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With nine established businesses under his belt in just seven years, why did 32-year-old Ghanim Al-Sulaiti feel the need to return to his studies and pursue an Executive MBA at HEC Paris in Qatar, a Qatar Foundation partner university?
“Honestly, I asked myself this question a million times: is there really anything I will learn in a classroom that establishing nine businesses hasn’t already taught me?” said Al-Sulaiti.
“As an engineer by education, I realized that while intuition had brought me this far, to progress further, I needed a solid foundation in business studies. Of course, my entrepreneurial experience has its own unique value, but what I was seeking to enhance my business was how to be more methodological, theoretical, and analytical. I needed to take my decision making from being based on gut instincts to being data-driven.”
From learning how to properly read and analyze financial statements to changing the way he runs his businesses, Al-Sulaiti said his time at HEC Paris in Qatar has been a game changer for him as a business owner.
“It allowed me to identify weaknesses in my businesses that I was previously oblivious to, and to reevaluate their paths, because – at the time – I thought everything was running well,” he says. “It was only after I started asking the right questions in areas like finance and procurement that I recognized the fragility of some aspects of my businesses and focused on enhancing them.”
According to Al-Sulaiti, he felt he ended up benefitting from the degree more than some of his peers who are yet to embark on their entrepreneurial journeys. “I think the experience was so incredibly worthwhile to me because, being a business owner, I could implement what I was learning almost instantly,” he said.
For Al-Sulaiti, another valuable takeaway from his time at HEC Paris in Qatar has been the network he has gained from being part of Qatar Foundation (QF). “Not only has it allowed me to connect with entrepreneurs around the country, but it’s given me a support system for life, in the form of professors and academics who support, advise, and coach me whenever I find myself in need of guidance, and to me that is priceless,” he said.
But he admits it was not easy for him: “It was a big investment – not just money-wise, but time-wise, too. However, now that it’s done, I can confidently say that I gained the value of the time and money I invested in HEC Paris even before I finished my degree.
Al-Sulaiti, who became vegan 10 years ago, launched his first business – Evergreen Organics – seven years ago. He has since expanded at a remarkable pace, and today owns nine businesses – all sustainability focused.
And he says the key to his success has been in “identifying market gaps and not being scared to be the first one”.
“When I started seven years ago, the market here was largely unaware of what vegan food meant – the few people that were vegan were struggling,” he says. “This was a challenge, but it also meant there was a gap in the market. Recognizing this, I decided to create a solution.
“Despite having little to no knowledge of running a business and facing low odds of success, I took the risk. My limited business knowledge meant I didn’t fully grasp the risks involved, but in the end, this lack of understanding proved beneficial as it gave me the confidence to proceed.”
Speaking about how quickly he went from starting his first business to owning nine in just a matter of years, Al-Sulaiti is quick to point out that it wasn’t random, but he didn’t set himself the challenge of starting one new business every year.
“They were simply a response to the needs of the market,” he says. “For example, after I started Evergreen, I quickly discovered there was demand for something similar, but more economical, so I started Green and Go.
“Similarly, there was demand for vegan ice creams, chocolate, and desserts so I launched Mylk. Then, with so many businesses across the country embarking on being more sustainable, there was a demand for sustainable packaging and so I started Papercut Factory, and so on.
“With each company, I aimed to fill a gap and in doing so ended up creating parts of my own supply chain – all my businesses feed each other in some way.”
As for his future, Al-Sulaiti would like to focus on his existing businesses and work on strengthening them. “My ultimate goal is to make Qatar the most vegan-friendly city in the world,” he said.
As a member of QF’s Class of 2024, Al Sulaiti will participate in QF’s Convocation ceremony on Tuesday, 7 May, which collectively celebrates the graduates from the higher education institutions within QF’s ecosystem. The Convocation ceremony will be livestreamed on Qatar Foundation’s YouTube channel from 6.40pm on 7 May.