To mark International Women’s Day this year, we talked to Mumtaz Hussain who, with her husband and her brother- and sister-in-law, owns the MBE franchise in Leeds city centre.
Mumtaz, who is 52, had a successful career in technology PR and marketing, working in the UK and Europe with big brands including Dell and Microsoft. She was also a freelance PR consultant for several years until she and her family decided to move into the franchise business.
"We had been looking at franchising for a while and my brother-in-law had worked at MBE Bradford for ten years, so when the Leeds store became available it made perfect sense."MBE Leeds had much to recommend it. "It was a reasonably sized, active business and the location is great. We opened in the summer of 2018 and I helped set up the business, putting many of the business processes in place and working full-time in the store for the first three years."
The previous owners had run the centre for 14 years. "We had an amazing handover from them. They were very generous with their time, allowing us to shadow them, so that from day one we could replicate what they had been doing and then gradually evolve the business in line with our own plans. And of course we had lots of support and training from head office."
The Leeds centre remains very much a family business: "My brother-in-law manages the store, my sister-in-law does all the finances and my husband works in IT so he sorts out the technology."
Fast pace
Asked what surprised her when taking over the centre, Mumtaz says it was the sheer variety. "You have everything from design and print to parcel shipping. And at that point I’d had zero exposure to the Auction Logistics side of the business. Just discovering all the different types of things people buy at auction was a real revelation."
Antiques and auction house shipping is now her main focus. "We are fortunate in that we have five or six local auction houses that we collect from on a regular basis. We work extremely hard to service them and our individual customers too. It’s important to offer a consistency of service because auction customers are buying from MBE branches all over the country and their experience with any store, good or bad, has a knock-on effect." Her favourite aspect of the business is customer interaction. "Building relationships is key. People know they can just trust us to do the job."
One of her biggest challenges has been building her team and finding the right people to work with. "There is such a lot to learn in this business. It’s not difficult but we have to be a jack of all trades. Print and design, shipping unusual items, sometimes to unusual destinations, perhaps dealing with people whose first language might not be English. There is a lot that you’re having to manage in one go. Thankfully, our current team have over 30 years of MBE experience between us. We try to offer our staff great working conditions, including flexible and part-time hours to fit in with their commitments."
Building on success
Such is the success of Mumtaz and her team that the Leeds centre achieved sales figures in 2023 that put it in the top 30 MBE centres in the country. "We can’t take all the credit, though," she says. "We are in a major city, in a central location in the heart of the business district, so we started in a really great place. On top of that, we work hard to deliver a responsive, quality and professional service."
Her efforts to recruit and retain the right people have paid off: "It’s all about the team, because a blip in the sales process can ruin the whole thing. We also work hard on maintaining and growing our reputation. If someone has been happy with our service, we ask them to tell us. Our Google reviews were at 4.1 when we started and we now have a rating of 4.7.
"Inevitably in business things can go wrong," she admits, "but communication is the key and as long as you make customers aware of any delays or any challenges coming down the pipeline, they are usually very understanding."
The Leeds centre also has the advantage of a large footprint. "Our basement is as big as the ground floor, so we can load auction items straight through the back door and into the basement, which helps protect valuable consignments as well as keeping the shop floor clear."
Their current customer base consists of small businesses and consumers, including students, but Mumtaz is excited about fresh opportunities being exploited by the new head office team since the acquisition by MBE Worldwide. "There will be more of a focus on the B2B space, which is definitely something we’re keen on. The head office team is so dynamic now – they want to train us and give us the tools and the opportunity to go out and pitch to larger businesses."
More benefits than challenges
Mumtaz believes it’s inevitable that women still face challenges in the workplace. "Unfortunately, the world has not moved on as quickly as we would have liked. But today, particularly for the generations coming up behind us, it feels like much less of an issue. And that’s even more the case when you have your own business, because there are probably greater obstacles for women in the corporate world."
Her feelings about being your own boss are unequivocal. "I think there is nothing better than running your own business. One of the things that hasn’t changed about women in business is that you are often juggling a lot of different things between your career and other calls on your time. It is easier if you are your own boss. It gives you more control. Overall, there are many more positives than negatives."
She also strongly believes in women supporting other women. "Tap into any networks you can, speak to other female entrepreneurs and get all the support available. There shouldn’t be any reason not to succeed. With digital empowerment, gender has much less impact."