Dressing your brother in a bear costume in an attempt to secure private equity investment isn’t your average bid for funding, but Imran Hakim isn’t your average entrepreneur. David Casey met him.
Before you meet Imran Hakim you don’t want to like him. After all, he’s the 31 year-old who took the retail world by storm with the launch of iTeddy; a devilishly simple concept that consists of a media player wedged in the midriff of a teddy bear. It was the biggest-selling toy for Argos in 2007 and sales topped £11m last year.
He’s also got an array of other business interests, a contact book of celebrity friends – and he drives a Ferrari.
But Hakim isn’t someone that can be disliked beyond an initial handshake. Despite meeting on a grey Manchester afternoon, amid the UK’s worst recession in decades, his energy is boundless and passion intoxicating. It is this zeal that has helped him build a chain of optometry businesses from his hometown of Bolton and branch into the children’s toy market.
While the £140,000 he secured from multi-millionaire entrepreneurs Theo Paphitis and Peter Jones on Dragons’ Den opened doors, it would be churlish to suggest his success has been as a direct result of the BBC2 show. “If people knew the amount of time and effort that went into getting iTeddy on the shelves they wouldn’t believe it,” he says.
“The product is a simple concept on the surface, and some of its success lies in the fact it’s so easy to grasp, but there’s so much innovation. In a year I delivered what other toy companies have departments full of people to do in three years. Theo and Peter provided valuable advice, but it was down to me to make it happen.”
iTeddy is an interactive soft toy with an inbuilt media player that lets children watch cartoons, and play music and educational games. New content can also be downloaded to its memory. In the past year, distribution rights have been agreed with Vivid Imaginations, one of the UK’s largest licensed toy distributors, and deals are in place to sell it in 45 countries.
The story began in 2006 as the result of a bet between Hakim and younger brother Zubair about who could create a toy in time for their niece Aaminah’s first birthday. Hakim’s idea of fusing modern technology with a traditional toy was pooh-poohed by Zubair, giving him the impetus he needed to research the concept.
“It was like a red rag to a bull,” he says. “If someone tells me I can’t do something it gives me even more drive. I did a lot of research and realised there was demand for this kind of toy. Technology has become more portable and affordable so it can be seamlessly integrated with classic toys.
“A friend convinced me to pitch the idea to BBC researchers I’d met at a networking event in Manchester, looking for future Dragons’ Den participants. They liked the idea so I set about creating a prototype.”
Hakim enlisted the help of contacts in China and exhibited the first iTeddy incarnation at the London Toy Fair in March 2007, less than six months after coming up with the idea. Dragons’ Den followed and a sole distributor agreement with Argos was signed. “It was a whirlwind year,” he says. “I think my ignorance and energy got me through. There were so many issues – the design, health and safety, licensing, IP, quality control. But I managed to turn an idea at the start of the year and into a worldwide success by the end of the year.”
Hakim is a seasoned entrepreneur. The eldest of five children from a Bolton housing estate, he launched his first business buying and selling computers at 15. “I managed to convince my dad to lend me £2,000 to buy some hardware, promising to pay him back in a year. I managed to pay him back in a week. I was able to buy hardware, assemble the computers and sell them to family and friends at a profit.”
After graduating with an optometry and vision science degree from UMIST, he took the cash he made from his IT business and opened an optical practice in Bolton. Acquisitions followed and before long Hakim had built a chain of small independent practices.“I realised it was going to be hard to grow from scratch so I had to grow through acquisition if I wanted to make waves,” he says. “I also noticed an opportunity to hire more staff and farm them out to different practices so I formed a recruitment company, employing some of the people I'd been at university with. But being a control-freak, I still wanted more vertical integration in my business.”
After realising he was sending a lot of work to one lens practice, he bought the practice and followed it up with the purchase of Metzler from administration, the UK’s third-biggest frame distributor with brands including Reebok and Benetton.
“I was working eight days a week, 25 hours a day and needed to get some control back,” he says. “I set up a head office in Bolton and brought all the businesses together. It gave me a controlled structure and more time to focus on other projects.”
A brief flirtation with Thai boxing followed, which Hakim says wasn’t his forte, but in Thailand he developed contacts that enabled him to set up a shop fit-out business, having tired of paying over the odds to fit-out contractors. The result was an award-winning initiative – offer opticians a free shop fit-out in return for them putting business Mikah Eyewear’s way – his frames and lens company. His next move was iTeddy and the rest is history.
So what’s next? “It’s an exciting time,” he says. “I’m involved in a business incubator company, The Rainmakers, and setting up an office in the North West to help start-ups in the technology, green and innovative online sectors – adding value through capital and expertise.
“In this climate there’s a real fear that the number of start-ups will reduce and failures will increase. We need to spend time and money on start-ups now to be in a strong position when we emerge from the downturn.”
He’s also involved with Smarta, a social networking website for entrepreneurs, backed by The Royal Bank of Scotland, and helping to produce a white paper on the needs of small businesses after meeting with Gordon Brown and Peter Mandelson.
“I can’t believe what has been achieved,” he says. “I’m just a kid from Bolton that never went to business school – all I did was take time to understand myself, my motivations and surround myself with the right people. What excites me is where we’ll be in ten years.”
Also in: February 2009
-
When you're smiling
I make no apologies for handing our magazine over to some upbeat, optimistic and downright cheerful stories this month. We have deliberately sought out positive stories, looked for silver linings on the clouds above us and thought we may as well look at how you can be a better business, rather than just feel sorry for ourselves.
-
Get better, stay healthy, keep smiling
There’s no doubt it’s tough out there, but these common sense, and sometimes contradictory, business tips could make all the difference to your business.
-
Everyone loves a bargain
While the retail sector faces an uncertain 2009 after one of the toughest Christmas trading periods for years, one North West business continues to buck the trend. Rupert Cornford reports on the unstoppable train that is The Original Factory Shop.