interview ESSELLE: The Art of Making an Entrance
Suraj Lalvani, CEO of ESSELLE Limited, talks to Housewares magazine about making the best first impression, and the challenges faced by a new business.
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hilst Covid-19 continues to cause havoc amongst the housewares industry with forced closure of retail, ESSELLE Limited, a floor fashion company based in Manchester, adopts the key principle ‘Customer is King’.
Despite the challenges Covid-19 has present- ed, the company has adapted their business to overcome these difficulties and find new ways to operate under the new ‘normal’. Chief Executive Suraj Lalvani founded the business just over two years ago, having graduated with a degree from the London School of Economics and working in the City across finance and management consultancy at KPMG. He puts his current successes down to the opportunities given to him from a heavily business-minded family and previous experience in management consultancy during the peak of Brexit. “I am surrounded by entrepreneurs on both my maternal and paternal sides. It’s in my DNA. Everyone in my family has always been in the world of business so it has been a natural progression to where I am now.” Lalvani saw business as a new challenge after outgrowing his role in management consultancy. ‘It pushes me every day. I left the world of consultancy, it wasn’t a slow pace, but I believed I could learn faster and grow quicker’. His expectations quickly became reality in the first few months of setting up the company in August 2018. “My learning curve since inception has been tremendous, and it continues to be the case, daily.” Lalvani realises that, despite his education and upbringing into business, he didn’t fully interpret the role of CEO until he found himself in the position. “It’s a dynamic role that I have, and one that is very different to one that you study theoretically. It is a varied role that deals with everything from understanding complex financial instruments, learning and applying new intricate and innovative software systems, recruitment and developing long-lasting relationships, not least within the business workforce, but with suppliers & customers too.” Once in the role, he says he quickly understood that above all, his role is to ensure all the cogs run smoothly and efficiently. “I am essentially a problem-solver and that is how I spend most of my days. Understanding, digesting, strategising and advising on solutions. Not all solutions stem from negative problems.” The incredibly dynamic and ever-changing world of retail was something Lalvani was keen to venture into. Making the jump to a new career path allowed him to seek out new opportunities and experiences. Always
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interested in the idea of enterprise, he says he identified an opportunity to add better value in the marketplace compared to what was already available. ‘As long as I am adding value, that is my fundamental criteria. When I began my desire was, and it still remains today, to add value in every endeavour, keeping the customer at the heart of the business.” Standing out from competitors in the industry is an important factor and one that Lalvani and his team are determined to continue succeeding at. “One of the reasons we have succeeded is that we share interests within the factories that we trade with and it allows us to add value continuously. This gives us a niche and an edge that our competitors don’t have, so we are in a strong position to compete.” Lalvani continues: “In the past year - our second trading year - we sold over a million units of doormats alone. This is a small accolade, our first of many I’m sure, that we are proud of and it is a testament to the incredible hard work everyone in the business has done.” Whilst facing a particularly challenging
year, ESSELLE Limited has found its gap in the market and ways to add value despite the challenges Covid-19 has presented to both suppliers and retailers in the housewares industry. The past year has forced the company to find new ways to trade with overseas business’ and deal with issues online as opposed to face-to-face. Despite this, Lalvani
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says he believes the future is prosperous for the company as it prepares to move into a new, larger warehouse in March 2021. “We intend to expand our category range over the next two to three years, ranging everything from Pet Mats to DIY mats, Artificial Grass, Outdoor Rugs, Bathmats and many more. Anything that goes on a floor, we will be the one stop shop for it all,” he says. The company has also grown its online
presence significantly over the year, and whilst Lalvani anticipates a challenging year in 2021, he is confident that the value ESSELLE Limited continues to add for customers means he will be welcoming new trade and new customers throughout the year.
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twitter.com/Housewaresnews January/February 2021
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