Always Hustling

As far as movers and shakers go, Nadhir Ashafiq decided to shake things up by developing his professional moving company, Thelorry.com. He shares his story with Kathlyn D’souza

Kids from the ’80s and ’90s may be familiar with Neopets, a virtual pet website. While to some it may just be a great distraction and the first foray into some form of online gaming in the early 2000s, it was where Nadhir Ashafiq honed his entrepreneurial, finance and stock market skills. Having become a millionaire (virtually), the game spurred him to take on a master’s in economics and finance. Then opportunity came knocking during his stint at CIMB Investment Bank in the form of a higher position at a logistics company, which led to him cofounding Thelorry.com—a modern, technological spin on the traditional way of booking and renting lorries in Malaysia. Naturally, no path is easy to take when it comes to entrepreneurship. “It was tough in the beginning because nobody had wanted to invest, and we couldn’t gain the trust of people to make transactions,” says Nadhir. But, one thing occurred that led to a big break—which, coincidentally, can be used as sound advice for entrepreneurs, to never underestimate the power of networking, or ‘a random coffee session’, as Nadhir puts it. “I went out for coffee with this guy one day and he introduced me to some people, who then in turn introduced me to this other bunch of people who ended up investing in Thelorry. com,” he says enthusiastically. “All of that came out of this random coffee session. So I really think entrepreneurs need to understand the power of networking, and how crucial it is for your business. It’s always a good thing to make friends, you know.” Things took off from there, and one of his most recent highlights was being listed in the Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list. While he admits that there is never a dull moment, he recalls one bittersweet memory during the journey of putting Thelorry.com together: “I remember this one time when we had sleepless nights at the warehouse—we were getting ready to transport mattresses—so we stacked them up on top of each other, and I ended up climbing up the pile to sleep on it. So if I were to even fidget or move a little, the entire mattress tower would have come tumbling down,” he says with a laugh. “But it was a great, bittersweet experience that ended with the whole team bonding.” Rough experiences aside, Nadhir’s business philosophy is quite simple, but it bears such a huge significance. “Hire slow. I believe in taking your time to select a person with very good values, the right personality and the desire to do great things even without the necessary technical abilities, as opposed to perhaps hiring fast and firing slow, which can be detrimental to the company,” he explains. However, with the company’s recent successes and its growing accomplishments, he expressed that he is not interested in building empires, and instead chooses the humble path of start-ups. “For me, at the end of the day, I want to make this a successful venture, to grow the company, and make money for our investors, then maybe, I don’t know, move on to other things.” This jovial father of two is both extroverted as well as restless, and admits that he finds it difficult to simply sit still. “If my calendar looks a bit empty I feel a bit anxious, and I feel like it is not a productive day. I like to think that I’m in this ‘Always Hustling’ frame of mind,” he says. It is fitting, because he mentioned that one part of Thelorry.com’s culture has a key point which says ‘Speed & Aggression’, which we can obviously see is one of the main reasons that Thelorry.com has flourished today.

“Entrepreneurs need to understand the power of networking”