Mohamed Nawaal Qasim, a grateful and proud product of Wesley College, Colombo, as well as the countless experiences that molded him into who he is today, is the current Director of Space Furniture. According to him, his success story was not one of ease or speed, but a product of pure hard work, skill, and determination. As an only child, Nawaal has never experienced anything less than the very best of family life. After completing his Advanced Levels, he pursued Business Management, eventually achieving his Masters in Business Management from Sikkim Manipal University. However, according to Nawaal, even with such qualifications at hand, his career journey still started small and with a small step as an executive. According to him, performing to the best of his ability despite the position he served has eventually earned him the iconic recognition and importance he holds today with pride and humbleness.

When managing his business to stay on top of their game in the industry, challenges that arose due to the import ban, which subsequently resulted in an inability to fulfill customers’ needs, have managed to mess with the company’s system during this pandemic. Thus, the financial cripple and revenue loss have impacted the business to some extent, according to Nawaal. However, challenges are universal normality when it comes to any journey towards growth and success, and Nawaal and the team treated this no differently than as just another challenge that has to be dealt with appropriately. By changing strategies to better fit the new normal, including diversifying their product range and paying more attention to local suppliers and manufacturers, Space furniture managed to stay afloat through the tough time of chaos. No staff members of Space furniture lost their jobs despite the difficult situation because their leader understood the position it would put their loyal workers in, and opted against such alternatives. By slowly getting through the extremely difficult days, to recovery position, according to Nawaal, the process is now slow but steady, and he is quite confident of retaining their original position in no time.

In Nawaals’ view, Covid19 has managed to change a lot of things, including consumer behavior. “Where consumers once craved luxury items, their needs and wants have changed with the changing situations, and we see that people are more focused on their day-to-day needs now more than anything else”, he explained. The way of purchase has drastically shifted to online methods, which is a necessary safety precaution, which has pushed Nawaal and the team to launch their business in eCommerce starting last year.

According to Nawaal, changes in consumer behavior demands businesses to change their strategies to keep up with their good work.” If we don’t satisfy our customers’ needs to retain them, then very soon we won’t have a business to run,” added Nawaal. Quite understandably, the success rate of a company greatly depends on consumer satisfaction, and those who work towards this ultimately top the industry.

As mentioned before, adapting and changing strategies according to the changing times has been a method the team religiously keeps up with. Facing problems has never been a cause for them to give up and instead they strive to dive through the difficulties to find a solution to get through the hardship. “If one solution doesn’t work, then we look at another until we come up with something that would work, both for us and for our customers”, said Nawaal, adding to that point. He also believes that an empowered and dedicated team contributes greatly towards the success of any business. It takes more than one man to make a business great and the team of Space furniture that is rich with such important qualities all the way from the bottom to the hierarchy has managed to keep the business running and successful, despite the many challenges which could have easily led them to give up on the years of hard work.

Nawaal refers to his employees as the biggest strength of the company and what keeps it running successfully. He admires their devotion to their jobs, commitment, and hard work that has managed to keep the company at the very top. Referring to himself, he believes what has made him or makes an entrepreneur successful are commitment, dedication, hard work, and honesty. Especially hard work and honesty, one can never go far, and will only achieve temporary glory. Long-term success sticks around those who work hard and earn it while remembering where they originally started from despite the extent of their success. It is a worldly truth that those who disregard the place that they first came from, will never truly know how to appreciate any glory they bask in.

Nawaal believes that honesty and diligence must guide one in all they do since it is the customers, investors, and employees’ trust that will have your back and will subsequently decide the fate of your efforts. Without the support of these parties, there is never any success one can achieve.

Plans come in big when it comes to space furniture. Coupled with a lot of new ideas for expanding, strategic modifications, diversifications, as well as creativity, Nawaal has a lot going on in his mind when it comes to 101 ways of bettering his company. Without going into details, he decided to leave all his curious customers with a promise to visit them with new and improved products which are innovative and are the most desired. He added that the biggest goal is to take on any upcoming challenge and face it head-on successfully, proving the strong art of teamwork and dedication in the face of chaos and misfortune, again and again.

Work hard, be honest, and make sure that once you get to the top of the ladder, you create the next level of managers and CEOs in your organization by passing on your knowledge, skills, and experience”, added this humble man, who is living proof that timely decision making, hard work, and honesty can take one further than anyone could imagine.