Founder to Know: Aziz Hashim, NRD Capital (Part 2 of 2)

Along with being one of the most influential and high-profile multi-unit franchisees in the United States - operating more than 60 units with Popeyes, Checkers/Rally's and Petvalu - Aziz Hashim is the founder and general partner of NRD Capital - the first business fund both sponsored and managed by a multi-unit franchisee.

Hashim has been a celebrated entrepreneur, most recently being named one of Nation's Restaurant News' 50 most powerful leaders. He serves on the executive committee for the International Franchise Association and will become its chairman in 2016.

You can find part one of our interview here, where Hashim touches on the current state of legislation impacting franchises and how he believes entrepreneurs should deal with failures.

Where do you see yourself in five, 10 and 20 years? It’s a question I spend time reflecting upon; I’m very mindful of our limited time on earth and we have to make the most of it. A successful career in franchising has been very good to me and my family. It has lead us down a path to financial independence.

In the next 10 years, I want to give back to the industry as much as I can. I’m doing that through volunteer efforts at [the International Franchise Association].

Additionally, I’m making the most of my career as an endowing chair at Georgia State University. My wife and I have established the Aziz and Farahnaz Hashim Faculty Position in Franchise Entrepreneurship at the Cecil B. Day School of Hospitality Administration at Georgia State University’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business. The program is dedicated to franchise entrepreneurship and provides the school of hospitality with resources to expand the program to encompass the fast-growing franchise business model. I’ll be speaking to colleges and universities on a lecture circuit.

Another way of performing community outreach is through this fund and trying to create 1,000 new entrepreneurs in the next five years. This is a goal I’ve set for myself. Through the companies NRD will be acquiring, I’d like to create 1,000 new entrepreneurs. Perhaps they’ve never been in business before, but I want them to learn the skills they’ll need to be able to go into business themselves. If this can be achieved over the next decade, that will be a good outcome because it will allow me to give back to the industry that has given so much to me.

Is there anyone you look up to or have gotten advice from over the years as you've grown your business? I couldn’t point to any one person responsible for my thinking, but I do think that all the people that I’ve had the privilege to come across through IFA and other resources all had an influence.

I draw experience and wisdom from anywhere I can get it, and I think a lot of that is based upon very heavy reading as well. I think that one has to be a lifelong learner in any endeavor, and I think the more one reads the more they continuously educate themselves in a specific industry. I’m grateful to everybody that I run across. I’ve been involved with many leaders in the IFA and some amazing leaders with incredible brands. They are a great source of inspiration, knowledge and experience.

In 2014 I was a chair of the Multi-Unit Franchise Conference and that was a great experience. The board of advisors there were great and consisted of the best in the business.

Do you have any book recommendations for our readers? A book I would recommend as of late is, “Endgame: The End of the Debt SuperCycle and How It Changes Everything” by John Mauldin.

It’s an economics book about the economic conditions of the world. Sometimes we can be so insular – we only look at one economy or one state – but it’s important to broaden the horizon and see how the rest of the world can impact business conditions here.