Daily Times

American-Pakistani businessman tycoon Tanweer Ahmed has made headlines in Pakistan in recent days over his generous donation of $ 9 million to a Pakistani university and also over the recent visit of General Asim Munir, Pakistan Army Chief, to the United States.

So, who is the Houston-based multi-millionaire Mr Tanweer Ahmed and how did he make it big in the United States?

It was General Asim Munir’s Washington visit that brought a lot of attention to the business entrepreneur after several misleading and false statements were shared over social media. Mr Tanweer Ahmed took to social media to counter the fake news machine by giving his account of a meeting with the army chief and being a witness to the three-hour-long frank discussions the Army Chief had with the diaspora Pakistani American community. In particular, Mr Ahmed emphasised that the army chief was frank in his discussions with the community and that there was an overwhelming demand to attend the meeting at the Pakistani Embassy meeting in Washington DC.

It was at the same meeting that the army chief praised him for donating $9 million to Islamabad’s National University of Science & Technology (NUST) to help students from poor backgrounds gain access to quality education through scholarships, with a focus on helping and empowering the most impoverished students from all across Pakistan. Gen Munir praised Tanweer Ahmed in the following words: “Pakistan is proud of heroes like you.”

NUST has confirmed that Tanweer Ahmed has entered into a partnership with the university through an Endowment Fund for unprivileged students which will benefit nearly 200 students who would be able to get scholarships every year. The $9 million donation is one of the single largest donations by any overseas Pakistani to any Pakistani university.

The Army Chief told Mr Ahmed: “Your support to NUST in establishing the Science and Technology Park, expansion of campuses and partnership for assisting financially challenged students are praiseworthy initiatives, meeting due recognition. Indeed, through this venture not only will NUST gain further strength but will also enable many students to bear their expenditures. Your efforts in the domains of humanitarian assistance and interest in academia of Pakistan is a true reflection and favour for the people of Pakistan.”

Last month, the Governor of Sindh Mr Kamran Tessori conferred a doctorate and a gold medal on Tanweer Ahmed for his philanthropic work in Pakistan including $9 million for NUST University’s new IT Tower.

It’s not just the NUST University Mr Tanweer Ahmed wants to work with. He has already built a state-of-the-art hospital in Sialkot.

Tanweer Ahmed said that he plans to expand the scheme to other universities and to NUST where the donation scheme will run permanently. “The deserving students would get scholarships annually through the Higher Education Commission (HEC). The system to obtain scholarships will be purely on merit and aimed strictly at those students who are unable to afford quality and expensive education. I decided to launch the Endowment Fund to assist talented and deserving Pakistani students to make their mark in various advanced sectors such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Information Technology (IT) and the latest technologies. The future belongs to these sectors and Pakistan will benefit hugely from its youth.”

Tanweer Ahmed is an American-Pakistani businessman, investor, entrepreneur and philanthropist who works with major companies, not-for-profit organizations and hospitals. He is the owner of the largest cricket complex in Houston, the Prairie View Cricket Complex and the owner of the Houston Hurricanes cricket franchise. The multi-millionaire businessman is the founder of a brand of food chains and also owns many food chain franchises like Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC. He owns California’s largest transport company and has business interests in the energy sector and medicine industry. Tanweer Ahmed is credited for taking over 50 million dollars in aid to Pakistan during the 2022 devastating floods in Pakistan.

Tanweer Ahmed started on a humble note in the US when he migrated as a student and worked in a restaurant.

He struggled there for a few months before moving on first to Sacramento and then settling in San Francisco. He took up jobs at a desi restaurant and gas stations. The very next year, Ahmed was offered a job at Jack in the Box as a shift manager.

Tanweer Ahmed’s out-of-the-box approach to generating profit led to his unprecedented promotions. In a couple of months, he was the regional manager, area manager, and then the General Manager (GM) of Taco Bell. Since then, the boy from Sialkot had a meteoric rise.

His business grew from one store to 153 stores in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, and Texas with over 5,000 employees – making him one of the largest fast-food franchise owners in America. Simultaneously, Ahmed set up insurance companies and also invested in energy production businesses in Texas, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Illinois.

It was in 2018 when he announced plans to construct the largest cricket complex in the U.S. He acquired 86 acres of land, not very far from the main Houston city area.

A passionate cricketer, Tanweer Ahmed didn’t have the luxury to play when young, it was time for other cricket enthusiasts to be provided with an opportunity to enjoy the world’s second-biggest sport. Today, his Prairie View Cricket Complex is fast turning Houston into the cricket capital of the United States of America.