CEO - Rici Melion Pakistan

EVOLVE: Please share something about yourself, a brief overview of your professional journey? 

Mr. Nouman Zakir: I was born and raised in Saudi Arabia. I started my professional career whilst I was in grade three. I used to sell candy to my classmates; used to buy them for Riyal1 and sell them off for Riyal2. Gradually, I groomed my business and started doing mobile phones and then later in grade seven I even started a laptop business. Forex Trading was the business in which I made a very big loss. I failed at that point of time when I also didn’t get the admission in the University that I wanted to, and lost all of the money that I had earned from grade 3 -10; it was quite an amount. I did Marketing in Media from LSE and then from PIFD I did my fashion designing alongside. With the scholarship of twenty-five thousand rupees, I started Rici Melion.

EVOLVE: Kindly share with our readers the secret behind the growth of Rici Melion Pakistan? 

Mr. Nouman Zakir: The real purpose for branding is creating more value, it is the essence of creating something more than just the product and that is what Rici Melion is all about. There are certain people whom I take as my role model, e.g. Tom Ford, Yves Saint Laurent or even Steve Jobs, these are such brands that have evolved and they have made something more than what actually exists. Rici Melion is an amalgamation of great products, as well as an experience that is unparalleled to anyone else, and that is what we are able to deliver. I know how to make people do certain things which they would normally not do. I luckily found a very good vendor who was able to give me six months’ credit on five hundred thousand rupees’ worth of fabric. Out of those twenty-five thousand rupees I only used ten thousand to invest into giving an initial deposit, and the remaining amount I used into the production of the products. Then I made a few samples and started booking on those samples and from there I started growing. My takeoff was through an amazing wedding suit that I designed for a client on his wedding and which was highly acclaimed. I got a place inside Defence H Block where I would give them commission on the sale, I was unable to pay rent at that time but they believed in me. It is basically called bootstrapping. There are two options in life, one is to give up, and second is that you say that I have to make the best out of what I have been served in life. After that I took a big step and shifted to M. M. Alam road store. My family had a very big role in my achievements. There are certain things my parents taught me differently, like my mother taught me how to give love and I learnt negotiation skills from my father. I also have three elder brothers; two are doctors and one is a businessman which was also a good inspiration.

EVOLVE: What kind of culture have you maintained at Rici Melion Pakistan and how would you throw light in its significance? 

Mr. Nouman Zakir: We want to be great at everything. We normally do a lot of ceremonial collections and it’s all about fulfilling dreams. With our designer expertise we assure to deliver the best. As for my employees, I believe that before you delegate, you have to have the right people in the right place and you should look at the bigger picture. The other thing is ownership, which helps in building heart to heart relationships.

EVOLVE: What sets Rici Melion Pakistan apart from other competitors? 

Mr. Nouman Zakir: Our Brand Mantra basically is that ‘we are the finest’; we want the finest in everything. Initially talking about the local level, we are the only designer label luxury brand in the entire Pakistan that has such a big retail space. Then it’s the product’s range and the kind of overall ambiance that is created there is unparalleled. The most important aspect is that we basically go beyond just offering the product, we actually have an advisory council as well; all our sales staff are trained to educate and help the customer whilst choosing for themselves with the most suitable product. On an International scale it is a bit more challenging since there is a variety of big brands in the market. The way we have set ourselves apart there, is through our tailoring as we have few phenomenal artisans from Pakistan and India and the patterns that we develop are extremely good. The beauty of a good suit is actually a great fit and mobility, which we aim to deliver. 

EVOLVE: You must be facing a number of business challenges. How do you address them? 

Mr. Nouman Zakir: One thing that really does bother me as a businessman is there are so many lost days due to mismanagement at the civil administration side, like roadblocks at the big events like cricket matches and other such things happening. The overall impact of such mismanagements at our business is worst because it affects the most important part of the service i-e Timeline. At the end of the day the real challenge is to accept whatever you have been given and make the best out of it. Everything is solvable by just proper planning and we can achieve a lot from it.

EVOLVE: What are the important benchmarks if kept in a right direction can help any company climb ladders of success?

Mr. Nouman Zakir: You have got to hold in there and be consistent regardless of the failures and mistakes. When you fail, remember to stand up, when you succeed, remember to stay calm and do not become arrogant at any point. If you are doing great, do not think everything is great and loosen out, similarly whilst failing, do not give up; stand up and find a solution. Whatever it is, the end goal is being consistent and not giving up. 

EVOLVE: How do you balance pursuing opportunities and maintaining focus? 

Mr. Nouman Zakir: There are certain things in life which do not come with a rule book and you cannot exactly plan them. You have a particular pursuit of achieving something and the main thing on focusing on your pursuit is you need to have short term and long term goals set in your mind and imprinted with no altering. The minute you have those fixes in your head, the timeline might alter, you might have some hiccups, but at the end of the day when you look back, Steve Jobs says you connect the dots and everything is perfect; you are actually going towards the final dream, final goal. 

EVOLVE: Is there any company that has ever impressed you? 

Mr. Nouman Zakir: In my opinion there is one company which is “Inditex”. It is unparalleled in certain aspects, like innovation, brand building and overall growth-it is extremely outstanding. Inditex heads all of the brands which are by the name of Zara, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Stradivarius; these are all their sub brands. The real success that Inditex had was through the brand Zara. The owner is Amancio Ortega; a man who literally grew from rags to riches and he has achieved that from literally nothing to becoming the world’s fastest growing fashion label.

EVOLVE: What is the recipe to achieve long-term success? 

Mr. Nouman Zakir: The recipe to achieve long-term success is again consistency and never giving up. The minute you start giving up, either it is in your personal life or relationship or business; a man should be of his words and should know how to hold on to certain things. The other thing is that you should never have a bad reputation. If you want long term success, then you need to maintain mutually beneficial relationships. Short term success is easy but you will never last long.

EVOLVE: Where do you see yourself and your organization in the next 5-10 years? 

Mr. Nouman Zakir: By the end of 2020, I want to have at least a good number of flagship stores all over Pakistan and after that I want to open very large flagships stores all over the world with a great significance to what our brand persona is all about. Ultimately I would like to compete on a larger mass scale where we develop a sub-brand, which is a little more affordable, a little more for the masses, and that’s how we want to capture a certain market all over the world.

EVOLVE: Any message for the readers of EVOLVE magazine? 

Mr. Nouman Zakir: EVOLVE is doing a great effort to build Pakistani companies as well, to build businesses like my own and to recognize a lot of great companies and all the efforts they do. I myself have learned a lot from this Magazine and I feel this is how a better community is developed and that is exactly what it is doing. I wish them the very best.