BUSINESS HISTORY

Ayman started his entrepreneurial life in the late 1970s upon completion of his industrial engineering studies at Ohio State, and his business studies at Switzerland’s IMEDE (the executive education joint venture between Harvard Business School and Nestles Corporation).

In 1978, Ayman co-founded Nouran Lighting in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, creating one of the largest retail and wholesale lighting companies in the Middle East, (with manufacturing and assembly facilities in Taiwan, Austria and England). Today, Nouran remains one of the most well-recognized lighting brands in its market, Nearly 25 years on.

Following a series of life changing experiences in the late 80’s, Ayman shifted focus from the lighting business to the “enlightening” business. Ayman and his partner Rowan Gabrielle founded, or partnered with a series of companies throughout the 1990s including Light Force, founded by Dr. Christoper Hills in California, which represented an early experiment in the practices of sacred commerce through the multilevel distribution of spirulina, super foods and vitamins.

EMOTIONAL LITERACY AT HOME

Focused initially on children’s emotional education, in 1989, Ayman founded and funded Enchante Entertainment (www.kidseq.com), a media company dedicated to promoting Emotional literacy in schools and at home . Enchante published the Emotional Literacy Series and created, produced and released two award-winning feature films and three television series for children. These were created in conjunction with media partners SONY, Warner Brothers and HBO, along with producers Norman Lear, Shelly Duvall and former Disney animator Jim George.

Realizing the need for a movement to gather around these issues, in 1993 Ayman and his wife Rowan founded FEEL, the Foundation for Education in Emotional Literacy (www.feel.org). FEEL was the first nonprofit organization committed to raising awareness for emotional literacy and created its first newsletter - mailed to hundreds of thousands of school teachers, university professors, therapists and psychologists. In 1997, FEEL merged with 6seconds, creating an umbrella organization dedicated to promoting the understanding and practice of emotional intelligence in schools, families, organizations and communities. In addition to its newsletter and online learning resource, 6seconds produces NexusEQ, the first global conference on learning and teaching emotional intelligence. Ayman is the initiator of the Emotional Literacy Campaign: a million signature campaign dedicated to insuring that emotional literacy is taught in schools as a key to success, healthy relationships and well being, the project promotes an antidote to some of society’s ills, among these - violence, dysfunctional relationships and illness, currently co-sponsored by FEEL/6seconds, KidsEQ and Wholelife.

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE WORKPLACE

Ayman’s international best-selling book, Executive EQ, Emotional intelligence in leadership and organizations, released in 1996, was the first book to bring the emotional intelligence concept into the business world, a previously unacknowledged connection. The book (co-written with Dr. Robert K. Cooper), guides leaders and organizations in the practice of emotional intelligence . A new understanding of emotions as a source of energy and information leading to greater power, profit and success . Published in 17 languages across 28 countries, universities and key institutions around the world continue to endorse the book as an essential resource. The book includes the EQ Map, the first standardized instrument for assessing emotional intelligence in the workplace, (http://www.essisystems.com/services/eq_map).  

Ayman also contributed a chapter "The Future of Emotions." to the book 'Emotional Intelligence at Work,' and a chapter “Emotional Alchemy” to the book “The Modern Day Alchemist” ."

SACRED COMMERCE

Ayman’s current work includes a new book titled 'Sacred Commerce: The Rise of the Global Citizen', the story of how business and spirituality have walked hand in hand in our history and can do so today. Ayman is creating a social/media network called Sacred Commerce, please join in and party-cipate...

WHOLELIFE

Ayman is illustrating the concept of Sacred Commerce through WholeLife.com This collaborative platform is a unique combination of technology tools that allow experts, brands and causes to monetize their content products and services.

NAMYA MUSIC