Salesman Spices Up Career With Afghanistan Venture

After IT sales director Harris Qais visited Afghanistan he was shocked to see the disparity between the rich and the poor, and felt compelled to do something about it.That’s when his business King of Saffron was born – providing an outlet for Afghan farmers across the country’s 30 regions to sell their saffron crops to Harris, who in turn plans to distribute them across the globe and share a slice of his profits with his suppliers to drive job creation and education.

Saffron is a spice that is one of Afghanistan’s largest exports, with the country growing more than 4,000kg across 800 acres of land. It is used in a variety of food and drink, and is also used for medicinal purposes.

The business launched in September 2019 after initially approaching the Growth Hub in November 2018 with just an idea in his head, and is currently working with Amazon to distribute Saffron across the UK, EU and USA.

The Challenge

Harris had a vision of what he wanted to do in terms of selling Afghan farmers’ crops for them, however, he had no previous experience as a business man and needed help on how to set up a company and bring his vision to life.

This included aspects such as doing market research, identifying competitors and abiding by foreign trading regulations, through to the business structure of the company and forecasting for the year ahead.

The Solution

Harris contacted the Coventry and Warwickshire LEP (CWLEP) Growth Hub in November 2018 about his idea, and since then has worked with Gavin Barnett, Business Navigator at CWLEP Growth Hub, to kick start his career as an entrepreneur

This included building up a step-by-step guide on launching a business, and pointing him towards the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce Start Up Programme, which is part of the Business Support Programme, part-financed through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to receive personalised business mentoring.

Gavin also put Harris in touch with the Department of International Trade who equipped him with the necessary documentation required to trade with specific countries, as well as advice on which countries to target first. CWLEP Growth Hub was also able to introduce Harris to the University of Warwick Science Park’s Business Ready Programme, which has unlocked contacts for Harris in the manufacturing sector to make his end-product a reality.

The Result

Harris has now launched his business, King of Saffron, with all of the right foundations in place to make a success of his venture.

He has links to 30 regions across Afghanistan where he can export on Amazon to places such as the UK, EU and USA, and has all of the necessary authenticity procedures in place to prove his product is pure and authentic.

The main aim for year one is to establish a regular trading pattern with the food, beverage and pharmaceutical customers for the raw material of Saffron, while the firm continues to make plans to create a drink and a nutritional product.

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For many individuals out there, it is very hard to figure out ways and know which direction to go when it comes to setting up a business. The challenges of taking your idea and bringing it to life and not knowing where to go and who to speak to for advice. it can get very frustrating..

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This grant [which we received with the help of the Growth Hub and Coventry City Council] will really help us get on track for business growth and succeed with our vision. Personally, I would also like to thank the team for supporting me through the grant application process. You have been very approachable and attentive throughout.

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