Bombardier Stress Engineer It certainly is a remarkable story. A boy goes to work at age nine years to help his impoverished family in Tehran, Iran. Working for a man who ground magnifying glass from old window panes, Karim Hakim became versed in the optical field, from grinding glass to the maintenance of worn out equipment. By the time he was 19, he was in Germany grinding precious lenses for instruments. Before immigrating to Canada in the mid-1960s to pursue his career, he perfected his craft as a lens maker in Switzerland. In 1967, he setup a laboratory in Toronto, purchasing old equipment, revitalizing it, and began selling his homemade lenses to opticians and optometrists. Before he knew it, hundreds of people wanted to buy lenses directly from him. Karim then began manufacturing frames, adding another dimension to his business, creating retail outlets and selling glasses directly to the public. Today, Hakim Opticalhas outlets across Ontario and into the Maritimes and is branchinginto the United States. On a good day, the company, with head-quarters in Toronto, sells as many as 1,000 pairs of prescription glasses at its more than 70 showrooms and 45 one-hour factory outlets. In fact, since he opened shop in the former Elmwood Hotel in 1967, Karim Hakim has sold over 14 million pairs of glasses! In this view, Karim, right, is viewed with Mayor Mel Lastman of Toronto, celebrating 32 years of entrepreneurship. [Photo, courtesy Karim Hakim]

 

From Tehran to Toronto Seyed Hossein Miri’s grandfather lived to see his 109th birthday. He used to say that “good luck is like a seed you find on your way home. Sooner or later, everyone finds one, but it is up to you to pick it up, eat it and survive another day or plant it, nourishit, and wait for it to bear you thousands of fruits.” Seyed not only found seeds but nourished them and, today, his life must seem like a bowl of cherries. Born in Tehran, when Seyed graduated from high school, it was just in time to see all universities in Iran face closure. Facing a mandatory military draft, Seyed was at training camp when war broke out between Iraq and Iran. Such conditions made it impossible to plan a future or set a goal. But the desire for higher education burned brightly in his heart. One year after completing his two years of required military service, Seyed got married and, thanks to Canada’s Immigration policy towards Iranians seeking opportunities in Canada, he and his wife and young daughter immigrated to Canada, 1985. His first job was as a full-time “walking courier” in downtown Toronto. As a part-time painter, little seeds began appearing and Seyed, not forgetting his grandfather’s advice, nourished every opportunity. Soon he was operating a CNC milling machine for P-Can Robotics. By 1989, the year he became a Canadian citizen, Seyed, now the father of two daughters, was working day and night to earn the right to attend Ryerson as an Aerospace Engineering student. From a class of 118 students who began the same program in 1993, only 13 graduated four years later, with Bombardier Aerospace snapping Seyed up as a potential employee. He has never looked back. Now a Stress Engineer preparing reports on creep, corrosion, crack propagation and fatigue life limits of various Bombardier aircraft components, Seyed’s bowl is surely full of cherries. In this 1998 view, Seyed works in a Flight Safety Room. [Photo, courtesy Seyed Miri]