Mustaqeem Abdul-Azeem

Mustaqeem Abdul –Azeem
Mustaqeem’s Essentials

When the address on the business card says VENDING TABLE, 125th and Lenox Ave in Front of Starbucks,  you might not think website.  But think again.  You’re not thinking like an entrepreneur, you’re not thinking like Mustaqeem Abdul-Azeem, the mastermind behind Mustaqeem’s Essentials. Mustaqeem’s Essentials sells products to “make you look good, feel good and smell good” including essential oils, incense and shea butter products. 

Customer service is what distinguishes his table from the others that dot the central blocks of 125th Street and sell similar merchandise  and it’s why Mustaqeem grosses in the six figures in annual sales.  Mustaqeem employs several sales associates to staff the table while he purchases merchandise, and has launched a website enabling tourists from overseas and devoted New York customers to buy from him on-line. 

Mustaqeem’s Essentials was born out of necessity.  After leaving prison, Mustaqeem needed a way to make a living to make ends meet.  He soon realized that he was a natural salesman and slowly built his product line and got a vending license and a table.   He had taught other inmates basic business skills while in prison and decided to combine his knowledge and skill for his own street vending business.

Mustaqeem first learned of Project Enterprise in 2002 during a seminar at another organization.  “The next day I was there,” he says.  “PE is different from other microlenders,” he says, in a number of ways -- by rooting credit in social standing, by its focus on training and networking, and most of all “because you need as an entrepreneur to be around like-minded people.”  Family and friends, he says, can talk you out of what you are doing; at PE an entrepreneur sees the common struggles, the “highs and lows, which inspire you and help you with your own experiences.”

Mustaqeem attended Project Enterprise meetings for two years before getting his first loan.  “I wasn’t ready until then -- I needed more information about my market.” Indeed, information is the other key to Mustaqeem’s business.  He researches his competition; he knows that West African vendors, for example, aim for a smaller profit since they send their earnings back home where the dollar stretches farther. 

A first loan of $1,540 in 2005 helped Mustaqeem increase his inventory.  In 2006, a second loan enabled him to purchase a van so he can transport his inventory to his vending spaces much more efficiently and economically. 

His van provided a way to adapt during the difficult times.  Like a true entrepreneur, Mustaqeem has been able to adapt as his sales took a hit from the recent economic downturn.  He now brings soaps, oils and lotions down South on weekends to out-of-state vending events.  Out-of-state sales at markets also help drive traffic to Mustaqeem’s website as customers are able to become return customers from the comfort of their own homes. 

As 125th Street changes and develops, Mustaqeem is prepared to continue adapting.  The real future for his business, will be both on-line and as a whosesale distributor for the other sellers in the neighborhood, be they street vendors or storefronts.  Mustaqeem plans to use his knowledge of the customers, the other vendors, and the distributors of oils and butters to establish a more firm role for himself in the market.   When the business grows, he’d like to keep the table at 125th and Lenox Ave to keep his finger on the pulse of the local market while simultaneously doing business around the world online at www.mqessentials.com.