Meet Best Trading

Abdul Waheed, founder and Director of Slough-based logistics company Best Trading, has journeyed across the globe on the way to owning his own business.  

Best Trading was established shortly after Abdul had ended a restaurant venture and had been bought out of his shares in the Saudi Arabian company Best Group. Abdul found himself with £266,000 and important decisions to make.  

Abdul recalls, ‘I spent £66k on my house and put the rest in the business. When I think about it now, that was quite risky. It was all my money. If an order fell through, or a client didn’t pay for the product, I would have been penniless.’

Five years after this, the investment had largely been a success and Best Trading was stable. Regular orders from his contacts in Saudi Arabia led to a net profit of £116k in 2016. Waheed also began enlisting various family members into the business. His brother had come over from Pakistan to join the business, his nephew was in Saudi Arabia receiving orders and his brother-in-law was in Spain managing relationships with the suppliers. 

However, thoughts about succession began to creep into Abdul’s vision for the business.  

Help to Grow: Management

After receiving a letter about the Help to Grow: Management Course, Abdul jumped at the chance to enrol his son, Faisal Waheed, in the holistic management course that was 90% paid for by the Government. But as the time approached for Faisal to attend the course at Brunel Business School, Abdul got a message from him saying he was unable to attend.  

‘I was in Turkey at the time on holiday. Faisal was looking after the business and told me that he wouldn’t be able to attend the sessions as he was too busy with orders. He told me to go instead, so I did. I missed the first induction session due to my holiday but attended everything since.  

‘It wasn’t until the Module 3 case study when the lecturer asked me what my plan for the future was that I just came out with, “hand the business over to my son.” From this point on, Abdul started seeing real value in the course. 

Results

Best Trading has already made £700,000 profit this year.

The company is projecting £1 million in profit for the financial year.

Planning for succession

Although Faisal had been Abdul’s most ‘impactful hire’ and helped Best Trading increase profit margins seven-fold since he joined, Abdul confesses he is a ‘control freak’ and struggled to hand over tasks to his son.  

On the Help to Grow: Management Course the lecturer helped Abdul ‘come up with a succession plan and draft a shareholders’ agreement.’ Abdul adds that one of the biggest learnings was discovering how to trust his son as a decision maker which made the concept of a succession plan more plateable.  

Moving forward

Faisal now oversees the expansion of the firm’s supplier network and the procurement of materials, which has enabled Adbul to take a step back to focus on the firm’s strategy and growth trajectory, in addition to managing long-term client relationships.   

Abdul Waheed comments: ‘Supply chains and their networks have faced immense challenges over the past two years with many suppliers getting cold feet as businesses experienced a rise in input costs. Despite this, we’ve remained active in and maintained relationships with our clients allowing us to grow our share of the energy market, which will be crucial as we get closer to the colder months. 

 ‘I’ve always found it difficult to relinquish control and delegate, but the Help to Grow: Management Course has given me the confidence and insight to begin transitioning away from the day-to-day running of the business and transfer more responsibility to my son.’ 

On the back of hard work, networking, and the Help to Grow: Management Course, Best Trading had a net profit of over 700k this year and is expected to grow to nearly £1m by the end of the financial year.  

Abdul is now focusing on strategy and relationships while enabling his son to take more control on what appears to be a path to further success. 

You can find out more about how the Help to Grow: Management Course can help further your business here.  

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