Here at House of Coco we believe that part of looking and feeling good is making sure you also smell good. Picking a fragrance that will get you more compliments than you can handle is a tall order these days but, luckily for you, we recently stumbled across Sunnamusk and they’ve got fragrances for everyone.
Their highly skilled perfumers use only the finest ingredients and their founder knows a thing or two about fragrances. We spent some time with Kazi Abidur Rahman to find out more…
Tell us the journey that lead you to launch SunnaMusk…
We started Sunnamusk because we had a passion for fragrances, it evokes all memories growing up and it’s such an important part of our journey in life. We had the nose and the ability to spot a good fragrance and thought we would love to turn our passion into a business. We started off with a mere humble capital of £600 as a boot trader.
The beauty and fragrance industry was hit hard during the pandemic, how did you thrive during this time?
We used the power of social media and e-commerce to practically save our entire business. As a company that was retail driven, we had to quickly adapt and focus our marketing efforts online and we made a 10X increase in our online business. We also introduced products like Oud based hand sanitisers to stay relevant to the current pandemic environment which gave us a huge amount of exposure as well as revenue.
Who is involved in the business and what roles do they play?
We have a diverse and great team that makes Sunnamusk bigger everyday.
Kazi Abidur Rahman – Chief Executive Officer
Kazi Shafiqur Rahman – Executive Director
Iain Mitchell – Advisor & Mentor
Kazi Shahid – Chief Financial Officer with 20 years experience in investment banking
Hana Hidouci – Head of marketing
Do you have plans to expand your product range in the future?
We have plans of expanding our fragrance range to tap more in to the home care market along with tapping in to markets such as car fragrance which has been huge in demand. We also have a plan to launch 5 new Eau De Parfum fragrances in to the market by the end of 2021.
What’s the process behind launching a new fragrance?
Design and Concept Building, Sitting with our perfumer and giving the brief to them to come up with concepts for review by Kazi and his team, it is then refined and perfected. The creative team come up with the bottle designs and packaging, once all approved by the product development team. It is safety tested and approved for production and hand produced here in England.
What would you say sets you apart from other fragrance brands?
We are a London based brand with a middle eastern inspired touch blended with the London vibe to fit the best of both worlds. We focus on high concentration EDPs that start from a minimum of 20% concentration up to 100% concentrate fine oil fragrances which last a very long time.
What has been the biggest challenge you have overcome as a business owner?
I think the biggest challenge as a business owner is to have the challenge to scale a company with no external investors which means that you are very limited by your cash flow. As a business you have a lot of overheads and so sometimes it is difficult to balance between expanding your business and refining the existing operations. Sunnamusk however now has plans to open up to investors in the next 2 years to scale the company on a larger scale.
What does self care mean to you?
Self care is the most important thing to me, feeling good is all about looking good, smelling good, and ultimately giving you a boost of confidence which helps me go about my daily life and conducting business with people from different walks of life.
For any aspiring entrepreneurs wanting to launch a brand in the beauty sector, what advice would you offer?
I think it is important to have the right product and to stand out from your competitors. The second most important thing for me would be branding and marketing and that has to be 100% right.
Talk us through an average day in your life?
Wake up, check my emails, respond to important messages in the morning. Get ready for work, go to the office – catch up with my senior staff members. Respond to emails and important communications, work through my to do list in the afternoon and finish the day off with a meeting with my Head of Sales and operations.
What’s your go-to quote when lacking motivation?
Stop chasing the money and start chasing the passion.
Where can people find out more?
People can visit my website at www.sunnamusk.com or follow me on socials @kaziabidur, I also have many podcasts on YouTube talking through the journey of Sunnamusk.
Northern girl Laura is the epitome of a true entrepreneur. Laura’s spirit for adventure and passion for people blaze through House of Coco. She founded House of Coco in 2014 and has grown it in to an internationally recognised brand whilst having a lot of fun along the way. Travel is in her DNA and she is a true visionary and a global citizen.