Ahmed was born in Keighley, West Yorkshire and his family moved to London when he was six months old.
[1] In 1989,[2] at the age of 18,[1] Ahmed founded Eastern Eye[3] and was the managing director of Smart Asian Media Limited.
He was formerly publisher of Ethnic Media Group (EMG), a subsidiary of Southnews plc.
[4] He later sold Smart Asian Media and launched Asiana magazine.
[1][5] In 2002, Ahmed was appointed to The Newspapers Panel of the Competition Commission.