Hello, my name is Ahmed Wafiq, and I am a 42-year-old entrepreneur with multiple accolades. Today, nearly 1500 businesses and households occupy my buildings.

I was born in Egypt’s Cairo. Since I can remember, I have been incredibly competitive, which drives me to strive for excellence in whatever I do. When I was 11 years old, I started my first business selling used books in my neighborhood, and it was a profitable venture. Within a month, I had made four times the amount of money I had invested. I loved it so much that I replicated it by selling other items that were no longer in use by my family. This was also a successful venture.

The entrepreneurial spirit within me compelled me to continue. I wanted to do more on a regular basis. At the age of 13, with the help of my grandfather, I opened a small video DVD store in my neighborhood. This was a huge success. As a high school student with little social life, I spent much of my lunch breaks at the library reading about business leaders. I was quite keen on creating something on my own. My cousin introduced me to his friend who was helping his father in the real estate company. During my summer vacation, I joined them as an assistant. In addition to learning about business, I also learned a lot about construction, investing, and monetization.

After a few years, I graduated and started my own business with seed funding of E£600,000 from my father.

When I started buying real estate, I managed to find smart people to work with who had knowledge I didn’t. And we came up with a way to run our business. We bought buildings that were complete or close to full and rented them out for 10% less than the market rate. We made it comparable to a better building, but we rent it for 10% cheaper. This was fantastic, as we maintained occupancy. We remortgaged the building five to seven years later. We borrowed the funds and still owned the building. We bought the second building with the money from the first building.

We do not have the finest buildings. We are not fancy builders who lavish elegance and luxury on the lower floors but cut down on the upper floors, where the rooms are smaller and less appealing. They are creating the brand name, while I am earning a lot of money.

That is exactly what I do. Essentially, I’m repeating the same steps, but with exciting opportunities each time. Today, my fellow investors and I hold a portfolio of high-quality residential and commercial properties in the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Morocco.

My next life ambition is to buy a Bombardier Global 7500.