Ahamed Azigar Ali sees beyond the business benefits of engineering and aims to make a positive impact on humanity.
Growing up near the seashore of Pondicherry, India, Ahamed Azigar Ali was the first in his family to graduate from high school, not to mention go to college. But the seeds of an engineering education came early, when he first started school at age five. From that point, Ali’s father worked to grow a passion for engineering by teaching him foundational skills, such as building toys and tools with available materials and repairing household electronic equipment.
“My father told me, ‘Study well and become an engineer,’” Ali recalled. “He believed that becoming an engineer would lift our family out of poverty. This early motivation shaped my educational journey, driving me to excel academically with the primary goal of economic stability for my family.”
However, his perspective on engineering evolved significantly during his college years at Pondicherry University. Ali said that he was fortunate to have inspiring professors who encouraged him to see beyond the immediate financial benefits of an engineering career.
“During my college years, my professors further shaped my path by introducing complex real-world problems in the field of engineering and teaching me how to solve them using scientific methods and research techniques. A particularly memorable learning experience was a research project in my college days in which I conducted comprehensive practical experimentation and MATLAB-based software simulation to study the performance of a high-voltage 3-phase induction drive when abnormally switched to a single phase. This project exemplified the application of theoretical knowledge to practical challenges and solidified my commitment to research and innovation in engineering,” he said.
Another pivotal influence during this period was Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, who was the President of India at the time. Learning about Kalam’s life, from his modest beginnings to his achievements as a top scientist and eventually President, profoundly impacted Ali.
“I realized that engineering could be more than a means to improve my family’s economic status; it could also be a way to make a meaningful impact on society,” he said. “This shift in perspective transformed my approach to my studies and career. After uplifting my family out of poverty and supporting my siblings to pursue engineering, today, as a Senior Director of Technology at Advantage Solutions, I aim to make a positive impact on humanity through innovation and engineering.”
Challenges and opportunities
Ali explained that as an engineer, he has been involved in numerous product launches and technology development projects across diverse business domains.
“One particularly exciting and impactful project was when a leading multinational, publicly traded company developing system used car dealership approached me to license my innovation, a ‘Blockchain-based Provenance System,’ for solving the most pressing used car vehicle history verification problem. The used car dealership market in India is highly unorganized, posing significant challenges in verifying vehicle history, including accidents, insurance claims, ownership, and maintenance records,” he said.
Originally developed to verify user profile information on an online matrimony platform through a blockchain-based verification network, this system needed to be adapted for a completely different application — verifying the history of used cars. This required integrating insurance companies, car dealerships, major car maintenance workshops, and vehicle registration entities into the verification process.
According to Ali, adapting the underlying solution approach for a new business domain necessitated extensive research to understand the specific requirements and constraints of the unorganized used car sector in India.
“Collaboration with the diverse stakeholders was essential to ensure the system’s comprehensiveness and accuracy. Additionally, pushing the boundaries of the solution approach to accommodate these new parameters required significant innovation and problem-solving. With relentless effort and effective collaboration with the industry stakeholders, I successfully extended my innovative solution to verify used car histories.”
“Adapting my innovation to address these challenges required substantial modifications and enhancements to my original innovation system. And implementing this enhanced solution revolutionized the verification process for used car histories, enabling the company to provide transparent, reliable, and verifiable vehicle information. This transformation not only improved the credibility and trust in the used car market but also significantly altered the business dynamics of used car dealerships.”
Future thoughts
Ali said that increasing the participation of young people from underrepresented communities in engineering is essential for fostering diversity and innovation.
“To achieve this, I would recommend starting with incorporating innovation and entrepreneurship education into school curricula,” he said. “By teaching students STEM concepts, problem-solving skills, and the process of innovation at the early age of schooling, we can nurture their potential as young innovators.”
He also feels strongly that accomplished engineers should reach out to young people in their community and share their success stories. He actively volunteers in his local community through a foundation to share his career experiences and successes with kids and provide mentorship.
“Similarly, schools should take steps to invite and encourage accomplished engineers of different ethnicities to collaborate with the youngsters in building community projects,” Ali explained. “Bringing the sense of diversity, equity and inclusiveness in schools at the early grades will make the young individuals from underrepresented communities feel valued and motivated to pursue careers in engineering.”
That diversity is important and can drive exceptional outcomes.
“An engineering and design problem can be approached in multiple ways for achieving an optimal solution. Engineers from diversified cultures bring a wealth of different perspectives, ideas, and approaches, fostering innovation and creativity. It allows for more comprehensive problem-solving and leads to solutions that are more inclusive and effective,” he said.
For someone new to engineering, Ali said that it comes back to finding the right mentor. That can provide invaluable guidance and constructive feedback to accelerate a junior engineer’s learning curve and enhance their confidence in the workplace.
“The mentor can be your immediate supervisor or someone from your cross-functional peer network,” Ali explained. “Also, engaging actively in team meetings, expressing your ideas and contributing to conversations helps you gain confidence in your abilities and establishes your presence within the team. As you gain confidence being new to engineering, you should also adopt a few safeguard skills like staying organized with your work by using productivity tools, review your deliverables from your peers to get a fresh perspective and catch mistakes you have missed. As you commit mistakes, don’t stress yourself thinking about the mistake, rather perform root cause analysis on that mistake and identify remediation actions that can prevent those mistakes from happening in the future. I have learned that sharing my mistakes and the lessons learned with my teammates have enabled me in creating a culture of openness and continuous improvement within the team.”
Feeling supported
Ali said that he has never felt disadvantaged in his organization because of my membership in a minority group and feels fortunate to be part of the company. He noted that Advantage Solutions was named one of “America’s greatest workplaces for diversity” in 2023. And as part of his career growth within the organization, he was nominated and accepted for the Advantage Ambassador program, which is aimed to recognize emerging leaders.
Allies are a part of Ali’s journey, too.
“In my current organization Advantage Solutions, I feel well-supported by allies who actively promote an inclusive and collaborative culture. In Advantage Solutions, there are multiple ERGs (Employee Resource Groups) like Inspire Asian, Disabilities in Action, Hola, Band, Women’s Interactive network and so on. These ERGs offer associates the opportunity to build community, feel valued and grow personally and professionally. Being a member of Inspire Asian ERG, I was accepted for the McKinsey’s executive leadership program to accelerate my professional growth within my organization,” he said.
Looking toward the future, Ali mused about what global challenge would most intrigue him.
“If I had unlimited time, then I would apply my engineering knowledge to tackle the ‘global fake news’ problem,” he said. “With the advent of the internet and AI, media exclusivity has been blurred. Anyone can generate content using AI tools — and can spread the fake news through various social media channels to create social polarization, electoral influence, health misinformation, market manipulation, and so on. I am actively working on extending my blockchain-based provenance system to create a transparent platform where online readers can verify the content’s authenticity and source of information.”
