Jihad Al-Ammar is a successful young entrepreneur and an inspiring speaker. Everyone knows about his determination, ambition and bold decisions. In all his lectures, he would express his thanks and gratitude to the “Klijah” from which his story began!

"Klija" got me out of my introversion:

Jihad says about his childhood that he was somewhat “introverted”, so his father gave him “Klijah” and “Rico biscuits” and asked him and his brother to sell them in front of the mosque when he was in the fourth grade of primary school!

Dr. Abdullah Al-Ammar - Jihad's father - was not seeking the 300 riyals that Jihad was earning, but he was able to instill seriousness, determination, courage and most importantly... confidence... which had a great impact in determining his future path.

Jihad says about his experience in one of his lectures: “The most difficult thing about the situation was that he had to sell ‘kleicha’ after Friday prayers in front of an audience of child spectators, but this situation strengthened his desire to stick to his goal and his insistence on making a profit.”

Jihad did not take selling as a profession. He continued in it for a few weeks and then stopped... to devote himself to the hobby he loves, which is reading.

I'm attached to everything that needs to be discovered!

Jihad had an older brother who loved reading, so Jihad was influenced by him and became attached to books. He used to read everything he could get his hands on, especially the novels of the Egyptian writer Nabil Farouk, whose novels are known for their science fiction, intelligence stories, and impossible missions.

On the other hand, his father was fond of computers, so much so that he wrote his doctoral thesis on an original Macintosh in the mid to late eighties! Influenced by his father, Jihad loved computers and became attached to his personal computer, especially video games!

Jihad saw in the personal computer many programs that needed to be discovered, and many games that needed to be known how to solve them. Perhaps the novels of the Egyptian writer Nabil Farouk influenced him in this regard, as he treated every game or program as an impossible task for him to discover.

My Computer: It Wasn't Just for Fun!

The computer that Jihad worked on in high school was not just a device for entertainment or passing time, but it was his way to discover what he wanted to be in the future. Simply put; his passion for computers led him to not imagine himself in a profession other than programming or design, and based on this passion he made a number of bold decisions!

He loved computers, so he withdrew from the scholarship program!

After Jihad finished high school, he qualified for a scholarship program for a government institution. He had the right to choose five specializations, so he wrote “Computer Science” among his five choices, and he did not care about the possibility of losing the scholarship opportunity!

When the acceptance results were announced, he discovered that he had been accepted into a different major, so he made his first bold decision and withdrew from the program! He applied to another scholarship program affiliated with a government institution, and he finally got what he wanted... he was accepted into the Computer Science major at the University of Kansas.

During his university studies, he discovered that the subjects assigned to him were not what he was looking for, so he decided to use his free time to learn what he wanted on his own, and the first thing he learned was programming and website design.

The book that changed me! I learned then that a person's life can be changed by a book!

At that time, Jihad also found the book "The Search" in the library, and learned then that a person's life could be changed by a book!

The book was about search engines, how they were founded, how they grew and became a major source of profit. What interested him the most was the story of Bill Gross, who founded his company and sold it for a million dollars while he was still in college. Several years later, he founded another company and sold it for ten million. After that, he founded a search engine that he sold to Yahoo for a billion dollars.

Big companies don't necessarily start with ten people and a bank loan, they can be started by one person with a small amount of money.

Jihad says: I learned from this experience that big companies don’t necessarily start with ten people and loans from the bank, but rather one person can start them with a small amount of money, especially internet companies. I also learned that a job is not the only option that awaits a person after graduating from university, but rather it is in his hands to create his own project.

Jihad always emphasized that given the Saudi interest in the Internet and the large number of its users, he would not be surprised if in the near future we would have a thousand millionaires, both male and female, among Saudi programmers and developers. The opportunity is available to everyone, it requires a goal, ambition, and determination!

His ambitious vision for Qayem made him make his second bold decision!

After Jihad graduated from university, he was obligated to work for the company that sent him according to the terms of the agreement. During his work, specifically in 2006, he was able to launch his famous website, which is a valuable website for evaluating restaurants!

After the commitment period ended, he made his second bold decision and submitted his resignation from the job that many would dream of, to devote himself to evaluating his dream project!

I didn't have many guarantees, except that I loved my work, that I had a dream, and that I was very, very determined to achieve it..!

He didn't have many guarantees, except that he loved his work, had a dream, and was very, very determined to achieve it..! And he got what he wanted, as he received support from "Bader" for technology incubators, a program that cares about emerging technology projects, so Bader provided him with an office from which he could manage his work.

Now, Qeym has become a site worthy of attracting investors, as Al-Wataniya Internet and Abdulrahman Tarabzoni have invested in it, which indicates the success of the site and promises a promising and bright future for Jihad Al-Ammar.

Jihad Al-Ammar projects:

1.  Valuable site

The site allows people to share their experiences about shops, and build guides that enable people to know the best shops according to the opinions of others, and it is limited, as a first stage, to evaluating restaurants.

The website is an idea and programmed by Jihad Al-Ammar, with the help of Ziad Al-Ghannam in its establishment and management. It is considered one of the projects incubated by Badir Technology Incubators.

What distinguishes Qeem, apart from the originality of its idea and the fact that it is one of the first Arabic WEB2.0 sites that relies on the audience for its content, is that it is considered a 100% Saudi Internet company and an inspiring success story of a young entrepreneur who had a goal and was bold enough to reach his goal!

2- The Companions’ website:

It is a website that Jihad founded during his university studies, aiming to provide a more contemporary view of the Companions. Working on the website developed Jihad’s capabilities as a programmer, and many friends, designers and artists participated in it with designs displayed on the website’s pages.

3- The blog and podcast “Heralds of Jihad”:

It was founded by Jihad in 2005, and it was - as far as he knew - the first Arabic podcast. He even had a long discussion on the blog's pages until the word "podcast" was chosen as the Arabic equivalent of the English word "podcast".

4- The visual blog “In the world of technology this week”:

This project was founded by Saad Al-Qahtani and Saud Al-Sharihi, and was considered the first Arabic visual blog when it started in 2007. Jihad participated in presenting it at the beginning and presented dozens of episodes. He also covered the GITEX exhibition in Riyadh for a number of years, and conducted a number of interviews with participating institutions, reviewing their new technical products.

5- "9 jumps" game:

A game that Jihad is currently developing with his friend Issam Al-Shahwani. The trial version has been released so far, and it contains five stages, on the Taco Games website.

“Jihad is now working on his Qim website, aspiring for his website to be an inspiring success story that encourages young Saudi and Arab men and women to establish their own companies and to be active in establishing Internet projects.”