Tooba Khan
Every success story starts with a dream and while there is a woman behind every successful man, this power couple challenges the norms with the man behind the successful woman i.e. Co-founder of Bagallery Mina Salman.
Bagallery being one of the leading Fashion and lifestyle e-commerce businesses of Pakistan announces Salman Sattar as the Chief Executive Officer from March 20, 2021. Bringing more than 15 years of industry experience to the position, he brings the maturity and focus that the company requires. He will be leading from the front to deliver sustained growth and frictionless customer service & experience.
This tale begins with Mina Salman, a beauty & wellness blogger and an online shopping enthusiast recognising a gap for authentic brands in Pakistan. While there was interest in the local market the choices were limited. Thus giving birth to what is now the biggest beauty, fashion & lifestyle e-commerce player in Pakistan.
Mina spent most of her life abroad, residing with Husband Salman Sattar in the UAE and travelling around the world. She saw the e-commerce market booming and could foresee its immense potential in Pakistan. And so, together they decided to launch this e-commerce platform in May 2017.
Initially the aim was to sell bags only which explains the name however, the business pivoted and on boarded a huge portfolio of beauty & fashion brands. L’Oréal and Unilever are one of the biggest partners for Bagallery with the partnership not restricted to sales & marketing but towards tech, sustainability, logistics and data science.
The year 2020 was when the start-up entered hyper growth with 2 key triggers fuelling the sudden increase in demand and size of the business. COVID-19 forced consumers to shop online, which not only created a demand for online shopping, but also pushed existing e-commerce players to improve their services. This had a similar impact on Bagallery as while the business had a massive spike in demand, it also put a strain on the company’s operations and customer service. The second trigger established Bagallery as a serious player in the e-commerce industry when the start-up raised $900,000 in a Pre-Series A round from Lakson Investments Venture Capital. Speaking about the investment, Faisal Aftab, the Managing Partner of Lakson Venture Capital and board member of Bagallery said, “The beauty & personal care market in Pakistan is projected to be worth billions of dollars over the next 5 years. This represents a tremendous opportunity for market leaders like Bagallery, especially at a time where internet adoption in Pakistan has attained critical mass with more than 80 million active users.”
Salman Sattar, hailing from Karachi had spent majority of his career in business development roles across Pakistan and Middle East. He worked with different multinationals including Unilever, Mondelez, Savola Foods and FrieslandCampina. His most recent role was that of Sales Director Middle East at Friesland Campina managing a business of $400 Million+. FrieslandCampina is a Dutch Dairy company and one of the biggest dairy multi-national organizations of the world with Salman being part of the Future Leader Program of FrieslandCampina which is managed by Ashridge Executive Education UK. A life-long campaigner and supporter of Bagallery, Salman had been mentoring the startup since its inception. However, since 2020, Bagallery needed constant direction and experience to fix its issues pertaining operations and customer service. Looking at the immense potential of the e-commerce beauty & fashion business in Pakistan, Salman took the leap of faith to join the company his wife co-founded.