Word: habib
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...Adam Habib, a prominent South African and Muslim scholar, spoke yesterday at Harvard Law School about ideological exclusion in one of his first speeches in the United States since the Bush administration barred him from entering the country...
...Habib's salons aren't India's poshest, but that's not the point. Over the past decade, the New Delhi native has brought branded hairstyling to a country where millions still get their hair trimmed by mummy-ji in the bathroom or by barbers whose salons consist of a tree trunk with a mirror tacked onto it. Habib has helped convince middle India that hair is not just something that grows on your head but a market waiting to be primped and tugged at. "People used to think hair care was a low-grade profession, with no future...
India's burgeoning middle class has responded with cheerful readiness, spending freely on personal products and services - an industry that McKinsey forecasts will grow 9% annually over the next 15 years. Habib claims his empire grew 1,000% last year. There are now 155 Jawed Habib salons and 42 training academies across Asia, from Malaysia to Nepal and beyond. Like Tata's celebrated Nano, the $2,500 "people's car" launched last year, Habib's services are aimed at those who, perhaps for the first time, are enjoying a modicum of disposable income. In 2009 he launched Hair Espresso outlets...
...Habib's ancestors were working with Indian hair since before the subcontinent's independence. His grandfather was barber to both the last British viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, and Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister, and Habib's father cut hair too. But Habib's vision is broader. He wants his business to become the Walmart of hair care...
...question for Habib, as for other Indian entrepreneurs, is whether they can parlay national success into global presence. Rajgopal sees Habib's drive to expand in Europe, the Persian Gulf and Africa as "a little bombastic." India's success as an IT and outsourcing powerhouse doesn't necessarily mean its hairdressers can go global too. "He might do well in Tier 2 India," Rajgopal says, "but it's very difficult to succeed internationally. It's not as though India was a leader in fashion and hair." But Habib remains undaunted. "Someday," he counters, "I'm going...