Shiek Shah, a native Indian who grew up in Kenya, and Andrew Thorby, an Australian, met at a bar over $.25 all-you-can-eat oysters in Monroe, LA. Their rapport and line-mindedness stemmed from their Commonwealth countries of origin, the ingrained business ethics taught by their fathers, and their strong belief in scenario-based technology solution design.
After a year of contract consulting work, commuting weekly together from Dallas, TX to Monroe, LA, Shiek Shah and Andrew Thorby's shared vision to start their own company was born. They named it Akili (meaning "knowledge" in Swahili) and settled into a 3000 sq. ft. of a 3rd-floor Dallas office building on Oak Lawn Ave.
After a joint financial investment of $20K and 18 months of deal pursuits, Akili won their first major client engagement with JCPenney Insurance.
Akili's Core Values are established, laying the foundation for all major decisions personally for Co-CEOs Shiek Shah and Andrew Thorby, but also steering both internal and client-facing decisions for the growing employee count.
CFO Shamir Shah, both a trusted financial advisor and brother to Shiek Shah, joins Akili as company revenues reach 4100K. The company went on to exceed $1M within the same year.
Akili offices move to a 28,000 sq. ft. space on the 15th floor of Downtown Dallas' Bryan Tower.
Akili doubled in revenue every two years from 1995 to 1999. Employee count steadily grew to 250 with Shiek Shah focusing on the custom development work with Andrew Thorby leading the process work. The momentum and ability to attract the highest quality talent set them up to receive a valuation of $60M in 1999
From 2000 to 2006, Akili weathered the dot.com collapse. Emerging in 2006 with a renewed vision for system configuration and platform integration, Outlooksoft was leveraged for Corporate Performance Management projects.
Akili's partnership for Corporate Performance Management shifts to SAP. Akili's expertise in SAP Business Planning and Consolidation becomes a dominant offering across the South-central U.S.
Dominant SAP account wins in the oil and gas industry enable Akili to double down in employee count and expand offerings into program Management, Data Conversion and Enterprise Resource Planning solutions