Meet Husain Ali | Engineer & Business Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Husain Ali and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Husain, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I began my career as an Engineer in the construction industry. One of the duties that I had was to ensure material logistics were handled and purchasing was done on time, From purchasing $1million of ductile iron pipe all the way down to the safety equipment required to perform the activities. This experience allowed me to witness, first hand, how certain safety supplies were being disposed of at a rapid pace and the suppliers that we purchased from were typically charging heavy premiums on gloves.
I began doing my research into how these costs could be slashed. I succeeded in doing so but I had the desire to take it a step further. I not only wanted to resolve the cost issue, I wanted to reduce any indirect costs associated with purchasing gloves and handling the storage. In our world, and this applies to a variety of products, the larger the number of units you purchase, the cheaper you can get it for. The problem with bulk purchasing of gloves is that the storage becomes a pain to deal with. With that I came up with the solution, which was to offer a service that tracked, stored and analyzed glove consumption to optimize delivery rates, get a distribution of the sizes purchased and take away the time lost in procuring and purchasing gloves on projects. A win-win is what I wanted to create.
I wanted NineSevenThree (NST) to be an experience; an extension of the consumer’s in house capabilities. A customer first, AI driven machine that strives for nothing short of excellence.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I spent my schools years obtaining my bachelors degree in mechanical engineering and followed it with a masters degree in reliability engineering. Growing up and watching both my parents be successful in the field of engineering was the spark that I needed to go down this path. Was it easy to get to where I am now? That comes down to perspective, I enjoy challenges and excelling in everything I do. It wasn’t easy but the effort pays off in the end.
I’ve lived half way across the world from my family in order to leave my footprints elsewhere, and prove to myself and my parents that there was a reason behind my time away and the sacrifices I made.
There were some and still are many tough lessons to learn along the way. The main one is to remain grounded and focused in a day and age where distractions are at the tip of your fingers.
If there was one thing I want the world to know about me or the brand, its that it all stems from someone who was once on the consumer’s side. I understood the difficulties and smallest imperfections when it came to dealing with the purchasing of safety gloves. The brand doesn’t aim to just cut your direct costs, it has been built to optimize, streamline and provide you with the analysis you need to make better decisions. It is the embodiment of pursuing excellence even in the smallest of margins. From color coding cuffs based off of sizes to spending 8-9 months to overengineer gloves with the greatest cut resistance to thickness ratio, the consumer has been at the forefront of the vision from day 1. Most brands produce gloves as an afterthought, we dedicated our entire mission to perfecting the product and process.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Living in both Washington and Baltimore gives me a wide variety of options of things that I take part in. I’m a fan of good food and love to try new spots around both cities. I spend at least one day a week in Georgetown, plenty of food, good vibes and a good way to meet up with people who share the same goal as me. Over in Baltimore you’ve got a large variety of options from Fells Point to around the Harbor. I’d probably take them to Zaatar Mediterranean or Ammoora’s; both serving food that reminds me of home.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
First and foremost I would credit my success, drive and grounding to God. God, in combination with my parents have provided me with the blessings and the right conditions to be able to start my first business at the age 18 and fast forward to my second business at the age of 24. I was raised to appreciate everything I was given and to remain humble and grounded no matter what comes my way. My inner circle consists of people I have practically grown up with and been through every stage of my life with. From family members to friends, I have no doubt that every single one of them looks forward to my success. Driven by the thirst for success, I aim to make a change in an industry that I have dedicated my life to through education and career choice. It’s about time somebody took the bull by the horns and revamped the industry to take advantage of the technological tsunami coming our way.

Website: https://www.973gloves.com

Instagram: ninesvnthree

Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/husain-ali4