About Loai Nassim: Loai Nassim has graduated from The Art Institute of Houston and is currently a prominent Saudi entrepreneur and the founder of Lomar- the thob industry (traditional Saudi male robe, TN) leading company. He was born in 1969 in Jeddah and is a married father of four.
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To begin with, can you tell us how did you come up with the idea of creating Lomar and why did you choose this industry?
Before we begin with the interview, I would like to say a bit about myself. I graduated from high school in 1987 or 1988. Then I enrolled in university, studying something that I didn’t really enjoy. Actually, it was because of my interest in business administration that I finally dropped out of the course. I spent the next 5 to 7 years developing my own business. By 1993 I have launched over 20 projects- some successful, some not so much. Anyway, in 1994 I decided that I’ve had enough and started working in Saudia, the Saudi Arabia airline company. My job was data entry and I remember I had a hard time that year, as I didn’t like it very much.
So, what was it that helped you escape this vicious cycle and turned you from an employee to a business entrepreneur?
I had a conversation with Dr Shihab Jamjoom. Knowing my love for design, drawing and photography, he suggested that I go to the States to study graphic design. I followed his advice and I travelled to Texas, where I studied at The Art Institute of Houston from 1994 to 1996. I obtained a Diploma in Graphic Design and was top of my class, getting an A+ on most of my subjects.
After graduation, did you manage to find a job connected to your field of study?
After completing my studies, I returned to Saudi and I was unemployed for nearly a year. That was in 1997. Then, in 1998, I started working for a company called Labyrinth, where I remained for two years and I truly learned a lot during my time there. Between 1999 and 2006 I worked for the advertisement agency Three Points. Then, together with some friends, I founded the company 3.0. I had to wear a thawb to work, but I found its look intolerable, so I designed a special one myself. My friends were so impressed with my work, that they asked me to make some for them, as well. I obliged and started getting more and more orders. My wife was of great help. I would design the thiab and she would chase suppliers and communicate with the tailors. She is now the head of the design department in our company, which was established in 2002. In 2004 I decided to quit my job and launch my new project, which I called Lomar. So, I started working on our first branch in Jeddah in 2005. By 2014 we had 14 branches in Saudi Arabia and 400 employees, including 90 Saudi citizens.
Did you need any extra funding during the various stages of the project?
As I mentioned before, I began working from home and I didn’t need much funding, as it was initially a small-scale project. The final pay that I received upon my resignation also came in handy. After that, two of my colleagues, Marwan and Issa, with whom I worked in the advertisement agency, offered to help me out financially in return of a percentage of the profit. I agreed and we invested SR 300,000 each. That was the case until we received funding from an investment company called Capital Sirage which bought 30% of the shares. After a while, Capital Sirage dropped their other activities and today we have six partners altogether.
You currently have several branches in Saudi Arabia. Are you planning on expanding the franchise to other Gulf countries?
Yes, the idea of expansion definitely exists. Next year I will be meeting with some officials in Qatar, Kuwait, Dubai and Bahrain, in order to discuss selling them the rights to our brand. By 2020, we will start setting up branches in Europe.
So, you will set your foot on the European continent by 2020?
This idea is on my mind these days. However, I have not talked it through with my executive directors, many of whom believe that the expansion in the Gulf alone is enough for the success of the company. I am planning on working more along these lines in the future, though.
You mentioned that 90 of your employees are Saudi citizens. The general opinion is that Gulf citizens are looking for comfortable jobs and don’t really like hard work. What do you think?
There is some truth in that. However, it applies more to young men, rather than women. Young women tend to take their work more seriously and to have a greater commitment to the job. The main problem that young people in the region face, however, is their lack of skills when it comes to sales and customer service. It is really difficult to find a young person in Saudi, who is capable of dealing with customers in a professional and friendly manner. I think that many of them consider this type of work to be beneath them.
So, it is not easy for you to attract young people to the type of business that your company is doing?
That’s among the greatest problems that we are facing today. In recent years, what we see are young people who want a career in business. Yet, there are few successful examples of young adults who exceed in their chosen path. Among them are those who quit their jobs, in order to launch their own projects. In some cases, young people would even resign from our company and go work for our competitors. This is a wary trend, as there is also a reveal of trade secrets involved in the process.
As it is difficult to you to attract young people to your company, would you try to stop them for handing in their notice?
I don’t mind employees leaving the company. However, I urge them to open their own business, rather than spending the rest of their lives in the same industry. Moreover, we are still prepared to provide financial assistance, as long as our formal employees don’t work for the competition. Yet, there are several good examples of such young people who have had great success in their careers. I remember a young man who was the deputy director of our thiab factory in Egypt. Now he is about to be the managing director of a different thiab factory in Saudi.
Do you think that the current business laws in the Gulf are likely to encourage investment and entrepreneurship in the region?
Most of the interest in entrepreneurship began after 2008 and I think what is done so far is an excellent start. I could not speak of the law in the neighbouring states, but I would assume the situation is similar to the one in Saudi. Here, in the Kingdom, the law is very effective and is in constant evolution in accordance with the business climate. It is still not as easy, as it is in the States, but it is nevertheless a great beginning.
What are the greatest obstacles that you faced when founding Lomar?
I suppose it was the social acceptance of the idea. Fortunately, we’ve more or less solved this problem in the past five years.
Did you face any criticism? Perhaps some people thought that introducing new designs was compromising tradition?
Of course, I faced some harsh criticism, particularly in the newspapers. I’ve been told that Lomar destroys the Saudi heritage and the thawb. That we’ve just invented dresses for men! That’s why I said social acceptance was a great obstacle to us.
What about the administration? Did you face any problems there?
I remember I didn’t start all of the administrative procedures to launch the project at once. As I thought they were an obstacle to its direct start, I completed some of them later, within the legal timings. I chose to do this because at the time the laws were too vague, unlike today. In my opinion, if somebody wanted to start all the procedures required at once, he would lose determination and would be forced to stop halfway through.
You mentioned before that young women were more dedicated to the job and more disciplined than their male counterparts. But do you assign to them separate or single offices and, in general, what are their work conditions? I think the situation in Saudi is quite different from the one in Bahrain.
According to the law, there should be separate offices for male and female employees and we abide by these rules. We have female office spaces in our factories which are completely separated from the male ones. However, that’s not always the case. The administration is one example. If a female employee encounters a problem, she refers the issue to the female manager. She, in turn, brings the issue to the attention of the HR department. So there would be some mixture, but only temporary.
Many young people want to be entrepreneurs, but perhaps lack the skills and experience. Have you had any issues with young people whom you wanted to employ, but they declined, as they wanted to open their own businesses? Do you think this phenomenon is threatening the job stability?
On the contrary, I see this as a positive trend. I wish all young people would try to understand the concept of entrepreneurship, regardless of whether they want a future in this field, or not. Becoming an entrepreneur is a long process, it has several stages. First, you need education and then- experience. That second stage means working as an employee in a company, perhaps even several companies, for around five years. After this, the employee could become an entrepreneur, if he had the opportunity. Ambition is also important. Anyone who wants a future in this field should have it.
You’ve overcame many difficulties and failed many times before you finally established Lomar. What are the skills that you gained and the most important lessons that you learned along the way?
I was full of enthusiasm. I was rushing all my decisions and I wasn’t planning properly. However, I learned from my mistakes and I realised that failure doesn’t mean the end of the world. Failure, I believe, helps you understand your weaknesses and identify your errors, so you can avoid failing again. I was sometimes sad to stop working on the projects that I’ve started. Nevertheless, I realised, as I gained more experience, that succeeding in some of them was never in my interest in the long run. That is especially true for the projects I wasn’t too passionate about. Fortunately, I was forced to withdraw from them in the very beginning and they didn’t have a great effect on the rest of my work. Now I realise I was very lucky.
I also learned not to start a project, unless I’ve studied in thoroughly. I do not mean the planned research which is taught in books and which could often be time-consuming. Rather, a study based on signals and signs that we pass to each other.
If you were sitting now with young Saudi entrepreneurs, what advice would you give them?
There is no one way to success. I can tell people about my own experience, but that doesn’t mean that this is the only road that leads to it. Everybody should be able to benefit from other people’s knowledge, yet choose their own way forward. Ambition and determination are essential, if you want to succeed. You also need to start small. But on top of all that, you should also have a big dream that can help you stay on the path to your goal.
Thank you for this opportunity to speak to you, we really appreciate it and proud of all the work you’re doing.