Impact Integrated, the social conglomerate under the purview of the Ministry of Youth and Sports Malaysia for youth development and innovation is now officially headed by Ahmed Faris Amir, as the CEO of the organisation, starting from the 1st of August 2019.
The conglomerate consists of four entities: Impact Malaysia, an agency for youth development and social innovation; Rakita, a multi-channel infotainment media platform for real and relatable content; Spacerubix, a vibrant community space; and Picksum, e-commerce for local homegrown products. Through this appointment, Ahmed Faris will be holding the CEO role for Impact Malaysia, Rakita, Spacerubix and Picksum.
Ahmed Faris, fondly referred to as Med was assigned to be Acting CEO, two weeks after taking on the position as Deputy CEO of the organisation. Med is an alumnus of Victoria Institution, and later pursued his Bachelor’s Degree in Pure Physics.
A generalist in nature, he has a wide variety of experiences ranging from business consulting to social activism. His clients ranged from Limkokwing University of Creative & Technology, several companies in the hospitality industry and women’s rights media, with functions ranging from operational restructuring to fundraising and tech. He later moved on to co-found a fashion tech startup in 2015, and managed the operations of an event management and F&B conglomerate at the same time. In 2016, he led the Malaysian Institute for Debate & Public Speaking (MIDP) as CEO until the appointment as the Deputy CEO in Impact Malaysia.
Syed Azmi Alhabshi, a renowned social activist and a Trustee of the organization is positive about the appointment, “He has an excellent team. The Board of Trustees is confident about Med helming Impact Integrated and all entities under the purview of the conglomerate. We are all here to support him, and we definitely wish him all the best.”
Med is the organization’s third CEO and recently led it through a successful restructuring and rebranding exercise. His predecessors were Azlan Rudy Malik, better known as a member of the Malaysian band Pop Shuvit and a former project manager at IBM and Datuk Jake Abdullah (currently the Managing Director of Fave).