Spotlight Series: Raza Rubbani
Legacy Club shines a light on some of our members to see what makes them and their business tick.
We spoke to Raza Rubbani, COO of Sorair Technologies.
Please tell us a little bit about you the person (not you the business owner): A smile goes a long way in my opinion, over the years I have found my unique resilience amongst the challenges life has thrown my way. Having been gifted a beautiful family I cling to ‘hope’ every second of the day, that tiny ray of light that can inevitably rage into a shinning start. Empathy, charity and sustainability of my inner circle and my physical and mental health are the pillars of my day to day ‘why’.
My side passions: Golf, Gym, learning new skills and meeting new people.
Describe your business in less than 30 words: We are rethinking and innovating autonomous security for the supply chain sector. Soranet our AI/machine learning platform partners with robots (drones and on-ground robots) to create data, efficiencies, and overall monitoring for warehousing, commercial, asset/inventory/staff health and safety compliance.
What industry or sector does your business fall in to?: Supply Chain/Logistics/Warehousing/Security
What did you do before you started your business?: I co-owed my family business for 20 years; this was in food distribution within the hospitality sector. We covered the whole of the UK and reached a turnover of £47 million at our peak.
What have been the biggest struggles that you have encountered, and what did you do to overcome them?: Losing a 20-year-old business leaves deep scares that haven’t fully healed yet. The fallout of that is still very much a situation I have to deal with day to day. Truth be told I haven’t overcome my ‘biggest struggle’ yet. What I am trying to do to overcome the situation is focus on my family and what they need to get by day to day, this has become my daily step forward, my daily goal. Whether the struggle one has encountered is though negligence of outside variable, the self-blame, self-analyses and inevitable self-hate grows and grows, the only was to focus is to bring in the one you love and love you and make their welfare and care your goal.
Have you had any external investment to date?: Yes
Have you ever had to make any major changes or pivots to your business, and why?: Markets change, systems are updated, technology moves in variable directions, short answer yes, absolutely. Sorair we are endeavouring to be agile and lean, our focus is on supply chain logistics security first and foremost, pivoting/changing/our product, service, software, hardware, sector, clients are a must. Our MAJOR pivot – 3 years ago we started out as an ‘autonomous delivery solution’, last year we pivoted our offering to Supply Chain Logistics Security.
Do you struggle with, or have you found any of the following barriers to your business growth?: Access to finance/funding, Access to markets, Other
Do you have any business hero's, if so, who are they?: No business heroes, just examples of how people did ‘wrong’ and how I can do it better, if im lucky enough. Instead, I have close inner circle of individuals I look up to and access advice and positive forward movement when I am struggling, they know who they are.
Financial Rewards or Business Awards?: Financial Rewards
What was the last book you read?: Atomic Habits by James Clear
Tell us something totally unique about your business: Our drones and robots autonomously detect and film intruders in real time through our software platform Soranet and perimeter boundary sensors. It autonomously alerts an assigned dedicated security/authority agency to take defensive measures.
Finally, please tell us what we can look forward to with your business in the next 12 months.: After our completion of Techstars Turin, we have upcoming exciting news with further investor/accelerator programmes beginning in the coming months.
We have several go-to market opportunities in progress (POC), we have signed partnership agreements which gives us access to major retailers, they will require on-premises security within their large warehousing and asset locations.
Our seed funding window is ending Sept 2023 and next year we will be raising series A, very exciting 12 months to follow watch this space.
