Headquarter In: Vadodara, Gujarat
Employees Headcount: 501-1000
A dynamic entrepreneur is someone willing to take on the risk of starting and running their own business. They are, of course, motivated by profit, but they are also inspired by growth opportunities and the potential for innovation. True entrepreneurs are driven to continuously improve their products and services They are risk-takers who are always looking for new challenges.
One such dynamic leader is Firdaus Nagree, the Founder and CEO of FCI London. He is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, and passionate scuba diver who has founded or funded numerous successful companies since 1999. After beginning his career as a strategy consultant with Accenture, he was involved in the London property scene, trading properties from age 21. He has been actively involved as an executive, board member or investor in various sectors, including Digital Hospitality, F&H, Construction, Interior Design, Retail, Bridge Finance, Proptech, Education, Aggregated Logistics, Property, On-Demand Food Delivery and Insurance.
Firdaus comes from a family of entrepreneurs. FCI London, in its earliest form, was a small mom-and-pop shop established by his parents in 1985. At the time, it was called Furniture Craft. After working for several years at Accenture, he joined the family business to help it grow and evolve. Together with his business partner, they bought commercial real estate property in
North London, and that’s where the FCI London showroom was born.
He is a passionate leader who firmly believes that challenges motivate him to a great extent.
“Entrepreneurs face many challenges on a day-to-day basis, but I like it. I love the variety of my work that constantly leads to learning new things and meeting new people. Learning and improving are the things that drive me,” he adds.
About FCI London
FCI London is one of the largest luxury furniture and interiors showrooms in the UK, showcasing over 700 of the world’s best brands under 1 roof in our 30,000 sq. ft. North London
showroom. FCI is an independently owned family business with deep roots in furniture
design, manufacturing and interiors.
The company sells the most exclusive luxury furniture from the world’s best designer brands. In
addition to their luxury furniture range, they offer a comprehensive interior design service
with a team of trained designers.
FCI’s mission is to create transformative, positive spaces that contribute to overall happiness
and well-being. The company aims to bring contentment into people’s homes through high-quality interior design and gorgeous furniture.
“We want to be the best at what we do, from the brands we work with to the level of service we offer. What drives us is our core values – the core values of the company as well as the core values of the individuals in it. Regarding the luxury furniture we import, our relationships with our suppliers are very strong, allowing us to offer bespoke options to our clients that they may not be able to get elsewhere. But what really sets us apart is our customer service. We are very, very good at it. Everybody says they’re good at customer service, but we genuinely are a cut above the rest because we own all the necessary moving parts in-house,” says Firdaus.
From the installers to the fitters, the delivery vans, the warehousing, the admin – it’s all in-
house and none of it is subcontracted out. So, whether you’re buying a custom-built
wardrobe from them or they are renovating the interior of a client’s entire home, FCI London owns that last-touch experience with the client. This has definitely proved to be a plus point, mainly because they are in the luxury sector and expectations are very high.
“It’s not enough for one person on the team to go the extra mile – every division, every team, must work together as a unit to offer an integrated experience that will simply wow people. And we do that,” asserts Firdaus.
Notable Milestones Achieved
Under Firdaus’s dynamic leadership, FCI London has won various different awards for best showroom, best interiors, best up and coming business. They’re all great, but the team doesn’t get over-excited about them. “The things we get excited about are our customer reviews. We focus on positive reviews as these are the real measure of our success,” says Firdaus.
He further states, “My most outstanding achievement has been building an incredible team. One
thing we’ve done really well at FCI is to cultivate a very accessible environment where people
feel safe to share their ideas. This creates a platform where everyone can be open, which leads to a cascade of creative thinking and innovation. When everyone contributes and they’re excited about what they can potentially do, they will strive to keep improving, and you’ll get the best out of them. I credit my team for our success and am very proud of what we’ve built together.”
Notable Moments in Firdaus’ Life
Firdaus believes that on a professional level, he has l benefitted massively from joining an organisation called Entrepreneurs Organisation. EO is a global network of entrepreneurs aiming to help members learn, grow, and find peer support. It has around 14 000 members and has been a massive part of his leadership growth.
Firdaus also believes that being part of EO taught him a great deal about leadership. He has learnt that a great leader is a servant and that a primary leader’s role is to serve the people that they lead. If they do this well, their team will flourish and grow into the best versions of themselves, which in turn leads to business success. “EO showed me that the best leaders are not afraid to ask for help. Accepting that you don’t know everything and that you can learn from others is both humbling and empowering. It continues to be an invaluable source of growth and learning for me daily,” he says.
The Bright Future
In recent years, the online aspect of the furniture and interiors industry has increased brands’
visibility exponentially. There’s a lot more emphasis on interior design being accessible to all
people across a range of price levels, whereas before, it was seen as the playground of the ultra-wealthy.
FCI London believes that this accessibility has changed the way people see interior design. Software advances mean people can see what the result might look like before they buy. This advancement has been the inspiration behind one of the most significant projects that they are currently working on – the development of a global SaaS platform that will revolutionise how people access design advice and allow them to optimise their living spaces without spending an arm and a leg.
Firdaus and his team have been looking at how tech innovation contributes to luxury furniture and how they can use new trends to improve the FCI experience for their customers. They are constantly dealing with new designers, products and brands, and now they are busy exploring the world of NFTs.
A Piece of Golden Advice
On asking Firdaus what he would like to advise the industry’s budding entrepreneurs, he says, “I would say, read as many books as you can on coaching because it’s a learned skill. If you take the time to learn this skill, the people you lead will benefit from it. As a leader, you’re a servant, and your role is to serve the people that you lead. The better you become at it, the more your team will grow, and success will follow.”
Also, he advises that for leaders who don’t yet have a meditation practice, this has been a game-changer for Firdaus. It took a long time to get a breakthrough, a long time of practice with nothing really happening – until something happened one day and changed his life.
“There’s a great book I can recommend if you have time – it’s called The Power Of Now byEckhart Tolle. I recommend that read for absolutely everyone,” he added.