'I live in one of the most deprived areas of Coventry and now own multi-million-pound businesses'

A Coventry entrepreneur who started from nothing now owns multi-million-pound businesses. Riz Navarka from Hillfields is the owner of the shisha brand Smoke Connoisseur and a coloured contact lens company MesmerEyez.

He gained a part-time job to get through his university studies and sold customised boxing gloves on the e-commerce website eBay. His first business MesmerEyez was inspired by his sister Maria who was a fan of coloured lenses.

Riz told CoventryLive: "When I finished college, I went to Dubai with my family, and my sister was buying these coloured lenses and spending hundreds of pounds. I asked her why she's spending so much on a piece of plastic and she said they were expensive in the UK.

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"When we got back, I did some research and found manufacturers that could make them at a higher quality and better colours. Once I had the stock, I went to the beauty shops, salons, and pharmacies so they could sell them initially, they told me they wouldn't sell but the next day they would phone to tell me they sold everything I gave them.

Now we are the largest coloured contact lens company in the UK and export to 40 different countries," he added.

Riz always wanted a job that required a lot of travelling but never wanted to have his own business, but once he finished his studies at Coventry University, he decided to carry on to "see where it takes him". As he was a keen traveller, Riz came up with the idea of building his custom shisha pipe brand Smoke Connoisseur during the lockdown in 2020.

"I travelled to Germany frequently and saw they had the cafe culture with shisha combined, their pipes and tobacco which were seen as mainstream and thought I could use that influence and see if it would work here.

"In lockdown, I tried to make a few shisha pipes and showed them to Ladana Cafe in Birmingham, customised them and used high-quality grade materials and British engineering to see the impact of the smoking quality."

All the pipes are designed and engineered by British supercar engineers who also make parts for Rolls Royce and Aston Martin, alongside a 20-year guarantee which Riz says 'no other brand does' which is what makes them unique: "Our customised pipes range from £200 to £500 but last a lot longer, better smoke quality and a lot more flavour.

"Now we customise for cafes and lounges across the UK from Sky Lounge and Palm by H20 in Coventry to lounges in Birmingham from Emperors, Aura and Bjiou with custom pipes with their designs, colours, logos and branding on them. We've also expanded globally to LA, Prague, Japan, Saudi and Dubai as many people love the aspect of British engineering within our pipes - no one does customised shisha as we do."

Travelling has influenced the way he does business, Riz says, as he saw how other countries do things differently and also realised that life outside of the deprived area of Hillfields was 'so different'. For example, the name Smoke Connoisseur came from a blog page Riz started while he was travelling.

"I went to places like China and Germany, would smoke shisha, post it and do a review and built the page up which is where the name comes from. Now, I do shisha exhibitions in Germany and always emphasise the Britishness which people love.

"I've always wanted to travel and when I travelled to Germany, I experienced how the quality of smoke is amazing compared to the UK and much more advanced. It has helped me to do what I want and it's a good excuse to work while travelling as it's given me new opportunities and see the world differently," he explained.

From when Riz started sixteen years ago to where he is now, he said it's an 'amazing feeling' to start from his bedroom. He reflects and says it's 'crazy' that he's achieved what he has to this day.

His businesses have gained celebrity recognition from singer Jorja Smith and actress Michelle Keegan wearing his coloured lenses which have also been featured in Vogue magazine to collaborations with Kream Developments, part of BBC's hit TV show Supercar Superfan of producing customised shishas to match luxury cars for clients.

"When I started Smoke Connoisseur, I wanted to get into the shisha industry but didn't want to open my own lounge. Most of my business is wholesale, so I don't need much staff and be there daily. This way, I can meet lounge owners and sell them shisha pipes and get to know them, now I do it on an international scale for lounges in Spain, Germany and Dubai."

As well as international recognition, Riz has also won awards from Young Entrepreneur of the Year twice and Young Achiever of the Year. He also has plans to mentor young people and give them advice on how to start their businesses.

"It's now difficult with the current economic crisis, but these sorts of times mean there's always some opportunity if you put in the graft, try lots of things and do it consistently for success. Nowadays, people want things to happen overnight and think they can do it straight away, but it doesn't work like that."

Riz hopes to push his Smoke Connoisseur business to become one of the "leading brands in the world" since it has "massive potential" to be in shisha lounges across the globe.

"The business is a premium quality brand in the shisha industry, representing the UK and British engineering, bringing money back into Coventry when engineering took a hit during the pandemic. I would also like to get into the eastern markets a lot more from Europe, Japan and the Middle East."

For more information about Smoke Connoisseur, visit the website here. You can also follow them on Instagram @smokeconnoisseur and TikTok @smokeconnoisseur. For more information about MesmerEyez, click here or follow them on Instagram @mesmereyezcontactlenses.

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