What We Do: Our Mission
Nova International, Inc. exports furniture worldwide to over 140 countries. Established in 1985, Nova headquarters are located in Washington DC, with branch offices in Japan (Mainland and Okinawa), Korea, Guam, UK, Germany and Italy. As a furniture and furnishings specialist, few can equal the depth of our worldwide experience. With a task force boasting numerous international sales representatives, Nova has the world covered.
Looking to fill some space? Not only does Nova sell and export furniture, but we also specify and space-plan the area. In addition, we receive, inspect, document, consolidate, containerize, ship, clear customs, deliver to site, and install furniture--all in accordance with each of our customers' unique budget and time constraints.
Nova sells furniture and furnishings that meet the needs of our diverse customers and their unique facilities including offices, households, residential spaces, barracks, dormitories, hotels, warehouses, and other specialty areas. This is accomplished using Nova's complete range of office and facility furniture including modular, freestanding, and panel systems furniture, executive wood furniture, furniture for cafeterias, conference rooms, training rooms, classrooms, and other educational settings, and ergonomic and auditorium seating. Our line also includes carpet, carpet tiles, wall coverings, and window coverings for any application. Check out some of our recent projects and see for yourself.
In short, Nova will do everything the customer wants and needs to get their facility up and running on time and within budget.
How We Do it
The efforts put forth by our home team in conjunction with our worldwide sales representatives render us capable of providing full service to customers anywhere in the world, in any country, on any continent. Not only does Nova sell furniture and furnishings from factories in the US, but also from over 800 manufacturers worldwide in countries including Germany, Belgium, Japan, Italy and Spain.
As a company who prides ourselves on our efficiency, Nova has repeatedly proven that we can assemble and integrate furniture and furnishings packages to meet any budget or time requirement. The testimonials and feedback we receive from our customers exemplify the quality of our services and a job well done.
Who We Work With
In managing and completing furnishings projects, Nova works in conjunction with numerous assemblers and wholesale partners worldwide. Our customers include many US Government agencies and military facilities, prominent multinational corporations, law firms, construction companies, and non-US government agencies and embassies. At Nova International, we pride ourselves on our technical, logistical, and management expertise--a level of quality only attainable from years of international, hands-on furnishings experience.
For more information, contact a Nova sales representative. We look forward to hearing how we can best meet your furnishing needs.
The Nova Story
The Nova story is the evolution of a very small Washington, D.C.-based export enterprise providing essentially only procurement services into a complete comprehensive supply, logistics and design company specializing in interior elements for international customers. The Nova story tells of the incremental growth that came from the incremental acquisition and mastery of skills and capabilities in international trade from 1985 to present. The Nova story is a story of skill acquisition through hands on performance on real international furniture and furnishings projects. Nova's skills and capabilities are not theoretical but actual capabilities that are in place, in use, and acquired from real performance requirements of real furniture projects.
Start Up 1985
Nova International, Inc. was formed in 1985 by three individuals. Two of the partners worked, one didn't and left. The two partners slowly struggled to keep the company alive with a single project and meager cash. Mr. Tim Rose became the senior partner in charge. He took complete control and ownership of the company in 1994.
As the managing partner, Mr. Rose brought to Nova his international commercial and trading skills acquired from his years as the vice president for international business development with a Washington, D.C.-based export trading company. Mr. Rose had already developed a profitable and growing export business with USAID, the U.S. Department of State, and World Bank. Mr. Rose also brought his ten years of international contacts and experience to bear from his days as an international economist with the World Bank specializing on Nigeria, his three years as a Washington-based economist following international trade, finance, and oil and energy policy for the then Saudi Arabian Minister of Finance, Sheik Mohammed Abalkhail, and his three years as an economist for a local company providing consulting services primarily to USAID for projects in Africa and the Caribbean. Mr. Rose had lived and worked in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and Barbados. Rose knew that a start-up company needed a saleable product or service. A start-up company also needed a customer base. A start-up company had to know how to perform in its chosen area. A start-up had to have sufficient cash to survive until it had reasonable cash flow
International Focus
Because of Tim Rose's career orientation, the company naturally would have an international trade focus. It would have a heavy African focus. Mr. Rose lived and worked in Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria and his wife is Nigerian. Rose knew that the company would have a strong U.S. Government focus. Lest one forget, the company was in Washington, D.C., and Mr. Rose's contacts came a lot from his U.S. Government work. But furniture was not the exclusive focus in Rose's or Nova's initial business model. Procurement services was the focus. Furniture was incidental and only one of several product areas competing for the attention of Nova's limited staff and time.
Tim Rose's company, Nova International, Inc. was looking for business and was opportunistic in focus and driven by the need for cash to survive. Whatever came in first with the most would get Nova's attention. In that first year, furniture came first. Other products and services came later and some opportunities came like a project for the Nigerian Air Force but without up front money that Nova needed to perform. So furniture got the company's attention. Specifically, furniture project procurement got Nova's attention. That was 1985.
Nova Today
From a start-up company with a first year turnover of less than $500,000 and two employees, Nova evolved into a multi-million dollar a year company with over 20 employees, including 10 permanent overseas sales and project associates.
Nova's number of employees have increased from three in 1985 to over 20 today. Nova's number of branch locations has grown from the single Washington, D.C. office to permanent branches in Korea, mainland Japan, Okinawa, Guam, England, Germany, and Italy. The number of overseas representatives has grown from none to twelve; one in Korea, two in Japan, one in Guam, one in Germany, one in Italy and one in Madagascar. The number of permanent Nova installation crews has grown from none in 1985 to seven international teams today. Nova's management areas has grown from simple procurement services to complete turnkey project management.