Journey of a Deoband lad to being leader of Australian entrepreneur group
By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
Geelong (Australia): After he landed here in 2012 to pursue MBA, he worked as a cleaner during the day and a newspaper boy at night to support his startup venture here. Today, at 25, Aamir Qutub is appointed as the general manager of a Regional IT Industry Cluster here.
Aamir’s journey from a small place in Saharanpur district of India’s Uttar Pradesh to being a young entrepreneur at this Australian metropolitan area – the second most populated area in the Australian state of Victoria, 75-odd kms south-west of Melbourne – can be an inspiration for scores of youngsters.
Aamir Qutub
Deoband-born Aamir studied Bachelors of Engineering from the prestigious Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). He was also elected as the general secretary of the AMU Students’ Union in 2011, the first for a non-residential student since its union was established. He founded and initiated various forums, networks, magazines and events such as AMUlive, theTechnocratz, ZHCET Forum, InTouch etc. AMULive, the dedicated University Social Network in India, had reached a mark of 5000 members within 15 days of its launch.
Aamir also played a very crucial role in establishment of an Entrepreneurship Development Cell, which led to commencement of a startup culture in AMU. His passion towards technology contributed in digitization of AMU campus by introduction of free WiFi in the University campus and Smart Classrooms.
After graduation, he worked as a Production Engineer for Honda Cars for one year. “It was when I realized that I wanted to establish my own company and work at a higher management position. I came here in October 2012 to pursue MBA from Deakin University,” says Aamir.
“Since, I wanted to establish my own company, which required a lot of investment, I worked really hard – even as a paperboy at night – so that I could attend my classes and establish my business during the day,” he adds. As a part of Business Practicum Unit during MBA, Aamir completed a research project with the City of Greater Geelong and National Broadband Network on the Business Model of Geelong Smart City Hub.
He strode into entrepreneurship with his venture XFI Solutions (Technology Consulting and Outsourcing firm) now rebranded as Enterprise Monkey, where he heads a remote team of 30, located around the globe.
Enterprise Monkey is an eBusiness consulting, technology and marketing solutions firm. Furthermore, he is technical co-founder and investor in three other startups including Anywork Pty. Ltd. which is one-stop shop for all local services.
To promote entrepreneurship in the region of Geelong, Aamir had set the foundation of Geelong Entrepreneurs Network, which regularly organises meet ups to address challenges encountered by startup owners. Aamir has also initiated a meet up group called Wearable Technologies Australia, which aims to foster and endorse Australian Wearable Technologies. He is also the co-founder of a Not-for-Profit social venture, Stand India Foundation, whose objective is to create a single platform to address all the causes.
In December 2014, Geelong, Australia-Regional Cluster, ICT Geelong, appointed Aamir as its new General Manager. He took over from Craig Hill, who had led the Cluster since its establishment in 2009.
ICT Geelong is the representative voice and peak body of the Information & Communications Technology (ICT) industry in this Geelong region. Its foundation members are industry leaders from the private sector, experts from tertiary education institutions and community leaders from the public sector.
Chairman of ICT Geelong and CEO of Sky Software, Nick Stanley, who had made the announcement to the ICT Geelong Steering Group, said: “There are many exciting opportunities and challenges ahead for ICT Geelong and the local IT Industry. Aamir has been a very active member of our IT community over the past 18 months and will prove a valued leader in this role.”
Says the exuberant new GM: “I have a real passion for Geelong region and (in) the prospect of playing a key leadership role in growing an innovative IT industry. I look forward to working with the local industry players and help realize new opportunities.”
Needless to add, the large Indian expat community in Australia too is extremely overjoyed at the news. “This is exciting news for all expats and a proud moment for all the natives of Indian subcontinent,” said Kantesh, an IT engineer settled in Australia.
The young businessman is not just content with harping on his personal achievements. Aamir says he is keen to explore the opportunities of collaboration between India and Australia, which could be beneficial for both countries.
“Australia is known for its world class innovation, sports and health technology. It would be great if we can implement some of the best practices from Australia, to improve Indian healthcare and sports technology environment. On the other hand, Indians have got a worldwide reputation of being really good in IT so if we can implement some of our learnings for the development of knowledge-based economy in regional Australia, this would allow us to create more ICT jobs for Australia and India,” says Aamir with dreams in his eyes for the Indian youth.