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Ajay Sethi, Mr Tweezerman UK - The public face of a global beauty brand
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Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast
Episode 49
Ajay Sethi: Mr Tweezerman UK – the public face of a global beauty brand
Summary
Tweezerman is one of the world’s best-known beauty accessory brands – and Ajay Sethi is MD of Tweezerman UK.
Ajay set up his business in the back bedroom of his family home, exactly twenty years ago. He became a joint venture partner with Tweezerman in 2018.
In Episode 49 of the Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast, Ajay tells Visiting Honorary Professor Mike Sassi about the pressures and pleasures of leading such a high-profile brand.
He also explains why he installed a disco glitter ball in the staff toilets.
Introduction
• Ajay Sethi spent the first fourteen years of his career in sales, with Spillers, Sara Lee and Cork International.
• In 2004 he set up his own business, QVC Global, in the back bedroom of his Nottingham home, selling TRUYU branded beauty accessories to major department stores and retailers.
• German conglomerate the Zwilling Beauty Group bought QVS in 2013 and Ajay became a joint venture partner.
• QVS changed its name to Tweezerman UK in 2018, when Ajay bought the rights to the Tweezerman brand in Britain.
• Tweezerman UK now has 20 staff, based in offices in Edwalton, Nottingham. Last year its turnover was almost £8m.
• Tweezerman’s beauty tools – including tweezers, eyelash curlers, cosmetic brushes and pedicure accessories – are used by A-list actors and celebrities around the world, from Margot Robbie to Molly Mae Hague
• The brand sells in 67 countries. Tweezerman’s premium brand tools are on sale in Harrods and Sefridges. In London.
• British customers have affectionately dubbed Ajay, Mr Tweezerman!
Key leadership takeaways
Ajay told this episode of the NBS Business Leaders’ Podcast about:
…being offered the chance to sell beauty accessories after he was made redundant from a book wholesaler.
“At the time I would have said yes to anything. If you’d asked me to be a horse trader, I would have said yes!”
…the importance, for businesspeople, of finding a gap in the market.
“[When I started selling] I stood in front of the beauty fixture in a major store and had a bit of a moment… I realised they didn’t have any pedicure files – and I had six in my range. I rang the buyer and told her she had a gap… to cut a long story short, we’re still supplying them, 20 years later.”
…the skills required to build a business.
“People do business with people. I spend most of my time trying to get people to engage with me… The most important thing is authenticity.”
…not realising, in the early days of his business, that traders need a VAT number to release imported stock to customers.
“I was told it took up to four weeks to get a VAT number – and I needed the stock that day. I begged, I pleaded, I cried… within two hours I had the number. But I’d never known that kind of pressure. I went into survival mode.”
…the role of a business leader.
“What I do is set out the business culture… I’m a great believer that everything is driven by values. If your value relationships [with staff and customers] don’t work, your business won’t work.”
…Tweezerman’s “funky” offices, with their neon lights, graffiti art and disco glitters balls in the loo.
“I want it to be fun for staff to come to work… and it’s a focus of attention when buyers come to our office. Sometimes they don’t want to leave. We have such a lovely energy.”
…the great potential for growth in his business.
“We’ve grown revenues 300 per cent in the last six years. Revenues are now at £8m – they really should [soon] be £15m. New products, new categories, now customers… I just don’t want to stop!”
…the pressures of being an entrepreneur.
“I have one hundred business ideas a day. Some days I don’t sleep!”
Related links
There’s more about Ajay Sethi on his LinkedIn profile.
The Tweezerman UK website is here.
Ajay is also a trustee of Our Dementia Choir.
Journalist Lynette Pinchess wrote this piece about Tweezerman, for Nottinghamshire Live.
If you enjoyed this episode NBS Business Leaders’ Podcast with Ajay Sethi, listen to previous episodes with…
Two Michelin-starred chef Sat Bains
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