On Internet Business

Business Leader profile: Askar Sheibani

Posted by Michael under awards, Leadership

Born in Azerbaijan, Iran, Askar Sheibani arrived in the UK in 1972 to study engineering. He had no spoken English but his intense competitive streak and willingness to take risks led him to qualify as an electronics engineer even though he could see that he wouldn’t achieve what he wanted in the electronics sector due to what he describes ‘… as a lot of discrimination back then.’ But it wasn’t just discrimination that made him want to strike out alone. His first years in electronics showed him that many organisations were caught up in ‘politics that stifle you rather than motivate you’ so when he spotted a gap in the market, he set out to fill it..

But his efforts to create an environmentally, swift and efficient hardware repair centre in the UK were not appreciated by the industry, the government or his bank!

Sheibani had recognised that the lack of a UK based hardware repair centre meant repairs cost more, took longer, and had to travel long distances. He thought that it was obvious that a local repair base would reduce cost and turnaround time, as well as cutting the environmental burden. The DTI did not agree – the adviser he spoke to said British businesses preferred sending products back to their manufacturer and that Sheibani should stick to his job and not take risks.

His bank also refused funding because they thought it too and unviable. But he was not deterred – he invested £50.00 in a second-hand shed which he installed in his back garden and turned into a tiny workshop. His friends and family felt his plans were insane particularly as he had a young family. Sheibani was also told that his business would be ‘destroyed’ by the big manufacturers who would object to him taking business away from them.

His business, Comtek, now has a £10 million turnover and units in Wales, Holland and Germany as well as England. It’s repaired more than 2 million items for customers like BT, Orange, Siemens and IBM. It was the winner of the 2010 Green Business of the Year award at the Fast Growth Business Awards.

And twelve years after he founded Comtek, the Secretary of State for the DTI asked him to join the Ministerial Advisory Board – advising the very department that had rejected his entrepreneurialism

And his advice for entrepreneurs? Very simple: ‘No matter how many barriers there are, how many people try to de-motivate you, how many people say it can’t be done, it can be done. If you’ve got the passion, go for it. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do it.’

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