Shdow Security

Hicham Sbihi grew up in Morocco, where from the age of six, he started formulating ideas ranging from building electronic devices to making money in sales.  His grandmother was very supportive of his ideas and would give him money. He would go to the corner store and buy candy and resell it at a 50% profit to his friends or other children in the neighborhood. His grandmother saw the drive that Hicham had in business and would encourage him by buying back all of the candy that he didn’t sell, which was rare.

At the age of eight, he visited Disney World in Florida with his family and began dreaming of coming to the United States and starting a business. Back in Morocco after the visit, he would spend hours with electronic devices, taking them apart to view the inner mechanisms and devising new ways to use the same mechanisms to achieve different results. When he was 10, he made a personal alarm system for his room. If anyone entered his room when he wasn’t there, they were entertained by a booming noise. Gradually, any household members declined to visit his room when he wasn’t there. Of course, this was his initial intent with the device!

His interest in electronics didn’t stop there; neither did his interest in getting to the United States. When he was 19, he came to the United States.  His father gave him $70.00 for the trip and he was set to go. It did not faze him that he had nothing to live on; his dream was paramount and he knew that he could make it.

Once in this country, Hicham worked days and nights in restaurants as a server. He took computer classes and improved his English skills, and after receiving certification in the computer classes, began to study website design. Hicham saved enough money working in a high-end French restaurant to enable his next business move in website design that he called “Shdow” (Sbihi Hicham, Designer of Websites).

While working nights in the French restaurant, the business quickly grew from two clients to 60 in less than a year; his spare time was focused on creativity in custom website design.

As the business grew, so did Hicham’s skills. He researched electronic businesses, and electronic security became the new focus of his business model. He registered with the Department of Criminal Justice Services as a business. Shdow Security became the heart of his business, and it grew mostly by word of mouth, along with web advertising. Hicham opened an office in 2010 in Manassas.

In 2015, Shdow Security was recognized as the best in electronic security in Northern Virginia and has held that spot for three consecutive years. Recognition of Hicham’s drive and spirit of a business owner helped give him the edge in starting another venture: teaching classes on electronic security procedures. A Class Academy became another branch of the business, which teaches those interested in becoming electronic security professionals the basics of the business and is a necessity for the Department of Criminal Justice Services registration process. The ethical obligation that a business owner feels toward clients is the basis of Shdow Security’s and A Class Academy’s success. However, the responsibility that Hicham feels doesn’t end with business: he is personally involved in his community and local politics, having a passion for seeing justice, fair treatment and opportunity for all people.

The development of a business model in an entrepreneurial role isn’t the easiest, but in Hicham’s case was well worth the time and effort. From arriving in the U.S. with $70.00 in his pocket to becoming a successful business owner is well worth all the time and effort put into it, in his opinion. There is nothing that can replace the satisfaction of owning a business and knowing that out of a dream, reality can manifest. Hicham Sbihi has achieved many goals and will continue to search for ways to improve and grow.