From new immigrant in an entry-level job, to CEO of a well-known company, to co-founding and heading his own thriving fintech business. Popular motivational speaker. Prolific charity fundraiser. Disability rights campaigner. Sports organizer. Record-setting endurance athlete who competes internationally for Hong Kong.
That combination would add up to an impressive résumé for anyone. But what elevates it to the truly remarkable is that Ajmal Victor Samuel ( 施 杰 浩 ), the new Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the City University of Hong Kong, has achieved it all while being confined to a wheelchair.
Life-changing Events
Ajmal’s original career of choice, as an army officer in his native Pakistan, was abruptly cut short when a devastating accident deprived him of the use of his legs and left him in constant pain. He almost succumbed to despair, once even attempting suicide – ironically, one of his rare failures! Gradually beginning to rebuild his life, after treatment for his injuries Ajmal earned a computer science degree in Germany.
Moving to Hong Kong to join his parents, Ajmal fell in love with the city, but found it tough to get a job. “My skin colour was wrong; I couldn’t speak Cantonese; I was in a wheelchair.” he says. But once hired as a computer technician, he rose quickly through the ranks in several jobs as his talents – coupled with the immigrant ethos of hard work – were recognised. Headhunted as CEO of Cityline Hong Kong Limited, Ajmal turned the ailing ticketing company around and made it a market leader.
The Rise of “Action Man”
Meanwhile he was developing other abilities. Having discovered that sport helped him reduce his dependence on painkillers to control the incessant agony of his injuries, Ajmal took it up in a big way. Never shying away from a challenge, he has competed in wheelchair marathons, set endurance records in hand-cycling – riding 2,615Km across China in 37 days – enjoys scuba diving, and competes for Hong Kong in rowing, winning medals at Asian and world level. He was also the first disabled rower to complete the demanding Around the Island Race, a feat he later repeated.
Giving Back
Always keen to make a positive contribution to society, Ajmal has used his sporting ventures to promote sport for the young and the disabled, to increase public awareness of disabled sport, and to raise money for children in need. And as a volunteer motivational speaker – on topics as diverse as business strategies, financial technology and athletic coaching – Ajmal uses his own history of rising above adversity to inspire others to go beyond their comfort zone and achieve things they never thought possible. Ajmal’s story exemplifies the lesson that with determination, disabled doesn’t have to mean unable.
An Entrepreneur Emerges
Today Ajmal sits on the boards of various charitable and sporting bodies, as well as his own charity foundation. But perhaps his most important board position is the Chairmanship of his own successful company, OCTO3 Group Holdings Limited, which specialises in payments and clearing systems and has expanded to several Asian countries. OCTO3 was Ajmal’s second foray into entrepreneurship – characteristically, he didn’t let the failure of an earlier venture deter him.
CityU’s Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) programme enables potential entrepreneurs to obtain advice from successful entrepreneurs with rich experience, helping them bring their innovations to market. Ajmal’s first assignment as EIR was to join the University’s Patent Utility Challenge Prize Presentation Ceremony-cum-HK Tech 300 Networking Session on 10 January as a judge of the patent contest.
As one of the judges he had to bring in his commercial and business know-how to the patents in question. Coming from a background where he had conceptualised, developed and commercialised various technologies was especially helpful in determining the real work applicability of the patents.
Words of Advice
For Hong Kong’s would-be entrepreneurs, Ajmal predicts a future filled with opportunity. The city, he says, was not on the cutting edge of technology when he arrived, but its positioning as a tech hub is now bearing fruit, as it amalgamates with other skill zones in the Greater Bay Area. But he advises young entrepreneurs contemplating a tech start-up that it is essential to master the technology first before worrying about the business side, which can be picked up later. “I have never been to a business school;” he says, “all my business I have learned on the job.”
Ajmal warns against being too utopian and “romanticising the technology” while neglecting the bottom line, and he sees his most useful contribution as looking critically at whether an innovation is really going to make money. He also cautions budding businesspeople that getting too attached to their ventures can lead to bad decisions.
Ajmal himself seeks to balance these priorities; though now more involved on the business end, he still has a hand in setting his company’s strategic direction on the technological side, and endeavours to keep up with the latest tech trends. Furthermore, as a fintech leader, he also needs to maintain a thorough understanding of the financial landscape.
As he looks forward to assisting Hong Kong’s up-and-coming entrepreneurs, Ajmal has a further word of advice for them: “China is the future,” he says, with a huge market and a massive talent pool catching up quickly with the US, but the young people coming out of the country’s universities are “very sharp cookies”. The opportunities are there for local youngsters, but they need to pull themselves up to the Mainland’s level if they want to compete. Happily, Ajmal Samuel will be there to give them a helping hand.