Creative Capital: The Singaporean brand builder selling yoga mats and more

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Creative Capital: The Singaporean brand builder selling yoga mats and more

Heikal Gani has built several brands, including Sugarmat for yoga lovers, Indochino for men's tailoring needs and most recently, Lasouk for contemporary Muslim women.

(Photo: Heikal Gani)

06 December 2022 06:30AM (Updated: 09 Jul 2022 11:09PM)

One of the fallouts of the pandemic that many of the states forget is that information technology has displaced thousands of people – students, workers, business owners, etc.

I of those people is 39-year-old Heikal Gani, a successful Singaporean businessman who, until the circumstances of 2020, has been living overseas since his academy days.

Heikel usually shuttles between Montreal and Shanghai, but thanks to what was meant to be a quick trip home, he's been here since March, with no timeline on when and if he volition go out.

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As an entrepreneur, he has also kept himself crazy busy. Already the founder of a successful online men's tailoring company, iii years agone he set up Sugarmat, a yoga and yoga accessories company, which was selling its wares primarily in N America and Prc.

Heikal has taken the fourth dimension at home to ready a new Singapore function for Sugarmat and has been using this new base to service regional orders, expanding his market share tremendously.

And if that wasn't plenty to continue him decorated, he also, during Excursion Billow, launched a new global company, Lasouk, which sells contemporary prayer mats, beads and robes for the modern, confident and fashionable Muslim woman.

HEIKAL, WHERE ARE You lot Now? ARE Y'all However IN SINGAPORE?

I've been 'stuck' in Singapore since belatedly March. I left Cathay in February, where my part of 20 staff are based – I also take 5 staff in Montreal – only before Chinese New Yr.

I came back to Singapore for a quick visit. I had planned to head off over again to give a spoken language at an all-women's digital briefing. When I was on the aeroplane here, I received news that the event had been cancelled. And so my plane was delayed and landed in Singapore past midnight, the deadline later which all incoming tourists and returning Singaporeans needed to be placed under Stay Home Notice (SHN). That was a signal to me that I was in for a ride.

I am probably not travelling out for the fourth dimension beingness. I feel similar the way nosotros've been working now, although imperfect, has been going quite well, peculiarly with me and the three offices I have at present in Canada, China and Singapore. Once it's safe to travel again, I am probably going to take a slightly lengthy vacation because this has been quite a year in terms of productivity, success and challenges.

YOU LEFT SINGAPORE AT A PRETTY Immature AGE. DID YOU Ever Wait YOU WOULD HAVE TO SPEND A BIG Office OF THE YEAR Back IN YOUR HOMELAND?

I left Singapore at the age of twenty, after my national service, for university studies in Victoria, Canada. I then left Canada to live in Shanghai for 12 years. This year has been the longest time I've been back in my home country, so information technology'due south prophylactic to say I never idea I would be back home for this long.

HAS SINGAPORE Changed IN ANY Means THAT SURPRISED YOU?

I love the expediency and efficiency of running a business in Singapore, from setting up a new business concern, importing products and hiring expertise to help yous run the business organisation. What I fear is going away is the sense of resourcefulness and grit that I see in other countries, especially since I've been in Prc for over a decade. I've seen how China's cities take get truly cosmopolitan. They accept a brand-practice approach and the highest sense of creativity in dealing with bug and difficulties, which can merely be limited by their ain imagination. This mindset has undoubtedly really helped me build my brands.

READ: Creative Capital: How a 'modern-twenty-four hours polymath' put Singapore on the earth pattern map

HOW DID Y'all INITIALLY DEAL WITH Being STUCK Back Dwelling house?

I have adequate staff in Shanghai and Montreal, but during the "circuit breaker" in Singapore, I had to work more often than not on my own here. I became the logistics manager, marketer, packer, customer service officer, warehouse manager – you name information technology. It does remind me of my first year of Indochino – being in a strange country, speaking lilliputian of the language, buying, stocking, cutting fabrics and thereafter sending them to the tailors, packing and sending the suits to clients all over.

So yes, I guess things were tough, but I would say I couldn't have been whatsoever more prepared or prepare for this situation. I had plenty tools and tricks to piece of work through problems. It also laid the groundwork for expanding my business in Singapore.

One OF YOUR Iii BRANDS IS SUGARMAT, A YOGA MAT AND Clothes COMPANY. Do YOU Think THE ATHLEISURE Market place IS REALLY CROWDED?

The athleisure field is definitely crowded, but it is too still a fast-growing marketplace, and when I feel I have a unique point of view on the marketplace, I like to tell that story. I think with existing brands similar Lululemon and Manduka, these brands are inclined to be more serious, professional person, and all about winning. Though there's nothing incorrect with that ethos, I similar to offer something more relaxed and happy, and I recollect a great bargain of customers have a lighter mental attitude on their workouts. They want to have to fun working out. That'south what Sugarmat embodies.

We launched three years ago and we've grown to the centre of vii digits in that time, with nearly of the growth really taking place this yr. We doubled our revenue compared to terminal twelvemonth, selling nigh 150 mats a mean solar day. This growth has to be attributed to the pandemic, in which we see people working out at home. But the growth is also because I've as well expanded to many new markets, including Singapore.

Setting up a regional office here has laid that footing work for us. We now have products warehoused in South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia and Germany, besides the ones nosotros take in the States, Canada and Singapore already. In fact, Singapore became our 5th biggest market during the circuit breaker, which is huge because we've never washed any marketing in Singapore at all.

I LOVE THE PACKAGING AND Blueprint FOR SUGARMAT. HOW INVOLVED ARE Y'all IN THE Fine art AND Artistic DIRECTION?

I have a creative squad that helps to design and source elements of the project, but every idea on packaging and production begins with me. I either sketch or give the team a crude blueprint to be polished or sampled, and we work on a few iterations before we reach a final sample. During the procedure, nosotros tend to accept a holistic view, non only working out the design aspects simply besides exploring the messaging and the potential ways in which customers volition interact with the new production. This process could exist different, simply over the years this way has worked out actually well for me and the team, and ultimately benefits our customers.

TELL ME ABOUT LASOUK. WHAT WAS THE INSPIRATION FOR THIS Brand?

Over the years, I accept travelled to Marrakesh, the main inspiration for the brand, many times and just love how culturally diverse the Muslim population is there. Information technology is amazing to see the compages and designs that meld Islamic architecture with a strong Andalusian and European influence. There are a lot of Sufi elements, which is the mystical dimension of Islam that emphasises introspection and spiritual closeness with God, and directs followers' attention in. I like how progressive and contemporary that whole idea is, for a club that lives in devotion to God while living in such smashing and magnificent beauty.

I THINK THE YOUNG OR HIP MUSLIM Market place IS A MYSTERY FOR MANY OF United states of america. CAN You Requite ME A LITTLE MORE INSIGHT INTO YOUR Customer Base?

I did tons of research on who my platonic customer was, and there seems to be a consequent theme. We run across the rise of the outspoken 'futurist' Muslim woman – ane who is comfortable in her own skin, knows what she wants and stays firmly rooted in the values that define her. We are targeting millennial-spirited Muslim women from the age of 20-45 who are socially engaged, tech savvy and cocky-empowered. These are individuals who are fully engaged with the earth. They are as well consumers with increasing disposable income; they are brand witting and loyal, and hold brands to account. These girls are well-travelled, cosmopolitan, spiritual and modern.

HOW HAVE Yous GOTTEN WORD ABOUT LASOUK OUT TO CUSTOMERS?

Digital marketing, social media and give-and-take of oral cavity are the go-to tools I tend to play with whenever I get-go a new project. While nosotros are e'er trying to be creative in our marketing outreach with customers, the rudiments of digital marketing are ever pretty articulate: We have to brand our ads highly-seasoned to our target audition, and this involves testing and constantly monitoring data.

CAN Y'all TALK TO ME ABOUT THE PRODUCT RANGE?

Moroccan-inspired all the way through. Our commencement prayer mat collection was so successful that all the subsequent production designs take stayed true to the idea of jubilant Marrakesh. That said, nosotros didn't set out to be exclusively Marrakesh. But it would be foolish not to develop things that your existing customers love. I would say Lasouk's products are unabashedly contemporary and designed to pull at the heartstrings of our customers.

I Beloved THAT LASOUK HAS A PHILANTHROPIC Chemical element TO IT. CAN Yous TELL ME More Near THAT? AND DOES GIVING BACK PLAY A Large ROLE IN YOUR LIFE?

Information technology really does. I've realised that no man, and ultimately no brand, can act in isolation, and that we are all related cosmically to the fate of others and injustices being done elsewhere. With Sugarmat, we felt the need to support Black Lives Matter efforts, speak out and accept a not-performative point of view as a brand. I hope by raising bug through this platform, and collaborating with and promoting Blackness artists, we tin contribute to conversations that help to motion the needle towards social and creative equality.

Lasouk donates to Efamorocco, a clemency that provides education and boarding for underprivileged girls living too far from an educational establishment. I will personally vouch that both make platforms will continue their work to raise awareness and show support. Changes are happening, but we must continue this work to ensure that the affect is long-term.

Allow'S TALK ABOUT INDOCHINO, YOUR FIRST Brand. WHEN DID YOU Kickoff THAT?

I was in my 4th year of academy studies, and exasperated by the lack of jobs upon graduation, my best friend and I decided to play with a few concern ideas. I came up with the thought when I heard from a friend most people coming dorsum from Asia with an inexpensively custom made adapt. This was tardily 2007. Based on an thought, I decided to drop out from my studies and motion to Shanghai, with nothing but an empty pocket total of dreams.

WAS LAUNCHING YOUR NEW BRANDS EASIER THANKS TO YOUR EXPERIENCES WITH INDOCHINO?

Absolutely. I went through a tough yet heady fourth dimension with Indochino. Nosotros built a company out of college, with absolutely no experience, simply naivete and pure ambition. We grew actually fast right out of the gate, hitting eight figures in the third yr. We were collectively managing more than 200 employees, with a board of directors from Silicon Valley. Our chairman at that time was Jeffrey Mallet, the former President and COO of Yahoo.

DO YOU Experience YOUR Three BRANDS TELL A STORY ABOUT Yous?

I'g certain they do, although in that location was no deliberate attempt to practice that. My goal is to build disruptive companies that are focused on serving customers.

Practice Y'all CONSIDER YOURSELF A Artistic, A BUSINESSMAN OR A Brand Architect?

I call back to be a successful entrepreneur, one needs to sympathize and accept all these characteristics. I wear unlike hats depending on the task at hand. I similar to build emotive products that are commercially successful. That's a sure mensurate to check how much your brand has touched the lives of your customers through your artistic effort. I can also put on my money managing director hat and scrutinise balance sheets when the demand arises.

WHAT HAS BEEN THE HARDEST LESSON TO LEARN As AN ENTREPRENEUR?

Existence an entrepreneur can be a lonely matter. There's no 1 to pat you on the back. No one knows how difficult you lot have to piece of work, and the emotional stress you become through. And fifty-fifty if people become what you're saying, there'due south no way they sympathize you to the level you want them to. Over the years, I think I've learned how to emotionally address these things, and make myself the priority. Being lonely as well does not take to mean yous're alone.

WHAT'Southward NEXT FOR You lot?

I would like to practise something in F&B, an industry I once swore never to be involved in. Only now I'yard warming up to the idea of creating something experiential — that just sounds so exciting.

Creative Capital: The Singaporean brand builder selling yoga mats and more

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