Vic Ahmed: serial entrepreneur credits achiever mindset learned in native Pakistan.

• Author: Bronikowski, Lynn
• Position: EXECUTIVE edge

TUCKED IN THE DENVER TECH CENTER is Innovation Pavilion, an energetic place where ideas are born, Its founder, Vie Ahmed. hopes the next Google. Facebook or Groupon will strike within.

"This ineubator has been a four-year journey for me." said Ahmed. who opende the doors on his 80,000-square-foot dream in November and today houses 42 startup companies, "We're no longer an ineubator but an ecosystem for entrepreneurs."

Ahmed knows something about entrepreneurship. having started so many companies he can's even count. "But at least 15 to 20." he said. Before opening Innovation Pavilion he researched ineubators across the counrty, settling on Silicon Valley's Plug and Play a community of more than 300 startups from around the world as his model.

Among the companies just getting started one run by students from Regis University. Ahmed maintains a close relationship with universities because. he says. "Students are enthusiastic; they think outside the box and they believe they can change the world."

Ahmed wouldn't disclose what the Regis students are working on, suggesting a return visit when they're ready to announce their great idea.

"Our plan for Innovation Pavilion is quite ambitious. We're planning or multiple buildings in Denver so if things continue to go as they are, we may close on our next building by the end of the year." said Ahmed, who has his brothers, Umer Farouq and Ali Usman helping run the incubator, " Being here is like being in a candy shop. and it seems my entire background fits into this."

Ahmed, who currently is CEO of Engle-wood-based BushiessGenelies. a software company, came to the United Suites from Pakistan as a student attending Washington University in St. Louis, where he majored in computer science and systems engieering.

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"My first semester I took a course in systems engineering. The first assignment was to make a mathematical formula for parallel parking. That was an epiphany for me applying math to...