“A nice year of construction they do say at Mercedes in construction land,” Ahmed jokes about his birth year of ’61. You may be right to recognise him, as Ahmed is the former mayor of Rotterdam.
Opwerken
He was born in Morocco in the province of Nador, where many Dutch Moroccans come from. At 15, he migrated to The Hague with his mother, brothers and sisters. He worked his way up from the LTS, which is now the vmbo, to the HTS, which is now the HBO. And he then worked his way up in his work as well: he started his career in the media, from radio Veronica to NOS. The next step was information for a minister and head of communications at CBS. He became alderman, state secretary and then mayor of Rotterdam. He was the first mayor of a major city in Europe with a Moroccan background.
Real Rotterdammer
Despite not being a real Rotterdammer by birth, he now feels that way. “I have been beaten by Rotterdammers to become a real Rotterdammer. And once I have transferred my chain to the new mayor, I also intend to remain a Rotterdammer.”