Nadeem Raza - Leading a management buyout, then floating on the stock exchange

Nottingham Business School Business Leaders

Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast

Episode 51

Nadeem Raza - leading a management buyout, then floating on the stock exchange.

SUMMARY

Nadeem Raza is CEO of transport technology company Microlise.

He joined Microlise in the 1980s as a young software engineer and over the next three decades worked his way up through the company. In 2008 he led a management buyout – and in 2021 the company floated on the Stock Exchange, where it was valued at £156.5m.

In Episode 51 of the Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast, Nadeem tells Visiting Honorary Professor Mike Sassi about his love of writing software, his fascination with managing people… and why a quarter of all the trucks on Britain’s roads are empty.

INTRODUCTION

• Nadeem Raza is CEO at the Nottinghamshire-based Microlise company which provides software solutions for the transport logistics industry.

• Microlise works with all four of Britain’s biggest supermarkets – Sainsbury’s, Tesco, ASDA and Morrison’s – and scores of others international brands from JCB to DFS and Eddie Stobart to Travis Perkins.

• The company’s technology helps fleets of trucks and other vehicles move goods from manufacturers to warehouses; warehouses to shops and supermarkets; and from shops to customers via home deliveries.

• Nadeem Raza led a management buy-out of Microlise in 1982, then floated it on the Stock Exchange in 2021, when the company was valued at £156m.

• The company now has 750 staff, operating across six continents. Last year it turned over £71m, with a gross profit of £43m and an operating profit of £2.3m.

• Microlise has won two concurrent Queen’s Awards for Enterprise – for International Trade in 2018, and Innovation in 2019.

• The company was originally founded in 1982, developing warehouse management software.

• Nadeem joined it as a software engineer in the late 1980s and worked his way up to the position of managing director.

KEY LEADERSHIP TAKEAWAYS

Nadeem Raza told Mike Sassi about...

…why he became a software engineer:

“I joined Microlise to do something I really loved – writing software. I’ve been writing software since I was 14. It was a hobby. ZX Spectrum, Atari computers, Commodore computers… that’s where I started.”

…the importance of being curious:

“I started as a software engineer. But because I’m always thinking, how can I do something better? or, how can I improve a particular process? I ended up being seconded to every other area of the business.”

…leading a management buyout during a national financial crisis:

“2008 was difficult. We completed our MBO at the beginning of the financial crisis. We got into debt problems and went through two or three years of challenging times. But we managed to get through it. If you can get through the tough times, then the easier times are just a walk in the park.”

…how best to manage people:

“The business is made up of many different areas… they have many different people and characters, with many different ways of working. Understanding that, helps you organise, manage, motivate and lead.”

…why good staff are so important:

“There is a lot of knowledge and experience among staff. Without them the software is just a tool that you don’t really understand how to use.”

…looking after and retaining your staff:

“If you treat people well and look after them and give them opportunities, then they will hang around.”

…what motivates his leadership:

“I’m always wondering how I can create value and benefit [for staff and customers], rather than thinking ‘what’s in it for me?’ That happens as a consequence. If you create value elsewhere, ultimately, you’ll benefit yourself.”

…the company’s most recent international contract:

“Woolworths is a big brand in Australia. We help them deal with home deliveries (mainly groceries) from their supermarkets, in new electric vehicles.”

…the need for more collaboration between companies that use trucks:

“25 per cent of the time trucks run with nothing on board. They’re empty. They’re just carrying air! In any other industry this amount of ‘waste’ would be an enormous figure to deal with.”

RELATED LINKS

• There’s more about Nadeem Raza on his LinkedIn page

• Nadeem Raza also features strongly on the Microlise website

• Nadeem Raza is a trustee of Nottinghamshire Community Foundation

• Recent news stories about Microlise, from Insider Media

If you enjoyed this episode of the NBS Business Leaders’ Podcast with Nadeem Raza, listen to previous shows with…

• The former Chairman and Chief Exec of Experian Sir John Peace

• The CEO of Capital One UK Lucy Hagues

• International business executive Sir Ken Olisa OBE