# requires pandas - should work on 0.25.1 version
import pandas as pd

def custom_read_excel(path):
    # helper func to find first non-empty row
    def _get_header_offset(df):
        header_offset = 0
        for row in df.iterrows():
            if not all(row[1].isna()):
                break
            header_offset += 1
        return header_offset

    df_init = pd.read_excel(path)
    header_offset = _get_header_offset(df_init)
    increase_by = 0
    if header_offset != 0:
        increase_by = 1
    df = pd.read_excel(path, header=header_offset + increase_by)
    df_dropped_na = df.dropna(how="all", axis=1)
    df_dropped_na = df_dropped_na.set_index(df_dropped_na.columns[0])

    return df_dropped_na.unstack().to_dict()