In an article in Forbes magazine, James Clear, a renowned American blogger, said what differentiates Sir Richard Branson from most people is his bias towards action and willingness to fail.

A similar description can be used for Hasnain Noorani, the founder and chief executive officer of Pride Group. Indeed, his mantra, “Screw it, let’s do this”, is something he borrowed from Branson.

As we wait to meet him at the lobby of Pride Inn Hotel Lantana, nestled in Nairobi’s Westlands, we cannot help but think about the blueprint Mr Noorani has followed to build a name for himself and grow his business. This may sound clichéd, but it fits this entrepreneur like a glove: the man has the Midas touch.

Noorani describes the Pride Inn chain of hotels as three-star, but there is nothing budget in their modern look or state-of-the-art fittings.

Passion, not profit

As he emerges from the corridor and walks towards us, we immediately notice the aura around him; we are in the presence of a driven man, a man bursting with energy and good cheer.
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“Welcome,” he says, extending a firm handshake and walking us to a table in the recreation area of the hotel.

At just 32, Noorani runs a business empire worth more than Sh5 billion. In less than four years, he has moved the business from a turnover of Sh50 million to its current billion-shilling value.

“I don’t want to mention figures, but we are definitely talking billions,” he says.

“I rarely look at the numbers — that is not my job exactly. I make sure that the businesses remains solvent. Profits rarely cross my mind because my passion is not hinged on profits. Businesses spawned on the lone basis of making profits don’t last.”

In December 2005, Noorani returned to Kenya from London, UK. At the time, he had just graduated with a combined bachelor’s and master’s degree in manufacturing engineering from Nottingham University.

Life in the UK had been good. He had a job with IMI Scott Cable Manufacturers, and his employer recognised his value — Noorani had designed a software that reduced the defect rate of manufacturing processes at the company from 35 per cent to 3 per cent.

Nevertheless, he felt he needed to return home to help his parents run their company, Glory Driving School. Young and gifted with rare business acumen, his father entrusted the firm to him, hoping the young man would take it to a new level.

Fresh ideas

At 24, Noorani became the CEO of Glory Driving School. The flailing business began picking up after he implemented a raft of new and fresh ideas. He increased the company’s fleet from 25 to 150 cars between 2006 and 2007.

After making progress at his father’s company, Noorani began thinking of ways to implement other ideas he had for different sectors of industry.

“Every time I encountered a gap, I interpreted it as a business opportunity and wanted to act on it. I have dare-devil thoughts. I usually ask myself, ‘What’s the worst thing that could happen?’

The Pride Inn Group of hotels came into being as the result of a visit to Eldoret.”

When he arrived in the town in the Rift Valley just months after taking over the management of Glory, he says he could not find low-cost rooms for a business traveller, “a safe place I could read and study without a problem, hold meetings with investors, watch news and have a good night’s sleep”.

The hotels available were either too expensive and for the high-end market, or cheap with poor-quality rooms.

He saw the need for a hotel chain that caters to business travellers; nothing fancy, but something secure, clean and comfortable.

“I went back to Nairobi and talked to my parents about it. After they consented, I began working on a proposal — a business plan to lay down the idea for a low-cost hotel,” says Noorani.

Getting financing

Armed with a document and an assortment of files to woo investors, he approached a bank for financing. His presentation was so detailed and relevant that he got the capital he required at first try.

In November 2010, Pride Group opened three Pride Inn hotels in Nairobi.

To Noorani’s surprise, the business did so well that he was able to repay his financiers within two years.

“They were very impressed because I paid earlier than they had projected,” he recalls. “I set off to build the chain and open other hotels in Mombasa and Kisumu. This time round, the funding was assured.”

He is putting up a Pride Inn in Shanzu, Mombasa, at the cost of Sh 2.5 billion, while Pride Inn Kisumu will cost Sh400 million.

Pride Group also has its fingers in tours and travel, conferencing, film exhibitions, driver training and car hire. And more recently, it added baking to its portfolio.

Noorani’s venture into the cake business was borne of a desire to meet another “unmet need”.

One afternoon, he went out to buy his wife cake, but was unable to find a treat his wife had become fond of while in the UK. He walked around Nairobi’s central business district checking out the offerings at supermarkets, confectionery shops and cafés. None had anything close to what his wife would like.

Designer cakes

“Since I had nothing to take home to her, I thought of starting a business that would provide designer cakes to meet clients’ specifications.

From that experience, Cake City was launched.”

This brought Pride Group’s businesses to nine, and counting, with Noorani intent on providing, “exceptional products and services at outstanding value” and “shaking up markets where the big boys dominate and bully consumers”.

How does he do it?

“Happy staff equals happy customers, happy profits, happy shareholders and happy business.”

Has he ever failed?

“Failure is part of business,” he answers. “Challenges are always there; it is how businesses grow. They give me a big kick towards making better business decisions.”

He is talking from experience. In 2008, Noorani lost Sh15 million on a mega idea he thought would revolutionise the driving school sector.

He had just succeeded in turning around the fortunes of his father’s Glory Driving School, and the profits were streaming in.

“I wanted to create Glory Institute of Advanced Driving; a fancier version of the driving school. The new creation would attract candidates interested in understanding instant vehicle diagnosis and mechanisms of repair.”

It did not take off.

But the Branson in him would not allow him to wallow in self-pity. It was around this time he got the Pride Inn idea and he began to focus his energies on birthing the new business rather than on the failure.

- By Gardy Chacha, standardmedia.co.ke