Fahim Ahmed Chowdhury, a young Bangladeshi man, excelled in digital marketing with zeal and devotion.
His extreme dedication of involving with technology at a very young age led to his success.
He works on brands like Nutrition Depot, Lunettes, Lead Academy, The Financial Express, Splendor, SheActive, Paper Boutique and many other renowned sectors as a media planner and buyer, creative strategist, marketing analyst and performance marketer, says a press release issued on Monday.
He has also worked as a freelancer to wholly sharpen his skills.
In 2016, he started his first venture, the Letterman Jacket business, at Notre Dame College, Dhaka. His entrepreneurial enthusiasm made him win and become the champion of Student to Startup Season one by Startup Bangladesh Limited, the BASIS National ICT Award in Business Marketing Solutions category, and a fellow graduate of Grameenphone Pre-Accelerator Program in 2019.
He also presented and launched the first Augmented Reality Booklet of Startup Bangladesh which was unwrapped by the State Minister of ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak in Digital Device and Innovation Expo in 2019.
Following year, he became the country representative and ambassador of Bangladesh at One Young World Summit held in Munich, Germany.
He launched several businesses in 2019 and 2020 but none of them sustained. He established a restaurant called "Fish and Fries" with three partners where he invested all of his life savings at the time. Although the first three months went very well, it was also forced to close due to the shock of Covid-19.
During the pandemic, his restaurant business cost him and his partners a loss of about Tk9.3 lakhs. However, Fahim didn't despair and started looking for ways to thrive.
He started small and did content writing at a very minimal pay at the beginning to build up a portfolio.
He slowly evolved into an SEO Specialist and a polished media buyer and started hiring content writers and freelancers to work under him by bringing in work from clients abroad and managing them through his existing pool of workers.
During this period, he employed around eight people at a time and soon began selling his skills and reached a niche market.
Robi 10 Minute School was one of his first big platforms for media buying and planning.
He then exerted his experience to work for brands and companies like LifeSpring, Bheja Fry, Bracelance, The Red Window, and Wedding Berries resulting in a total advertising spend of Tk3-4 crores by then.
Fahim actively sought businesses, onboarded clients, managed them, and solely provided service from the start by himself. So, several brands were comfortable cooperating with him after reviewing his portfolio.
Fahim struggled throughout the pandemic but worked tirelessly to regain his footing. His remote work expertise helped him land four-five different jobs at the same time during the pandemic.
He built a large client base of about 25 businesses thanks to the recommendations and referrals of his existing clients.
Today he owns two companies focused on Link Building and Fully Managed SEO services for International SEO clients abroad.
“By 2030, most businesses will hire people or outsource their work based on skillset rather than academic grades,” said Fahim Ahmed Chowdhury
“Digital marketing is a flexible platform where anyone may work. The rule is simple: develop a skill first, be successful at it and then monetise it. It has opened opportunities for self-employment, and for many people today, it has turned into a career choice along with doctor, engineer and other professions,” he added.
