Hearing disability never stopped him from realising his dream

Muscat: Ahmed Yahya Al-Kindi did not let his hearing disability getting into the way of his ambitions of becoming an entrepreneur and from the young age, he knew which path to take to become successful and independent.

But the path to success was littered with challenges and the 25-year old now admits that he did not have an easy way out. “I was born deaf and started wearing hearing aids around 2001 when I was five years old. I really faced tough challenges communicating with people because my hearing disability made me a bad a listener and speaker. So I tried my best to improve my listening and speaking skills. With time, I did not only improve my communication but became a good public speaker,” Ahmed told Times of Oman.

He is a Co-Founder of Nork, a company that deals with cryptocurrency and blockchain. Nork also provides Web development solutions. Ahmed also speaks to the public audience on blockchain and cyrptocurrency when he finds time.

He started the business in Oman but realised there are bigger windows of opportunities in the United Arab Emirates. In January this year, he moved his business, together with two of his partners, to Dubai.

“I tried myself to fit in Oman market but unfortunately it didn’t allow me to grow myself as a person nor my business. That’s why I moved to Dubai and I found countless opportunities out there. All I can say now is “alhamdullah’ that I took the right decision,” Ahmed justified the reason of his business location switch.

He now finds Dubai a good place as a business base where one can find a lot of support and the market segment there is really large, compared to Oman. He says he likes the place, the environment and diversification of people in Dubai.

“If you ask me, I wouldn’t say it is hard because I built my personality and soft skills well before starting my business. Of course it will be very hard if you didn’t master through personal development and business mentality. It’s all about common sense,” Ahmed explained.

Ahmed has a future outlook both personally and in business. It is to build a solid business to be a leader in the crytptocurrency and blockchain and he has his sight to be one of the top 10 entrepreneurs in the world in these fields.

What is his advice to young unemployed Omanis who are struggling to find jobs? He is asking jobseekers to always follow their passion.

He is also encouraging them to invest in skills while they are still studying. Persistence will always lead to success.

“Most schools and universities won’t tell you the reality of a career phase. So my advice for you all is to find the right skills and make sure they are needed both in the current and future job market. For example, the skills needed for 2022 will be different from the skills needed for 2025. Always improve yourself,” Ahmed advises young people.