The Fourteen-Year-Old Who Founded AMR Hair and Beauty

It’s easy to say that money is not important when you have enough of it. Growing up with a single mother and five other siblings, AMR Hair and Beauty founder and CEO Ammar Ahmad saw his fair share of difficulty.

“Money was tight for us and things weren’t always easy,” Ammar says. “It was hard seeing my mum struggle and knowing that there was nothing I could do about it.”

When he was three months old, Ammar’s family migrated from Lebanon to Australia. When he was eleven, he got his first job cutting boxes and sorting stock for $5 an hour. 

That box cutting job was his entry into the beauty industry. He was working in a hairdressing salon. There, he got plenty of chances to watch the owner of the salon up close and talk to him about the business.

He displayed an affinity for sales in general at a young age, too. Often as a way to take the edge off his complicated financial situation. Ammar says, “I had sold things my whole life. I would sell marbles to all the competitive kids at school, and I’d go to motor shows and buy ten posters for $5, and sell them to kids for $10.”

By fourteen years old, he had started an eBay business. He was too young to get an EFTPOS machine, but he pushed through anyway, closing deals and making sales.

Ammar had realized early on, while working in the salon, that the prices for beauty products in Australia were too expensive. There he saw his chance at building his own business, selling quality beauty products for a fair price.

Two years after he opened his eBay shop, he bought a van and started going from salon to salon, selling his products door to door. And two years after that, when he turned 18, his company was already turning over $250,000 a year.

But his age was a barrier at the time, and it continued to be one for a large part of his career. He had to be clever to get suppliers and business owners to take his new company seriously. As he explained:

“Some suppliers still think today AMR is my father’s business. I would take their cards and email them pretending to be my father, and then at the last minute say I was sending my son to the meeting instead.”

Despite all challenges and adversities, Ammar continued working, focused on his business, focused on his dream. Today, AMR Hair and Beauty is turning over $50 million a year, and it just keeps growing.

“For people starting their own business, I would recommend they put 100% focus into their own company and not their competitors,” Ammar says. “Be prepared to sacrifice many things to reach success and learn from your mistakes. What works best for one business may not work for another, so be sure to try everything.”

About AMR Hair & Beauty

Trend setter, visionary, fearless & tacitly impeccable are but a few examples of how to describe a “true master of his field” an industry guru relentlessly searching & acquiring the latest of industry requirements to the delight of thousands AMR clients.