Social Entrepreneur, Adnan Durrani - Keepin’ it Halal

Muslim Americans are in the middle of a fierce debate for their identities. Among the issues of concern include dietary needs, which Adnan Durrani has recognized. Serving as the Chief Halal Officer for his new product, Saffron Road, an upscale halal product, Durrani is excited about tapping into the natural food movement in the Muslim American community. elan was excited to talk to Durrani, a successful entrepreneur in the non-alcoholic food and beverage category.

Can you tell us a little bit about your background educationally as well as professionally?

There’s a complete disconnect between the two but I have a degree, from Columbia University in Electrical Engineering with a minor in Economics way back in the day. I had a robust career on Wall Street, and in 1990, I started on a different track, which was to specialize in socially responsible business ventures focusing on the non-alcoholic food and beverage category. That is what I’ve been doing for over 20 years now. For example my wife and I were the founders of Vermont Pure Spring Water which we built and then merged with Crystal Rock. I was also, thru my company Condor Ventures, a principal venture partner of Stonyfield Farms Yogurt, which is now doing over $350 million dollars a year in sales and is owned by DANONE. Subhanallah, I have a successful history of spotting the early stages of food niches that initially unrecognized and which later cause “game changer” mega shifts or create “category killer” brands in the food industry.

At this point in your career you’ve started about 3 successful multimillion-dollar companies. What would you say is the key to success as a business owner?

I’d say a lot of sweat and tears probably. For me part of the success is three-fold, one is to be very methodical about the particular sector I’m going into. I will research a category intensely sometimes for years before I decide to launch a venture. The second is to create a board and partners that are experts in that area. The third is being very cautious about execution. That’s where many entrepreneurs fall short. They’re very good at putting plans together but the plans don’t get executed. So the key to my success is that I assume that we will make a lot of mistakes at the initial rollout stages and expect some failure as part for the course, but to make sure our execution plan has a calculated risk tolerance and an aggressive path for success based on our initial battle testing with our consumers preferences and our retail distribution.

What would you suggest to young Muslims starting their own businesses?

I would suggest don’t ignore the Muslim market. A lot of American Muslims are very successful but they have taken a pass on looking at this very robust segment. Like Victor Hugo said, “Not all the armies in the world could stop an idea whose time has come.” Looking at this, you have an Ummah in America who are 8 million strong, much wealthier and educated than any other in the West. So I would suggest if you’re a Muslim entrepreneur looking to start something, to look at what are the opportunities in the Muslim American market. Don’t be shell-shocked like a deer in the headlights by Islamophobia – the current timing is actually very opportune, so Carpe Diem!

Saffron Road is a halal brand that is available nationally at Whole Foods in select US cities. What is your vision for the company?

My vision is that in the halal niche for a long time there weren’t really a lot of choices on the higher end organic value chain. So our initial mission was to provide a product to American Muslims and to mainstream natural food consumers that had all the elements of what I would consider premium. For us, that meant sustainably & locally farmed, anti-biotic free, growth hormone free, 100% veggie-fed, and certified humane. We are the only halal or kosher certified product that is also certified humane. But that wasn’t enough for us, my vision was to be the level of halal which sets a new standard in what I call Tayyib, which means that its not only slaughtered in the right way, but is also very concerned as to the humane living conditions of the animal.

What is the current demand for halal products in the US market? And what is the potential demand?

It’s hard to assess what the exact demand actually is. I know American Muslims are buying around 200 billion dollars a year in food products. American Muslims are also buying 3 billion dollars of kosher products. Over the next 10 years, we think $1-2 billion dollars will get converted to halal from kosher products, as more halal products become available. Another part to consider is the industry is going to grow just because of the way the supermarket distribution is going and we think that’ll add another billion to the market. Also there are many consumers that don’t eat halal that are Muslims but once more high quality halal product offerings that are really adhering to this concept are available in the supermarkets, this could be another billion in growth. An additional $500 million to $1 billion in growth may come from non-Muslims who identify with local farming, sustainable & natural products, and spiritual sacredness around food which is what we’re all about. That’s where we come up with a potential $4 billion dollar market in the next 10 years for halal products.

How do you explain the need for mainstream grocery stores to carry halal products? What has been your great challenge while doing so?

We’ve had no major challenge in terms of grocery stores yet to be honest. Early on, we had to turn down some mainstream distribution because of the way we work, which is dedicated to the highest QC we can offer and at a premium positioning. It’s pure economics. When you see this sort of tsunami coming, in terms of the economic buying power, it’s really not a hard sale with the supermarkets. The biggest challenge is that there’s no centralized certifying agency for halal products. The fact that there are so many different types of qualifications that could qualify as halal is problematic. We prefer more transparency in this regard.

You recently spoke at the Vatican, which is a huge honor. What did you discuss and what was the main message you wanted to drive home?

The conference was Building Bridges of Hope, and our panel is Equitable and Ethical development, in other words, how is my Islamic faith a driver for my ethics in business. This is a very important point, when I really distill it down, the golden rule around Social Responsibility is the same as in Islamic economics which has to do with social justice, equitable economics, and empowerment of the poor. So part of my talk is going to be around how my Islamic values drive socially responsible business ethics around global development. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation fund one of the non-profits I sit on the Board of and we have proven a successful model of interfaith empowerment of 1.5 million poor women and children into education and out of poverty in India and Nepal, in multi-religious villages.

What does your family think of your success?

I am very blessed. I have such a loving family on all sides. I am very lucky that we are very close and obviously they are very happy with my success. It’s because of their duahs that I am where I am.