A Perth husband Rizwan Syed and wife Sandrine have worked their way to the top of Australia’s competitive beauty market, creating a successful eyebrow shaping business from scratch - with help from a team of loyal migrant staff.
Speaking to SBS Hindi Rizwan tells us about the struggle to set up a business, "especially when you don't have any contacts and just $5,000 to begin with and no credit rating history." Moreover, "Threading" as a hair removal practice is not too well known in Australia. After many rejections from banks and landlords finally, they acquired a tight pathway space along Fremantle's E-shed market. So, with just $5,000, Mr and Mrs Syed opened the first Zubias Threading outlet.
They now have eight franchise outlets, all run by migrants who had been long-serving staff in the business and they own 30 stores across Perth with plans to expand into Melbourne and Sydney.
“Our loyal customers, either myself or my wife had to teach and show each and every one of them what we do, and once we built their trust and confidence, that’s when they became our advocates,” Mr Syed said. He adds to say, "From virtually nothing, we now employ 150 staff who are mostly migrants. Our staff come from countries like Persia, Afghanistan, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Mauritius.”
Some of their secrets include:
A clear and genuine business purpose that adds value to your customers.
Focus on your employees, by deeply understanding why they work for you
Be willing to try something different and work hard
Always plan ahead.
