Self-made businessman’s success story inspires schoolgirls to follow their dreams

AMMAN — Eleventh grader Rula Akileh said she will ignore any negative criticism of her writings and will continue undeterred to work towards becoming a renowned author.

“I am encouraged to develop my ideas and prose writing skills without paying attention to those who seek to get me down,” she told The Jordan Times on Wednesday after attending a session of the 9th Business Leaders Campaign (BLC), carried out by INJAZ.

Her classmate at the Ein Jalout Secondary School for Girls, Hadeel Qawasmi, said although she was discouraged when the fashion specialty was cancelled from the vocational stream of the General Secondary Education Certificate Examination (Tawjihi), she has made up her mind to study a diploma in fashion when she finishes school.

“I learned today that I have to work hard very hard to learn more and design my sketches… I want to open my own professional boutique,” she told The Jordan Times, adding that the session “inspired” her to chase her dream of becoming a fashion designer despite difficulties.

Akileh and Qawasmi were part of a group of around 50 Grade 11 students who attended a session delivered by Imad Bukhari, the CEO of THE Group, a private corporation that owns and administers Cozmo and Readers, and operates British Home Stores and Hamleys Toy Shop.

Bukhari walked students through his “story of success” as a self-made man and how he grew from a young university student who worked in several service jobs to make ends meet to become the head of a company with 1,000 employees, 16 branches in Jordan and five in the region.

Starting his life as one of eight children to a middle-class family, Bukhari used to work in the summer vacation, a habit that he kept up when he travelled to study in England, taking up different jobs, including in construction and at restaurants.

“Working at a young age taught me a lot about self-discipline, humility and work ethics,” he told the students, adding that he saved up money to travel and learn more about the language and the culture.

Although he initially travelled to study engineering, according to his elder brother’s wish, he found his passion in trade and decided to study business. 

Five years later, he returned to Jordan thinking that he would manage his father’s textile shop, but his father believed that he still had a lot to learn, so he gave him the task of cleaning the shop and running errands.

Several opportunities crossed Bukhari’s path, including ones in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, South Korea and Germany.

He lived through some of these successes for brief periods, but the most important thing for him was to always get back on his feet and to give it another try.

The business leader said that, at times, he worked for over 14 hours daily and took some risks in starting new businesses. But at all times, he “always thought outside the box”.

Upon his return to Jordan after doing business abroad, Bukhari was offered a job as a commercial consultant for a recently opened shopping centre in Amman, at a time when there were no malls.

After a year and a half of planning, receiving negative criticism, difficulties in securing funding and a lot of reading about big corporations, the business opened to customers some 14 years ago and was one that offered new products and services in new ways.

The business now comprises three companies, Bukhari said. 

Such “genuine inspirational talks” help in boosting girls’ self-esteem and desire to work hard to achieve their dreams to become successful, said Fatimah Abdullat, the school principal.

“Speakers like Bukhari are like role models for girls, and give them hope that they can achieve what they want,” she told The Jordan Times, citing personal traits like persistence, patience and dedication as additional skills girls learn to develop.

She noted that students who attend such inspirational talks share what they learn with other students.

In their ninth version, BLC sessions offer an interactive platform that enables over 130 social and business leaders to share their experiences with over 6,500 students in grades 9 to 11 at public, UNRWA and military schools across the country to inspire them to succeed, the organisers said. 

This years’ month-long campaign concludes on November 10.

Launched in 2008 under the patronage of Her Majesty Queen Rania, the BLC is one of INJAZ’ programmes implemented in cooperation with the Education Ministry and private institutions, in partnership with Al Rai newspaper. 

INJAZ started in 1999 as a national programme and was re-launched in 2001 as an independent non-profit Jordanian organisation.