Sulemaan Ahmed
With all that 2020 represents, stories of good don’t often come about. So I wanted to start My52 with an individual who’s charity, kindness and drive defines what we should all strive for.
Five years ago the group No Fly List Kids was formed to lobby the government to implement a redress system for travellers, specifically children, to ensure their profiles were removed from no fly lists if their name happened to match that of another flagged individual.
In 2019 a bill was signed into law and in 2020 the redress system was finally implemented. Sulemaan, his wife Khadija, and the affected families came together to face the arduous task of getting a law enacted. While many of us are just signing petitions and complaining, Sulemaan showed me the real work and dedication required to make a serious change. It is emblematic of the dedication Canadians need to commit to if they want serious change to occur in their country.
I admire Sulemaan’s constant commitment to giving. He has championed numerous efforts to give back. You would think after four years of lobbying the government he would take year off but as COVID-19 began to affect Canada and it was clear Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) wasn’t readily available and evenly distributed, Sulemaan cofounded the group ConquerCovid19. He once again used grassroots organization to reach out to the public and media and donated a tremendous amount of time and physical presence to locate and redistribute PPE.
I got to know Sulemaan though the Toronto tech community and was generously included in his Give and Take morning programs to help professionals give their time to each other as well as ask themselves. Sulemaan has a strong commitment to personal contribution. He demonstrates a dedication that few can claim and has parlayed that into super networking skills that are amplified when matched with the power of online networking.
I’ve learned from Sulemaan the power of giving and the value of hard work combined with persistence to achieve a goal. I’m honoured to include him as the first member of my 52.
Company: Servo Annex
Twitter: @sulemaan
LinkedIn: /sulemaan
