RE: Labour Peer Lord Waheed Alli12 Dec 2019 07:51
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“I saw a gap in the Indian market,” the 54-year-old says, resting in an armchair at his offices near Covent Garden.
Twenty Koovs staff, mostly designers, mingle there with Silvergate Media, his most recent TV production company. The rest of Koovs’ 250 staff are based in Delhi and Mumbai.
Alli is banking on India’s young, digitally-savvy shoppers — 65% of the population is under 35 — who have more money to spend and are increasingly likely to order fashionable clothes online or on their smartphones.
But he has the hard task of convincing investors that his gamble on an emerging market will pay off.
Although analysts at Hardman & Co are bullish about its chances, risks such as a slower uptake of e-commerce or new entrants could hold the retailer back. It will probably have to raise more cash too. “If you take investors’ money, you have an obligation to deliver returns on them. We’re going to win the race that we’re in, our brand is going to win in India,” says Alli, confident Koovs will be in the black by 2022-23.