Hazim Gaber on Leadership and Growth – Practical Engineering, Customer Insight, and Expansion Strategy
- Aug 25, 2023
- 5 min read
Updated: Feb 5
Hazim Gaber has built his career at the intersection of engineering, technology, and business execution. As CEO of ehZee Engineering Corporation and HSM Global, Gaber oversees complex, multi-disciplinary operations while guiding teams through rapid growth, industry disruption, and evolving client demands.
Trained as a mechanical engineer and backed by an unusually broad academic and professional foundation, Gaber approaches leadership with a practical mindset shaped by curiosity and hands-on experience.
From enterprise WiFi design and IT services to construction, engineering, and education, his work reflects a consistent philosophy: understand how systems function in the real world, listen closely to the problems people are trying to solve, and build solutions that work in practice, not just on paper.
Gaber reflects on the origins of his engineering mindset, the lessons learned from leading large-scale operations, and how adaptability, communication, and customer understanding continue to shape the future of his businesses.
Q: Where did your passion for mechanical engineering come from?
Hazim Gaber: I always liked taking stuff apart and seeing how it worked. I am always naturally curious about how things work, even now. It isn't just mechanical devices; I have interests in many other areas as well.
Q: What inspired you to accept a position at Udemy?
Hazim Gaber: I like teaching others, and I like making other people feel good. I like seeing people learn new skills and use them to improve their careers and deliver a better life for themselves and their families. I also find that teaching something to somebody is a great way to learn.
Q: What is unique about the brand that sets you apart from your competition?
Hazim Gaber: Never saying no. Whenever a customer comes to us with a problem, we work to find a solution. That has allowed us to become a one-stop shop for our customers so that they don't have to look elsewhere.
It has dramatically improved our ability to deliver efficient services, and it also allows us to improve the skills of our employees. We also work to understand our customers’ business, not just the technical aspect. This allows us to tailor our products and services to the customer.
Q: Looking back on the last five years of your career, what’s the highlight?
Hazim Gaber: Adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic allowed us to launch our construction business and bring in millions in additional revenue, write over ten books, and be appointed by BISCI to help rewrite the low-voltage building codes.
Q: What does a typical day look like for you as a CEO?
Hazim Gaber: I don't really have a typical day; the situation is always dynamic, and I have to adapt. Running a business across Canada with over 100 projects on the go at any given time means that I always have different things happening. I generally make a list of tasks that I need to accomplish, and then I can focus on getting everything done.
Q: What are the top lessons you learned from your experience as CEO of HSM Global?
Hazim Gaber: Talk to everybody. Everybody, no matter their role or background, has something important to contribute, and being able to take their perspective into consideration is really important to our success.
Help everybody on the team to see the big picture, and not just their own role, so that they have a greater sense of accomplishment and are motivated to do better. Offer excellent customer service and communicate well with everybody, including customers, employees, and vendors, especially when there is a problem.
People are willing to work with you as long as you are open with them, no matter what happens. Don't be afraid to get out of your comfort zone and try something new - business is all about solving problems, and so expanding into another industry can be very rewarding.
Q: How do you incorporate new strategies/tactics in your business?
Hazim Gaber: We look to see what problems people are facing that we can solve. We listen to what products/services our customers are looking for: What will make their business better/more efficient/profitable? How does your product/service make more money for your customer?
Q: What is a necessary skill that is crucial to being successful as a mechanical engineer?
Hazim Gaber: Getting some hands-on experience is the most important thing. It is easy for an engineer to draw out the design on paper, but having the experience to understand how your design actually fits into the real world and how people are going to put it together is really important
You learn a lot of things in university, but there is so much information, and very little of it is actually practical. University does not teach you how the world actually works and certainly does not teach you anything about running a business.
Customers don't care much about the technical side of things. That is why they hire you. You need to be able to understand the customer's business and explain your solution to them in terms that they understand.
Q: What advice would you give to your younger self?
Hazim Gaber: I would have focused more on the education side of our business, and on areas that provide recurring revenue. I was more focused on the type of work that only paid when something broke. But once everything was fixed, money stopped flowing in. There is a lot more money to be made on the management side of IT. Customers don't want to think about IT; they just want it to work.
Q: What do you envision for the future of your business?
Hazim Gaber: The future of the business is to expand our construction and engineering operations across Canada and take on much larger projects. We are already providing IT services across Canada. Then the much longer-term strategy is to use the money to set up manufacturing operations here in Alberta and create many more jobs, God willing.
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Who is Hazim Gaber?
Hazim Gaber is the CEO of ehZee Engineering Corporation and HSM Global. A mechanical engineer by training, he holds multiple bachelor’s degrees in science and engineering from MacEwan University, the University of Calgary, and the University of Alberta, and is an RCDD (Registered Communications Distribution Designer).
Since 2018, Gaber has overseen strategy, program management, and business development across engineering, IT, construction, and education initiatives. He is the creator of the Udemy course Design & Deploy an Enterprise WiFi Network and has served Fortune 500 clients, including Walmart, GM, Ford, and Apple. His work focuses on practical engineering, scalable services, and long-term business growth.
