“People talk about the American dream but I think there is a British dream”, A London Migrant Entrepreneur Story
Last December, we sat down with experienced entrepreneur, Edin Basic, to speak to him about the sale of his pizza delivery business and his interest in migrant issues and entrepreneurship.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of businesses are started with the hope of becoming successful. We met with the founder of Firezza, Edin Basic, to understand the key to his success, as well as the difficulties that entrepreneurs, and especially migrant entrepreneurs, can face on their journey.
After fleeing Bosnia in 1992 to escape the armed conflict, Basic arrived in London with no resources. He started washing dishes in the kitchen of a restaurant, and eventually made a living for himself. In 2001, he brought a pizza chef from Italy to London and started Firezza, a chain of restaurants specialising in wood-fired pizza. After fifteen years of growing the business, Firezza was eventually sold to PizzaExpress (backed by Chinese private equity firm Hony Capital) in 2016.
From Making Pizzas, to Making Deals
After buying out his previous shareholders and raising money from new private investors, Basic initially intended to expand Firezza to 35 sites, having already opened 14 restaurants. However, when he noticed the rise of food delivery services such as Deliveroo and the convenience they offered, he recognised that the dynamics of the retail food and beverage industry were at risk of change. It was during this period that Basic realised it was the right time to move on from Firezza. After being approached by larger restaurant chains and a few private equity firms, he eventually decided to sell Firezza to PizzaExpress.
For Basic, the sale process was long and arduous. On top of working daily to ensure Firezza’s earnings met the buyers’ expectations, he was also heavily involved in the due diligence process, a process he described as “a full-time job”. However, the final days leading up to the sale were not much easier. Basic recounts this period as one with “intense” negotiations and long hours spent questioning and fact checking with the buyer’s representatives. This long process eventually culminated in the signing and sale of Firezza to PizzaExpress in February of 2016. When asked if there were any celebrations to follow, Basic said that the whole process was so tiring, “physically” and “emotionally”, that he did not partake in much. Instead, he took the last train home and poured himself a glass of wine before going to bed. The realisation only really came to him when the payment for the sale was processed the following Monday, and he recognised that things had changed. To similar aspiring entrepreneurs, his advice is simple:
“It is always helpful to know your exit strategy from day one. From there, every decision you make has to incorporate or relate to your overall strategy. Your end goal might change along the way, but that is normal. Even if you have a great idea, it is just as important to have a direction.”
Work Smarter, Not Harder
Now, more than two years after the sale, Basic has the freedom to involve himself only in work or projects that he is passionate about. Some of his passions include migrant issues and enabling entrepreneurship, which we spoke to him about further. Basic now devotes much of his time to mentorship and building his portfolio as an investor. He is the founder and CEO of Basic Instinct Consultancy, a consultancy group that advises entrepreneurs in areas such as mergers and acquisitions, and sits on the advisory board of The Entrepreneurial Refugee Network (TERN), an organisation that supports migrant entrepreneurs in developing their businesses. From the point of view of an adviser and an investor, Basic shared his observations as to what the main obstacles for entrepreneurs are today. He began by expressing his annoyance for the label “hustling entrepreneur”:
“If you’re an entrepreneur, you hustle and hustle until you get what you want. This has a positive meaning but also a negative one. I think there needs to be more structure when entrepreneurs look for help.”
An investor’s time is valuable and Basic believes entrepreneurs should not rely entirely on their hustling ability. He believes entrepreneurs should always devise a business strategy and think about how they can produce a beneficial outcome for everyone:
“Let us say you’re a hustling entrepreneur, you need investments and you need help from the investor with strategy and so on. What are you going to give away? This is a question that strangely throws people off.”
When asked about the importance of developing business acumen through experience, Basic spoke about how entrepreneurs can also learn from the experiences of others. By speaking at events and networking with start-ups and entrepreneurs, Basic aims to use his experience to guide others and help them develop tools to enhance their hustling work ethic.
Making the Best of Your Circumstances
We then spoke to Basic about his advice for migrant entrepreneurs specifically. When comparing the challenges that migrant entrepreneurs face today with those he faced during the early stages of building Firezza, he highlighted the fact that there is much more help available today with organisations such as TERN. However, Basic was quick to clarify that such help did not have to be charitable:
“Migrants are regular people. They just want to run their businesses and want real, focused advice in doing so.”
A large difficulty that Basic highlighted was the amount of competition there is. He believes that it is extremely difficult to stay ahead of the competition, especially without building a strong network. To Basic, integration is key to building a network. However, he recognises that this is not straightforward:
“When you come to another country as a refugee, especially if you were forced to flee your home country, there is a lot of psychological trauma. It is a big shock for some people. People get together in their own communities, thinking that they will only be here temporarily, and so they do not integrate. But what happens when you end up staying for years and build a life here? When I arrived, I accepted that I was here and decided to see what I could do.”
London Calling
Lastly, we asked Basic about the United Kingdom and specifically how easy it was for him to integrate in London:
“It was very easy to integrate here. I know London inside out now. I am a Londoner. People talk about the American dream but I think there is a British dream. I embraced the hospitality of everyone here and met investors and mentors that helped me succeed.”
“As a refugee, it was easy to ask why this happened to me. What did I do to deserve this? But I did not think about it that way. I saw this as a fortunate situation. Not many people are able to say that they faced these obstacles and came out victorious.”
The crux of Basic’s message to aspiring migrant entrepreneurs is that you are not alone. This message is somewhat of a double-edged sword. In the highly competitive world of entrepreneurship, new competing ideas and businesses are being created everyday. But Basic believes that by asking for adequate help and resources, it is possible for anyone to go out, and make the most of it.
This news article was drafted by students from the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London: Shivraj Rajendran and Arif Faiz.
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