High stakes, high fashion: How Nuur Aqilah is walking the runway to success

Nuur Aqilah is redefining the luxury shopping scene in her home country, Brunei.?

The 33-year-old is the founder of London High Street, a luxury personal shopping service. Whether it is the latest Dior Book Tote or a classic Louis Vuitton Speedy bag, she makes it her priority to get her clients what they want. But striking out on her own has not always been easy.

It started as a side hustle when she was completing her master’s degree in London. At the time many European brands were not available in Brunei. With direct access to High Street, she helped friends and family purchase luxury items for extra cash.

Following her graduation, Nuur returned to Brunei and took a break from her personal shopper business. She started a full-time job, setting up and managing a Malaysian retail clothing boutique that opened in Bandar Seri Begawan.

The full-time position did not pan out and two years later, Nuur found herself in a slump.

“I was unemployed and going through a breakup. At the end of 2016, I had an idea to establish a start-up specialising in tourism and travel but that didn’t work out either. It was honestly the lowest point in my life as nothing seemed to be working in my professional as well as my personal life,” said Nuur.

But it was during the depths of the situation where she found the motivation to get going again. On a family trip to London, she decided to give personal shopping another go.

Nuur posted on Instagram that she was taking orders for Swarovski bracelets and gave herself a target of securing 20 orders. To her surprise, she ended up with 50 orders and earned a nice profit.

Word spread quickly through her friends and family, and she started securing more customers who wanted her to shop on their behalf. She took what she considered a “calculated risk” and decided to make another trip to London, which turned out to be a success.

In 2017, she decided to capitalise on the opportunity and re-establish London High Street. Luxury brands had not established retail stores in Brunei and online shopping options were few and far between. However, locals loved their high fashion and London High Street fulfilled that demand.

Making a statement

Nuur however, had to find the financial and emotional strength to face the future. She did not come from a wealthy family, and in the early years, the funds to keep going came from each successful shopping trip.

While she was always curious about starting her own business, her family did not share the same view.

“My parents wanted the best for me and for them, that was securing a job in the government. However, it wasn’t easy to get a civil service position and I was always interested in venturing out on my own,” said Nuur.

Her inspiration was heartened when she came across The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau and gave her the courage to start her entrepreneurial journey.

Nuur’s biggest takeaway from the book was that you do not need a lot of money to start a business. She took the author’s advice to start small and with what she had.

With limited capital, she asked customers to make a pre-payment prior to accepting and fulfilling their orders. Over time, the profits she generated were reinvested back into the business and she was able to open a physical store to sell available items.

Today, London High Street has 10 staff and two physical stores.

Striking a successful pose

When it comes to her definition of success Nuur thinks about it in four ways. First, it is about striving to be the best. In her line of work, that translates to providing her clients with an exceptional level of service.

She recalled a client who had requested a Christian Dior bag in a unique and limited colour. The bag was sold out in all stores in Europe but with tenacity, she contacted stores around the world and eventually sourced the item in its exact colour at the brand’s store in Singapore.

Second, it is about being ethical. Nuur makes it a principle to endeavour to do the right thing by others and herself, as an example to a new generation of entrepreneurs.

Third, it is about feeling content and at peace with the decisions you make, both the good and the bad. She felt the decision to strike it on her own in the high fashion industry was an incredible risk.

“Everyone has an opinion about what you should or shouldn’t do, and it’s up to you to listen to them or not. And when you’re faced with challenges, give yourself a window to feel defeated or sad but ultimately, move on and find a solution,” said Nuur.

As the sole business owner operating without a partner, the business burden falls entirely on her. Spotting the right trend and being wise about selecting items to purchase for her store, could mean not having an expensive inventory of items sitting idle in store for several months.

Fourth, it is about taking good care of your mental health. Financial, relational, or emotional challenges can make or break you, and Nuur makes it a priority to keep Sundays as her rest day.

Whether it’s reading a book or spending time with her family, taking a break from thinking about work also allows her to harness her creativity.

Entrepreneurship can be a lonely journey but having the right banking partner can help ease some of that stress. Nuur credits Baiduri Bank’s quick response as a big benefit. London High Street’s physical stores use Baiduri’s card terminals, but the bank’s support extends beyond the brick-and-mortar.

Its Payment Gateway services and MerchantSuite by Linkly – digital payment solutions designed to facilitate e-commerce - were also helpful tools to navigate her start-up’s success.

Insta-fail: From 44k to zero

The biggest lesson she learned so far is to not rely on only one social media network. In 2013, Nuur created London High Street’s Instagram account which, through the years, amassed a following of 44,200 followers.

For reasons unknown, Instagram disabled the account in August last year. Even though she appealed and tried to reach out to them, she was unable to reactivate the account. It was not until seven months later that the social media network apologised for disabling the account by mistake and reinstated it.

However, the account’s 44,000 followers were not restored.

“One of the lowest moments in the business was losing my Instagram followers, that hit me the hardest. I worked hard to grow my following and overnight, because of a mistake, it went to zero,” said Nuur.

She is slowly rebuilding London High Street’s Instagram account and has managed to build a following of 4,000. But she is no longer counting on one social media platform and is creating content on TikTok and YouTube as well.

Nuur is also developing her own mobile app, making the expensive investment which she was hesitant to do during her early years. She continues to operate much of her business through WhatsApp, where she posts live updates and pictures as well as communicates with her customers.

Today, the mobile app runs as a one-stop shop for her customers who want to browse items that are in stock or contact the company with special requests. Soon, she hopes to add a news update section with the latest in luxury brands and trends.

Navigating the pandemic

The biggest challenge for many business owners is the continued fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

When the first wave hit, Nuur thought it would be the end of her personal shopping service as there would be no demand for luxury goods. But as the business continued to receive more orders than usual, she soon realised that she was mistaken.

In 2020, London High Street saw record sales revenue of B$1 million, turning out to be a blessing in disguise for Nuur. She added: “With every challenge comes an opportunity. When COVID hit, I had a plan in place and knew what to do.”

That plan involved working with a consultant in London who sourced the luxury items and sent them to her in Brunei. This ended up being a more efficient way of conducting her business.

In the future, Nuur hopes to set up an office in London and work on establishing official collaborations with the luxury brands. From the United Kingdom, she will export luxury items to Brunei where she hopes will become a hub for her to expand her personal shopping business to the Asian market.