Mohammed Hikmet, Co-founder and Managing Director of HMI Technologies, has been crowned New Zealand's 2019 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year at a prestigious awards ceremony held in Auckland.
In 1996, Mohammed moved to New Zealand with his family, completing an electronic engineering diploma at AIT while delivering pizzas at night. By 1998, he’d started a computer repair business, with Ahmed joining him in 1999. The business evolved to manufacture electronic road signs in 2002, establishing ties with Chinese factories. Mohammed eventually spent four years in China founding his own factory to ensure quality in the supply chain.
In 2015, Mohammed realised that the likely emergence of autonomous vehicles would eventually reduce the need for road signs and visual communication with drivers. “If we wanted to stay relevant, I decided we needed to build our knowledge of autonomous vehicles,” says Mohammed. This led to him forming a consortium, in January 2017, with Christchurch Airport, Christchurch City Council, Canterbury University, Ministry of Transport and NZTA to bring the first autonomous vehicle to Australasia.
Mohammed will now represent New Zealand and compete against over 60 national winners for the coveted title of EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year™ in Monte Carlo next June.
The evening also celebrated the announcement of two other category winners; the Exceptional Services to Entrepreneurship Award, and the Family Business Award of Excellence, detailed below.
