WHILE most teenagers were juggling homework, exams and sports, Mahmoud Ashraf — better known as Komy A — was busy experimenting with digital software.
Inspired by science fiction films, he became fascinated by how systems worked and where their vulnerabilities lay.
That curiosity led him into cybersecurity, where he took on parttime work identifying weaknesses in digital systems.
Today, at just 23 and still pursuing his studies, Komy is the founder of Genta AI Solutions, a digital solutions provider that helps businesses automate operations through artificial intelligence.
He shares with Sarawak Tribune the challenges, lessons and vision behind building an AI company at a young age.
What inspired you to start Genta AI Solutions at such a young age?
I came from cybersecurity and software engineering before AI.
Working in security, I saw how businesses really operated underneath, and how much repetitive manual work could be handled better.
When powerful AI became publicly available, I was among the early adopters using it for process automation and agentic workflows.
I didn’t want to build another tool that businesses depended on but didn’t own.
I wanted to build systems they could truly own and control.
I started by solving problems for the company I was working for, and that eventually grew into Genta.
Was there a defining moment that made you realise AI could solve real business problems?
Yes.
When OpenAI released its API in 2020, the company I worked for was struggling to manage clients’ social media accounts. Posts were delayed, and there weren’t enough reliable writers.
As a side project, I built an AI system that automated high-quality, tailored content creation.
The company rolled it out across several client accounts and stopped relying so heavily on content writers.
That was when I saw AI’s real potential and decided to leave my job.
What were the biggest challenges in the early days?
The hardest part was convincing established companies to trust someone my age with changing how they had worked for years. Instead of trying to persuade them with words, I let the results speak.
I studied their businesses, identified problems and built solutions that worked. Credibility comes from proof, not promises.
To build that trust, I often spent four to six weeks working for free.
Did your age affect your credibility?
At first, yes. When businesses are handing over sensitive workflows and data, trust is everything.
My cybersecurity background helped because security and data protection were built into our systems from the beginning.
For clients with stricter requirements, everything can run on their own infrastructure, so their data never leaves their environment.
Beyond that, every successful project makes the next conversation easier. What’s the biggest lesson entrepreneurship has taught you?
The best thing you build can quietly become your biggest risk. If everything depends on the founder, you become the bottleneck.
Learning to step back and build a company that can operate without me in every room has been more challenging, and more important, than any technical problem I’ve faced.
Can you share a failure or difficult period that shaped you as a leader?
I started Genta while studying fulltime and holding a fulltime job, with no outside funding.
I financed everything myself, cut my personal expenses to the minimum and even took on another part-time job while doing unpaid work to build credibility.
Eventually, I left my job when Genta was only just profitable and my savings were running low.
It was the most stressful period of my life.
There were nights I couldn’t sleep, wondering what would happen if everything failed.
With consistency, and a bit of luck, we landed several major clients.
Things stabilised, and I recovered financially.
That experience tested me and taught me that consistency really is one of the biggest factors in success.
You just have to keep showing up.
What keeps you motivated during difficult times?
The value we create for our clients.
Beyond revenue and growth, we’ve helped businesses save millions of dollars each year. Seeing that realworld impact is what keeps me going, especially when things get tough.
What opportunities do you see for Malaysia, especially Sarawak?
Sarawak is taking the right approach by investing in infrastructure and long-term planning.
Grassroots digital programmes and innovation hubs across the state are important because talent is the real constraint.
Malaysia has the opportunity to skip the phase of buying generic AI tools and instead build systems designed around local businesses.
We don’t need to copy Silicon Valley.
We can build solutions that work for our own market.
What’s your vision for Genta AI Solutions over the next decade?
I want Genta to become the company businesses trust to build AI systems they actually own.
We’re building globally from day one, and not many companies from this region are doing that.
If, in 10 years, a founder anywhere in the world thinks, “I want AI built properly, and I want to own it,” and Genta is the first name that comes to mind, that’s success.
Locally, I want to prove that a world-class AI company can be built right here.
