10 Questions with Ahmed Khattak

Issue 93 June 2012

After chancing upon a simple idea during a year off spent working in London, Ahmed went back to America and turned it into a multi-million dollar business.

Ahmed Khattak is the co-founder and CEO of GSM Nation, which sells mobile devices to customers that have been unlocked, and can be used with any wireless network. In 2008, after returning from a trip to London where he came across the idea, he launched a pilot business with his friend Junaid Shams, selling unlocked phones online. In March 2010, they launched GSM Nation, with $150,000 of their own and families’ money, plus free office space and support from the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute. In the first year of operation, they made $8 million, and last year the estimated revenue is $35 million to $45 million. GSM Nation currently has 10 employees, most of whom are contract workers.

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Prior to this, Ahmed set up and sold two companies, one a telecommunications firm called Infinitronics, and Buraq Energy, a clean energy provider in Pakistan. He is an avid squash player, and keen supporter of Arsenal Football Club.

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1. How did your education and upbringing have an influence on you?
My father was the first one in his family to go to school, so from a young age he put a lot of emphasis on my education. I went to very good schools, which led on to Yale University—one of the best universities in the world. This was a direct consequence of my father’s emphasis on education. At Yale, I studied for a double major in electrical engineering, which hardly influences what I do today. I also studied History and that had a profound influence on the person I am, and my business. It has really widened my perspective, having studied people and their circumstance from hundreds and thousands of years ago.

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