By George Yin,
Staff Writer
The sound of the ticking clock rang in senior Mohammad Sami’s ears as he sat in suspense waiting for the people on the receiving end of his phone call to discuss among themselves. When they finally responded, Sami cheered with joy as he successfully closed his first business deal. For Sami, this is just one of the major accomplishments achieved ever since the beginning of his business journey in 2022.
“I was always into business and my friend, Furqan, was a graphics designer so I asked him, ‘Hey, anytime you want to start a brand, I have all the things we need to start it,’’ Sami said. “He was like, ‘Sure,’ and then finally one day he was able to pull through after thinking about it and decided to start the business.”
As both Sami and Ijaz are Muslim, they aim to develop a presentable and reliable piece of clothing that also brings more attention and awareness to the under-represented Muslim community.
“When we did our research on Muslim brands, we realized that there were little to no Islamic-owned brands,” Sami said. “It’s really the love for our audience towards the Arabic font or Islam in general. It makes them think of their home, culture, or religion when they see a design such as ours.”
After further pondering and discussion, Sami concluded that the brand would be called Rizq. Rizq is an Arabic word that means “provisions” or “sustenance.” This plays a large part in the business’ message, as they believe that sustenance should be given to everybody.
The Rizq hoodies first dropped on Sep. 30, 2022 on rizqgarments.com. The hoodie comes in both black and mocha colors with “rizq” in Arabic font embroidery on the hood, front and back side of the hoodies.
“After we got our designs ready, we had to go through several tests and samples before we decided to roll with the initial design,” Sami said. “The biggest key in this type of business is finding the right people. You could have the best brand awareness, brand messages and plan, but the execution is the most important one resulting from finding the right people.”
Rizq hoodies recently sold at the Holiday Boutique in December. From gaining attention and working with Youtuber Simplistic and another brand, “Spiritual Archive,” Rizq has been featured all across the world and in hopes for the business to continue to do so.
Currently, the company includes a graphic designer, company editors, investors, models, cameramen, overseas fabric distributors and shipment directors all working together from California and Pakistan.
“Business: some people do it for money and fame, but the way I see it as a businessman and an entrepreneur, your focus is to provide other people with jobs,” Sami said. “The more an entrepreneur grows, the more job opportunities he should be able to provide. My goal is to provide jobs for those in Pakistan, the more customers I get, the more jobs I’ll be able to offer to those in need. In my mind, it is about how I can help provide rather than cutting them off and that’s why entrepreneurship fascinates me because entrepreneurs not just provide for themselves but also help other families run.”