Article

Who's Who: Hamed Shahbazi

Young, gifted, and aggressive, Hamed Shahbazi is utilizing his skills at kiosk development and marketing firm Info Touch Technologies Inc. The company is a reflection of Shahbazi's goal of bringing the Internet to people through kiosks.

February 21, 2002

Raised in a family that believed in the possibilities of technical expertise and entrepreneurship, Hamed Shahbazi has brought both approaches with him to his role as president and chief executive officer of Info Touch Technologies Inc.

Trained as a civil engineer, Shahbazi has immersed himself in a business that takes advantage of his technical skills and his love of closing a deal. And the 27-year-old is enjoying the challenge of developing a start-up company in a nascent technology genre.

"I'm an engineer by profession. Engineers like to build things, and I like to build things," Shahbazi said. "I've got a pretty technical mind, but I come from an entrepreneurial family.

"I really believe the industry is still embryonic, and I know everybody is saying that but it's true," Shahbazi added. "What we're seeing is the tip of the iceberg, and the companies that can make applications work and can prove that those applications work are going to have a big payday."

Family traditions

Born in Teheran, Iran, Shahbazi and his family moved to the Vancouver area when he was five, a move precipitated, he said, by the extremist rule of the Ayatollah Khomeini.

Growing up in the Pacific region of Canada proved a wonderful experience for Shahbazi and his family. The area's entrepreneurial spirit and "can-do" attitude blended perfectly with the family's commitment to hard work.

Info Touch Technologies Inc.'s Hamed Shahbazi has learned much about the kiosk industry since joining the company in 1995.

"My father's also an engineer. He's done all kinds of different things and he's been very successful in real-estate development," Shahbazi said. "To make it in that business, you've got to be tough and smart and very patient. Running a business requires patience and I've learned that. We believe around here that any overnight success probably took about ten years."

While still a student at the University of British Columbia, Shahbazi began working for Info Touch Systems in 1995. The company was focused on both the kiosk and multimedia sectors when Shahbazi started there, but that changed when he took control of the company two years later.

"We surveyed the field and realized a lot of people we're starting to get involved in multimedia and it was a commodity business," he said. "The visual aspect of the Internet was really taking off. We said this is where we're at; this is the end of the business we want to be in."

Focus and flexibility

Shahbazi altered the company's name slightly and set out to establish Info Touch as a leader in the electronic kiosk industry.

Today, the company offers a combination of technological and marketing services that fit Shahbazi's twin backgrounds. While the company designs public access Internet kiosks, including the software, and oversees their manufacture, it also offers marketing and customer service solutions.

"The business plan was public Internet access and taking it to the street level," he said. "We wanted to help the Internet become more ubiquitous. We've reinvented ourselves a few times, but it's still the same guiding principle. We're still doing that, but we have a more laser-like focus."

The company's clientele list covers a wide spectrum of business and social opportunities, including hotel, retail, government, and entertainment sectors.

But one of Info Touch's current projects is one of its most sweeping. Working with Phillips 66 Co., the company is testing public access kiosks at 35 Circle K gas stations in the Phoenix area. Phillips 66, who is also partnering with Global Access Alliance Inc. in the project, plans to deploy the kiosks nationally during 2002.

The phrase "all-encompassing niche" might sound contradictory, but in a sense, that is what Info Touch and Phillips 66 are striving for with the ZapLink kiosk program. The kiosks offer Internet and e-mail access, along with technology that allows users to download files off the kiosk using their personal digital assistants. Telecommunications functions and on-line advertising is also part of the system.

"We just want to be something to some people," Shahbazi said. "We're here to exist in niche markets."

First impressions

Shahbazi's entrepreneurial approach is evident to John Lewis, an account manager with Linear Capital Corp., a venture capital firm that works with emerging companies, including Info Touch.

"We all know this is an industry that's going somewhere but has difficulties," Lewis said of the kiosk sector. "Hamed is someone who is rising to the occasion. This is not an industry where you can just sit back on a business plan. You have to adjust on a moment's notice, jump on a plane, etc., and he's very good at that. He's definitely an authority in the business and he's got good vision."

Shahbazi's vision has aided the company's journey through the recent economic downturn. During its most recent three-month reporting period, which ended April 30, Info Touch registered a gross profit of $213,795 on revenues of $637,452. During the same period in 2000, the company posted a profit of $80,887 on revenue of $553,638. Meanwhile, Compaq Canada Corp. entered into a strategic partnership with the company in September, investing $500,000 in Info Touch.

Currently single, Shahbazi has thrown so much of his energy into Info Touch that he has had little time to think about starting a family. But he believes that staying close to home - he lives in the Vancouver suburb of West Vancouver - will make the transition into domestic life a little easier.

"This is a great place, very family-oriented," he said. "Crime is less in West Vancouver than it was 25 years ago. That's amazing."

But for right now, Shahbazi is focused on transforming his skill sets - developed through his own upbringing - into success in the kiosk industry.

[Editor's note: Info Touch Technologies became Tio Networks in April 2006.]