Designer Hair Cut in just 15 minutes at Rs.99 might have sound unusual to us a few months back! But World Famous Hair Stylist Jawed Habib made this possible with “Hair Express”. Jawed Habib’s vision of creating a small compact universe of hair grooming and care taken shape with “Hair Express”. It is primarily pre-fabricated plug and booth in atrium of thriving and pulsating malls. It has 3 dry hair styling stations manned by the best of the Javed Habib’s team of trained technicians hand picked by Habib from his trained hair stylists. Soon it became well-known and favorite among the youth! In fact its popularity turned “Hair Express” into “HairXpresso”!The passionate Entrepreneur and managing partner of ‘Jawed Habib Hair Express” Mr. Zafar Khan shared his views with Franchise Mart on the success of “Hair Express”.

FM: How the concept of “Jawed Habib Hair Express” was originated and grown?

ZK: Renowned Hair Stylist, Mr. Jawed Habib was on a foreign tour. There he noticed the popularity of dry hair-cut. Within 15 minutes a hair style was giving brand new look to males and females. Specially while his tour of Malaysia the dry-hair cut concept impressed him a lot and he thought to introduced the same in India. Thus the concept of “Hair Express” was originated. The maiden Hair Express Salon at Raghu-leela Mall, Vashi opened in June and this budget hair salon chain became popular in a very short span of time!

FM: What qualities do you look in the prospective franchisees for “Jawed Habib Hair Express”?

ZK: We look for these four to five major qualities in our prospective franchisees. First, they should be proper cultural fit for us. As well as they should be light-minded people. Secondly, they must have general administrative abilities. Third, they should have Pre-disposition towards Beauty-Industry. Fourth, they must ensure how they are going to run or manage the Franchise. And fifth quality is their ability to invest.

FM: How many franchisees do you have in all cities?

ZK: We started giving our “Hair Express Franchise” in June. Our maiden “Hair Express Salon” was opened in at Raghuleela Mall, Vashi. Since then we have successfully opened 30 Hair Express Franchise till October, 2009. And Franchise Mart has assisted us getting 9 successful franchises.

FM: How much investment is required by an aspiring franchisee in taking the Hair Express?ZK: The total investment required to open a Hair Express Franchise is 15 to 20 lakh, in which the contribution of a Franchisee is only 25% where as 75% is funded by Bank.FM: Tell us about the Hair Express turning HairXpreso!

ZK: Well, the enormous success of Hair Express compelled us to cut down the waiting period. Thus the HairXpreso franchisees decision to build 300% more capacity for production to avoid patron’s inconvenience was inevitable.

FM: What are the company’s future plans?

ZK: Recently we have started our office in Malaysia. Mr. Garry Leu is the Chief Executive Officer helping us to expand across Asia. We are also hiring Professionals in US and Europe to extend our reach in Europe and US too.