After working as an optometrist for 10 years, Ahmed Ejaz took the leap into running his own eyewear company, Cambridge Spectacle Co, with the aim to bring affordable British eyewear to the masses.
Ejaz said the turning point was after speaking to business associate Andy Street, former managing director of John Lewis and Partners, who encouraged him to make his eyewear company idea a reality. In 2021, he quit his job and started business planning with his brother, Hassan Ejaz, co-founder and Master of Business Administration graduate, leading with a three-pillar ethos of affordability, quality and expertise, and social responsibility, as well as a strong ‘Silicon Valley start-up’ mindset.
Ejaz admits: ‘It was a crazy thought to be like “we’re going to create a brand in this crowded marketplace”, and I still can’t believe I did. But we’re on a real trajectory and want to keep this momentum going.’
Two years down the line, through the pandemic and countless other challenges, Ejaz believes that Cambridge Spectacle Co is getting ready to play in the big leagues of the eyewear industry. With access to the NatWest Accelerator programme, support from angel investment and over £200,000 in CrowdCube funding, as well as a major superstore deal under its belt, and a track route to meet £1m annual revenue run rate within the next 12 months, the company’s growth trajectory does not look like it is slowing down.
He adds: ‘We’re coming to the masses via the high street. We think that’s the right move for us because we know we’re doing really well across superstores like Asda, so we want to bring even more awareness and accessibility to the brand. We want to be in control of our own fate.
‘Alongside potential high street retail buyers, the strategy moving forward is to open our own direct to consumer opticians as well to support the brand. We’re looking to acquire our first practice in London this year and will then have it rebranded.’
The four core executive team members include CEO Ahmed Ejaz, chairman Johnny Leavesley, CFO Aiden Stevens, and Hassan Ejaz, co-founder and head of strategy. As mentioned, the company also works with NatWest Accelerator, a business support programme funded by the NatWest Group, which provides monthly coaching, office space, and contributes to brand strategy planning.
Lucky break
With the aim of assimilating the brand into the market as fast as possible, Cambridge Spectacle Co has talked with multiples including Asda Opticians, Boots Opticians, Specsavers, M&S Opticians and Scrivens. It was a lucky cold call to the Asda commercial team that led to Cambridge Spectacle Co eyewear gaining its breakthrough deal in April 2022, and launching on Asda Opticians’ shelves in January 2023.
Ejaz highlights timing and luck as key instigators that allowed it to get a foot in the door, as Asda had been looking for new, high-quality, value-for-money products to rival Tesco and Sainsbury’s after being acquired by a global retail consortium in February 2021. After months of anticipation, the team pitched their eyewear at Asda’s HQ in Leeds to an impressed board, which said they had never seen a company present in that way before.
He explains: ‘We see ourselves almost like a Silicon Valley start-up, where we’re very prepared. We know the opportunity is huge for us. I left excited and then came back to the reality that we had a huge job ahead. It was a great moment because it is just the beginning for our brand.’
Cambridge Spectacle Co had an unprecedented surge in stock demand as a result of the market exposure and met its first major procurement challenge, leading to a reassessment of production and suppliers to adapt to the sudden increase in demand. Ejaz says: ‘We thought that we had enough for seven months’ worth of stock for Asda Opticians. It turns out that after the first week to two weeks, we were going to sell out in some models within six weeks. The brand has flown organically, surprising us with how fast and extensively it’s grown.’
Ethical alliances
As a former optometrist, Ejaz has a passion for eye care and ensured social responsibility was a founding principle in the company. It partnered with research charity St Paul’s Eye Research Foundation in March 2022 to commit 10% of annual profits to fund long-term research into eye disease. The brand also recruits interns through a Birmingham University paid internship scheme and works with NatWest advisors to boost diversity and inclusion policies.
Ejaz believes that environmental sustainability should be a key priority from the start and is having conversations around using sustainable materials. While only three out of 35 of the brand’s online spectacles are manufactured using Mazzucchelli’s Eastman Acetate Renew and metal, the goal is to be 100% sustainable in the future.