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An entrepreneur has told how he went from cleaning airports to running a multi-million dollar IT company.
Aamir Qutb, 33, grew up in a small town in India known as Saharanpur and moved to Australia ten years ago to study for an MBA.
He would become the general manager of a technology firm at just 25 before starting his own business, which now employs 100 people and is worth $2 million.
But his road to success was far from smooth, at one point he submitted 300 job applications without getting a single interview, and now he advises young entrepreneurs to embrace their failures to learn how to succeed.
Aamir Qutub, 33 (pictured with his wife) grew up in a small town in India known as Saharanpur and moved to Australia ten years ago to study for an MBA
Mr Kutub recalled submitting 300 job applications while at university only to not get a single interview
“It was very scary moving here because everything was new to me and my English wasn’t good,” he told Daily Mail Australia.
“It was hard to get a job without experience, every job requires previous experience, but I didn’t have any because I just moved here.”
Mr Kutub decided to broaden his horizons and ended up working as a cleaner at Victoria’s Avalon Airport.
He spent six months there, but eventually left to try to start his own software business.
Mr Kutub traveled three hours to get to the university, spent the day studying there, the afternoon trying to communicate and from 2am to 7am packing and redistributing newspapers.
“I was exhausted, but I was excited to see where it would take me,” he said.
In his final year of study, Mr Kutub gained an internship at technology company ICT Geelong and after 15 days was promoted to operations manager.
His business acumen saw him work closely with the general manager, and when a position in that role opened up just under two years later, the university graduate became interim general manager.
“I felt a bit crushed but it was like that moment in the movie ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ when he finally gets the job – it was an amazing feeling,” Mr Kutub said.
The interim title was dropped and he took over the role, steadily increasing the company’s revenue by 300 percent and doubling its membership.
Then Mr. Kutub decided to put all his efforts into starting his own business.
The dedicated entrepreneur spent countless days handing out flyers at bus stops and train stations in the hope that someone would give him a chance.
That day came when I met a man on the train who ran his own small business. Mr. Qutub created a software application that saves his business $10,000 every month.
The father-of-one launched his business Enterprise Monkey in 2014, which now employs 100 people across four countries
He completed an MBA after moving to Australia ten years ago
He started his company Enterprise Monkey Proprietor Ltd in 2014 with only $2000 in his pocket, with the business originally ran out of his brother-in-law’s garage.
“The biggest challenge was finding customers, I was new to the country and didn’t know how to do business,” he said.
He now has a team of 100 employees, 80 of whom work remotely in India, with the goal of his business building software applications that help companies save money and increase revenue.
“I always wanted to be successful, I just wanted to pursue what I loved and I had that belief in myself,” the 33-year-old said.
He said his father wanted him to take a government job and noted that there was a real “stigma” around failure in India.
Mr Kutub is pictured with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak
Mr Kutub said he always dreamed of becoming successful and worked long hours to make sure he could do what he loved
Mr Qutub is seen receiving one of the many awards in the business
“In India it’s all about the qualifications you have and generally when you get a good degree at university you get a job, but it’s not about education, it’s about skill set,” the executive added.
“Australia has a good work-life balance, in India and even in the US it’s all about making money and getting promotions.”
Although Covid hasn’t affected his business much as most of his team work remotely, Mr Qutub decided to create an app called Angel Next Door which allows neighbors to ask for help with things like groceries or medicine when they are in isolation.
It worked within a radius of 5 kilometers and had 100,000 registered “angels” and 50,000 calls for help.
Mr Qutub, who now has a nine-month-old son with his wife, said he encourages aspiring entrepreneurs to embrace their failures.
“The journey is long, but instead of worrying about reaching the destination, enjoy the journey and the journey,” he said.
“You’re going to have setbacks, but it’s all about embracing them.”
Mr Qutb, who now has a nine-month-old son with his wife, said he encourages aspiring entrepreneurs to embrace their failures
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