Ahmed Green

With a passion for building healthier communities, Ahmed Green and his business partners founded Premier Brand Sciences Inc. in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company is made up of innovative scientists, health and wellness experts, and researchers who work together to develop a variety of healthy drink options for their customers.

As the VP of Beverage Market Research of Premier, Ahmed helps develop innovative beverage concepts based on an extensive analysis of beverage trends and current market segments.

Furthermore, he also assists in expansion activities for the company and takes charge of building and maintaining relationships with their partner vendors.

In the past, Ahmed has successfully led Evolve Media, a marketing firm that he co-founded before joining Premier. Based in Charlotte, N.C., it offers services ranging from consultation, event organizing, management of brand portfolios, and talent publicity.

During his leadership in Evolve, he handled world-renowned brands like Pernod Ricard, Southern Wine & Spirits, Beam Suntory, and Empire Distributors among others.

Besides his previous role at Evolve Media, also served B.A.D. Inc. by using his knowledge as a Marketing Consultant to help the company flourish. This multicultural company focuses on experiential branding and works with clients like Disney, Burger King, Bacardi USA, Sprite, Charmer-Sunbelt (Ben Arnold Bev), Toyota, North Carolina Central University, and Boost Mobile.

Among the biggest and most rewarding projects that he handled up to date is a product launch for Seagram. He headed the launch of Seagram’s Twisted Gin Flavors in South Carolina which became one of the top-grossing campaigns for the company in the history of South Carolina. Because of this and the other successes, the company garnered awards multiple times.

Where did the idea for Premier Brand Services come from?

My business partner and I are very passionate about promoting health and wellness because our body enables us to do greater things in life. Even research says that a healthy body leads to a healthy mind.

Through the years, we’ve seen that more people are starting to see the importance of living a healthier lifestyle. Because of this, we decided to be part of the good change. And in order to help people transition to a healthier life, we formed Premier and started working with scientists, doctors, and nutrition experts. With the healthy beverages that we produce, we wanted to maximize the potential of the human body with proper nutrition.

What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?

I talk with a lot of people on a daily basis. First and foremost, in order to help determine the direction of the company, I report everything to our CEO.

Furthermore, as the VP of Beverage Market Research, I also have to make sure that production goes smoothly and that every process is done carefully since our product is meant for human consumption. In addition to that, I check for updates and reports from the different departments and talk with our partners to educate them, address any concerns, and identify how we can help them further.

In between my tasks, I make sure to keep up with trends related to the business because they also help us make important decisions as we move forward.

How do you bring ideas to life?

When an idea pops up in my mind, I write down the basic information or keep an audio recording about it because sometimes the most important details come during this time. After that, I begin researching a little bit. And when I think I’ve covered enough for the first step, I share my idea with the right people. When I say right people, these are the people whom I believe have the adequate expertise to help turn my idea into reality. From there, we work together to improve on the idea and answer questions along the way before polishing things and pushing through with our plans.

What’s one trend that excites you?

I love seeing how businesses are learning to adapt to unexpected changes by taking necessary steps. When the pandemic happened, a lot of businesses had to close. But when the government started easing restrictions, I saw how people around the world began to appreciate and maximize the use of the internet to continue serving their customers.

Now, many have taken their businesses on the web and started accepting online payments. This is actually beneficial to both business owners and customers because with online transactions, we can avoid exposure to COVID-19.

What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?

Since I talk to a lot of people inside and outside the company, I regularly check my email for new messages. Aside from that, I keep a personal planner and journal which I use to jot down important notes, ideas, and schedules that I have to follow.

They’re very important to me because I like things organized. And just in case I need to make changes, it’s easier because I have a planner.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Dream on and don’t be afraid to fall because failures leave you stronger in the end. Just focus on your goals and hold on to your vision because you’ll never know what great things you can do unless you try.

Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.

AI will be great for future businesses

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

I always try to be respectful no matter with whom I speak. And as an entrepreneur, I believe that this is very important because it’s one way of showing people that their opinions matter to you. Aside from that, it also helps you get honest feedback and suggestions from the people around you.

Generally speaking, learning to respect each other’s differences makes the world a better place. It gives everybody the chance to express themselves without being judged and share their brilliant and innovative ideas.

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?

What we are doing is to build both our online and offline presence.

Living in an era where the internet is almost available everywhere, we have to make sure that we maximize its use to reach our customers. So if you can run a very informative and user-friendly website for your company, that will be great. In addition, setting up social media accounts is also a big help since a huge percentage of internet users are have social media accounts. But whatever platform you decide to use, what’s important is that you focus on making it easier for your customers to contact, inquire, and order from you.

On the other hand, as for our offline efforts, we have our partners who help us spread the word. But most importantly, we build and nourish relationships with our customers because, in the end, they become regular buyers who also help spread awareness about our products.

What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?

Back when I was younger, there were times when I’d choose to do things on my own instead of delegating tasks to people. Because of that, we experienced some delays and issues. So when I realized that this habit is causing problems, I taught myself to give people their assignments. On top of that, I learned how to perfectly match people’s expertise and potentials with the right tasks.

As entrepreneurs and leaders, we must learn the importance of delegation because it develops our ability to identify potentials in people and help empower them, which in return brings success to the business and their personal careers.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

Living in the digital age, there are a lot of things you can try. And for starters, it would help to identify what you’re really good at and think about how you can monetize that skill.

But if you actually have a background in digital marketing, that’s a good start. Now that a lot of entrepreneurs were forced to strengthen their online presence because of the pandemic and restrictions in their local areas, small and medium businesses could use some help with effective marketing and selling their products online.

What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?

I just bought a new journal, a tumbler, and some vitamins. For me, it’s the best buy because these are just what I need to keep going right now. Now, I can continue writing down my ideas, insights and all while enjoying coffee from my new tumbler. And most importantly, I have my vitamins to keep my immune system up.

What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive?

I find Google Drive very helpful to our business because it makes collaboration and communication very easy. And aside from being user-friendly, the cloud-based file-sharing system allows us to work on presentations and documents all at once.

Furthermore, I also like the feature which allows me to comment or suggest edits on our employees’ outputs.

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

You should start reading “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie because it’s far better when you have more people in your network. Aside from having friends you can lean on, you’d readily have specific people in mind whenever you have an idea that you want to work on together with them.

However, there’s more to it than that. Just imagine how much you can do together to make more community projects materialize.

What is your favorite quote?

Abraham Lincoln once said, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.”

Key Learnings:

• Respect goes a long way. It opens doors to growing relationships and opportunities.
• Communication is key. Whether you want to spread the word out or gain loyal customers, great communication is important in any business.
• Instead of fearing the ever-evolving technology industry, use it to your advantage