand why he’s such a fantastic leader, and I’m honored to sit at any table with him. Ahmed is such a wonderful human, he provides a heartfelt shoutout to Shannon Ewan for her devotion and leadership in taking ICAgile to the next level. About Ahmed Sidky, Ph. D. While many may know Ahmed as Head of Business Agility at Riot Games, President of the International Consortium for Agile (ICAgile), and co-founder of the Business Agility Institute, he’s so much more (if that’s even possible). He’s a dedicated family man, father and husband. In addition, he’s a faithful Muslim living in America through 911. Ahmed is often known as Dr. Agile because of his Ph. D., but more importantly, he seems to be on a mission to help others in this world on a grand scale. When the topic of helping others comes up, his energetic smile becomes even brighter and you know you’ve discovered one of his many passions. He’s helped dozens of Fortune 500 Companies embrace business agility. Through his efforts, 1,000s of people have gained valuable knowledge. He’s partnered with the most influential leaders, Business Agility and he’s happy to help anyone, regardless of their experience or position in an organization. While you can learn more about Ahmed Sidky at his website here, listen to the podcast, search for his videos, or join one of his speaking engagements. Experiencing his brilliance is worth the effort. Transcript of Interview with Ahmed Sidky Steve So. Hello everyone. I am here with Ahmed Sidky, and who has done some amazing things. He's known as Dr. Agile. He started as an entrepreneur probably before puberty. He's done some truly amazing, amazing things. You've also helped form some of the most impactful learning organization for agility and business agility in the whole world. And so I think you've just done some truly, truly amazing, amazing things. Steve So so let me ask you, so were so tell me about how you got started as an entrepreneur way back when. Ahmed So I'll start from the beginning. So when I was so I was born in Egypt, grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, and then went back to Egypt still as a as a young kid. And I remember one summer I wanted to start making money. It's just it's a gene in me. I don't know what it is, but. And so a couple of friends of mine, we just again, this is back in the late eighties, nineties, somewhere over there we bought some rice and we packaged the rice into small packages, cleaned it up and went on our bikes, door to door selling rice. Ahmed And so that was my first income that I actually made by myself. And the the fear of knocking on a door cold and just, you know, no one knows who this is and the little kid and trying to convince, you know, someone to buy rice from you was a beautiful life lesson for me. And it gave me that I got into sales like I love I love that buzz of understanding the need of someone and trying to show them that this can fulfill their need. Ahmed And so that that was my start. And then I started a business again. As a young kid. I used to travel a lot to the US, and so I would when I came here to the US, I'd buy some games and I went to Egypt and there were no resellers, no games. Everyone just was pirating games off of each other and so forth. Ahmed And so I said, okay, I'll start a business selling games. And so I started importing again a lot of games and there were two malls in Egypt at that time. And my friends and I, we had a kiosk in both malls and we'd play the games and go and sell the games to people. And so again, that standing retail sorta just standing in front of people, you know, engaging them, answering their questions and showing them how to play a game and buying the game. Ahmed And so that was that was my second. That was a real business that that took off. And then just the it also exposed me to the corruption of import export and customs. Ahmed Which I was exposed to that. Steve How old were you at this time? Ahmed This was before college. So this is high school. Steve Okay. Okay. Because you were like pre-teen when you started selling rice, were you? Ahmed Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And so, yeah, this was high school, and then I got into software, so my dad had a ...
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