Spanning 20,000 square metres, AMR Hair & Beauty Supplies’ warehouse is 350 times bigger than the office that first housed this hair and beauty supplier.
At just 27 years old the company baby-faced Ammar Ahmad started as a teenager, is on track to turn over 50 million dollars next year.
He says, “It's all about changing our game, changing an industry and how it operates, streamlining things and making them easier to get to.”
AMR supplies hair and beauty products to salons across Australia. Customers can make purchases online, over the phone or at one of their walk-in stores, where anything from shampoo in bulk to salon chairs is on offer.
As a teenager, Ammar worked in hair salons and as a night-time cleaner.
When he started buying products in bulk and selling them at cheaper prices, the result was immediate and a business was born.
“I bought a van when I turned 16 and I basically went salon to salon, door-by-door,” Ammar says.
Ammar with SBS Reporter Hannah Sinclair at one of his bricks-and-mortar stores. Source: SBS
“Initially, I'd walk into a Bunnings and see a tradie toolbag for $20. In our industry, a hairdresser's [toolbag] was far less quality and was selling for about $50 or $60. So I knew there was a gap there to fill.”
We brought those prices right down in the industry and that's how we built a reputation for ourselves for being the cheapest.
By 2006 Ammar was turning over $250,000. Two years later, he hired 5 staff members and hit $1 million.
Ammar's family migrated to Australia from Lebanon when he was three months old.
His mother raised six children as a single parent and being a part of these challenging circumstances only fuelled his ambition further.
“I remember we'd be there at Smith Family waiting for a 100 dollar voucher. Seeing that period of growth for me means not going back and doing what I was doing before,” Ammar says.
Today his multinational business services 34,000 salons across the country.
Ammar recently flew to China and established his own hair care brands and products, and has done multi-million dollar deals in the UK and the US.
But with huge growth comes bigger challenges.
Ammar says, “Every unit we moved into we grew out of quite quickly. I'd be two years into a five-year lease and have to move.”
He’s confident his current warehouse will be the last of it. It operates 24 hours a day and stocks over 7000 products.
Ammar is eying an ASX listing towards the end of the year. He also hopes to open 12 stores across the country, starting in Queensland and Melbourne.
Spanning 20,000 square metres, AMR Hair & Beauty Supplies’ warehouse is 350 times bigger than its original shop. Source: SBS
His advice to young entrepreneurs is to never give up.
“You're going to fall over so many times, and there's a lot of people in business that will put you down. The thing is not to give up and never let these things get to you - it will only make you stronger.”
Want to find out the secret to small business success? Tune into #BizSecretsSBS at Sundays 5pm on SBS, stream on SBS Demand, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
