Ahmed Attia

Ahmed Attia is a successful serial entrepreneur with a passion for helping others overcome commercial barriers to success through co-operation.

In 1996, Ahmed founded International Business Exchange, a trading platform that enabled residents of developing nations to more effectively trade their commodities for finished goods and supplies by bartering, directly and indirectly, rather than paying in foreign currencies. As the project grew, it was re-branded as “Unibex” (Universal Business Exchange) and formed many effective partnerships, including with the American Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers. As Unibex grew, Ahmed became concerned that it was straying from his initial vision by increasingly prioritizing the interests of large corporate partners.

Ahmed left Unibex in 1997 to found 416Direct, an internet-based buying group that would leverage economies of scale to increase the purchasing power of local small and medium-sized businesses (“SME”s) – 416 being the local area code for Toronto. However, despite considerable work in developing the 416Direct platform, SME owners were slow to appreciate the opportunity this model offered – many simply relying on the pricing offered through big box stores. In 2002, Ahmed put 416Direct on hold to help found Wiztel, a Canadian wholesale long-distance licensed communications company.

In 2011, Ahmed returned to 416Direct. As he updated the technology underlying the platform, he found a much stronger interest than before from associations that represent SMEs. A turning point came in 2013 when Ahmed became involved in community opposition to the development of a big box retailer in Toronto’s landmark ‘Kensington Market’ neighbourhood – long the home of small, family-run retail businesses. His engagement with this community and the owners of its many small businesses helped launch 416Direct. A key feature of the model that empowers SMEs is the ability of participants to collectively determine the products to be purchased. The company expanded into a new region in 2015, with the creation of 519Direct (based in the Kitchener-Waterloo tech-hub west of Toronto). Since then, Ahmed has introduced his web-based co-operative purchasing model to entrepreneurs and SME owners around the world. By 2017, what had started as a discrete, local project had evolved into Direct Global – a global solution for delivering the purchasing power of large scale orders to SMEs with over 15,000 participating businesses. In September 2017, Ahmed and Direct Global were profiled on Bloomberg-BNN in North America.

Ahmed remains an active community member, sitting on the advisory boards of the following companies:
1. Iristel (Canada’s fastest-growing carrier and the largest facilities-based local voice network extending Coast-to-Coast) and Kepler Communications (a Canadian satellite telecommunications provider that aims to deliver in-space connectivity to support the future space economy)
2. The Toronto Clinic (Canada’s premier corporate executive medical clinic)
3. Stemedica Cell Technologies (best in class FDA-approved allogeneic adult stem cell manufacturer in the USA)
4. Resdev Tax Consultants (top global R&D consulting firm serving Canada, UK & USA)
5. ConnectHub (next generation conference and business networking platform)