I was a Man City football star – now I run £40m business… I gave up everything aged 28 after my life changed forever

AN EX-Manchester City star has revealed how she now runs a £40m business with over 80 employees.

Murvah Iqbal, 28, had previously captained Manchester City’s under-18 squad and was part of the club’s youth team for seven years.

Murvah left football and Manchester City behind aged 17Murvah Iqbal

She then became a highly acclaimed entrepreneur, co-founding sustainable delivery company HivedHIVED

The 28 year old credits her experiences in youth football for her business skills todayHIVED

After leaving the club at 17, she became an entrepreneur and eventually co-founded sustainable delivery company Hived in 2021.

The delivery company, which she founded with Mathias Krieger, has grown into a major nationwide delivery operation and utilises a 100% electric fleet of vehicles.

Since its launch, the firm has raised over £15million from venture capital firms and boasts clients such as Uniqlo, ASOS, and John Lewis.

The company is estimated to be worth around £40million by some reports.

Initially, Murvah described her difficulty in “clicking” with business coaches she was working with but now the former footballer has revealed how meeting a new business guru was “life-changing.”

Murvah said being introduced to Danny Donachie, who also has a background in football, made her “so much stronger” and in turn strengthened the business.

She said: “Everything in the business is happening at a million miles an hour. Danny can’t tell me if a decision was right or wrong but [challenges] me as a person.

“Am I being calm? Am I being present? Am I being the best leader I can be and building the right culture?”

The entrepreneur continued: “It’s so easy not to prioritise your personal health and development because you think the needs of the business have to come first.

“But to work with Danny and to zoom out from the day-to-day and reflect has made me so much stronger because as a founder you go through so many ups and downs every day, it’s crazy.”

It’s these ups and downs, she said, that “you have to be resilient” to deal with in order to succeed.

Murvah also spoke about how the leadership skills she learnt from youth football had helped prepare her for life as a founder.

She described how giving direct feedback is something she had “learnt from the age of 15” but that the way she provides it has evolved as the company has grown.

On difficulties in business, the entrepreneur told The Times: “You also have to be constantly iterating and adapting as a leader and making sure that you have the right support network around you.

“I know I have a lot to learn if I want to be the best at my job. If you look at an athlete, you have support, you have a coach telling you where to improve.

“And I think that’s equally important as a founder. You have to put your ego aside.”

But by finding the right business coach in Danny, Murvah found the coach she sorely desired for her business.

The Hived co-founder also spoke about how her time at Manchester City taught her skills of prioritisation, delegation, and leadership, as well as how to deal with the ups and downs of business.

The youth star said: “In football you go through ups and downs. Even the best football teams in the world don’t win every match; they will lose high-stakes games and it’s all about how you recover from that and what you learnt.

“I remember we would learn so much from tactical analysis after we lost a match and it’s similar in business.

“If we launch a new feature and it doesn’t exactly go to plan, that’s fine so long as we learnt something. What can we take from that to move forward?”

Murvah is not the only former footballer turned entrepreneur to find success.

Dean Forbes had been set up for a career with Crystal Palace before becoming homeless aged just 17.

After starting as a salesman at Motorola call centre, he then went on to climb the corporate ladder, eventually becoming CEO of a software company which sold for $1 billion in 2022.