Steppin g into her own
Young entrepreneur Nafisa Fazleali speaks to the Mirror Magazine about delving into the world of online retail with her store – ‘Peeptoe’
When Nafisa Fazleali quit her job and decided to shake things up a little by delving into the murky waters of online retailing, she knew what she was getting into. “But if you don’t take a few risks in life where will it get you?” she smiles. The travel agent of 8 years had her work cut out for her-in a country like ours, where most of consumers prefer making payments in cash, it’s never easy to start an online payment system. Yet that’s exactly what Nafisa did; a year later, she’s making steady progress with Peeptoe- an online portal for shoes and handbags t h at ’ s already earned a name for itself. A former pupil of St. Bridget’s Convent Colombo, with a degree in journalism and mass communication, Nafisa had never figured herself to be an entrepreneur. She fell into a job in the travel industry and had “eight wonderful years,” but then decided that it was time for a change of scenery. With her hus- band’s support she embarked on the idea for an online retail store; “I was hesitant at first,” she reveals. “It obviously felt like a very risky thing to do and I didn’t even know if it would be worth my while. But that was a risk I felt prepared to take.”
Planning for the website took almost a year. Setting up an online retail store is no easy business-finding the merchandise is most likely the easy bit! “The internet is a great tool,” shares Nafisa who did some research online and gained a fair idea of what the job entailed.
The entrepreneur travelled the continent in search of her ware. Keen on the simple, but classy-“Here you get almost every store selling the same selection of overly glittery, embroidered shoes. If they’re very pretty, then they’re also very expensive! Your average working woman can’t afford to spend that much money on a couple of shoes.” Nafisa travelled to Malaysia, Indonesia and China, established contacts with suppliers and returned home with a selection of what she deemed acceptable.
The inspiration for the website, retailing exclusively in shoes and handbags, comes