East Lothian retailer Ferhan Ashiq, of Levenhall Village Store and Prestonpans Village Store, was recently elected as the Federation of Independent Retailers (NFRN)’s Scottish district president.
Mr Ashiq was nominated by his fellow members and was announced as the district’s president during the Scottish district’s annual general conference.
The meeting took place on Tuesday 3rd March at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Glasgow.
The NFRN assigns a district president – to each of its districts – every year.
The role of a district president is to chair all district meetings and be responsible for the conduct of its district membership. District presidents must also act as the senior member representatives in district negotiations.
Mr Ashiq said: “I am extremely honoured and proud to be given the opportunity to be the NFRN’s Scottish district president. I would like to give thanks to all of the members that put my name forward and voted for me.
“Throughout the next year, I plan to help our independent retailers in their diversification journey by helping them to find new ways to do business and survive within these extraordinarily tough times.
“I hope to be a champion for our members that have had to deal with discriminatory practices from suppliers and wholesalers.
“I also aim to fight our corner against the onerous burden of regulation placed on our sector at governmental level, and to bring light to the below minimum wage pay that our service providers expect of us.”
After being raised within the retail sector for most of his life – and owning his own store for six years – Mr Ashiq has a considerable depth of knowledge regarding the industry.
He has also won a number of industry awards, including an entrepreneur of the year award and a retail innovation of the year award in 2018.
Mr Ashiq continued: “Retail is an evolving industry and some store owners are struggling to succeed.
“I aim to provide helpful advice to our retailers. I want to guide our members and inspire them to move away from declining sectors and into more successful ones, such as food-to-go areas.
“I also plan to address other long-term issues for independent retailers in Scotland. This will include the blight of criminal activity that has taken a hold of our sector and the impact of the deposit return scheme.
“In the short-term, I plan to address the impact that the coronavirus has on our industry.”
Find out more information about the NFRN, its districts and district presidents here:
For more information concerning Ferhan Ashiq, please contact:
Sarah.Orton@nfrn.org.uk
Or
ferhanashiq@shads.co.uk
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