The ability to compete has played a crucial role in Faisal Al Bannai's undisputed success in business. His competitive spirit has helped make him one of the UAE's most accomplished entrepreneurs - and he has the awards to prove it.
He was crowned Entrepreneur of theYear at the Arabian Business ceremony in 2005. He won the Lifetime Achievement Award forYoung Business Leaders at the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the same year.
Al Bannai is the founder and CEO of Axiom Telecom, the region's largest retailer and distributor of mobile communication products. His determination to beat the opposition gave Axiom the advantage it needed in the early days to seal some contracts that would prove vital to its growth.
"In 1999, I went to Nokia and asked about becoming their distributor in the UAE and the guy said 'OK, let's make it a competition'," said Al Bannai.
"He told me that if I sold in the next 45 days the highest quantity of phones across the whole Middle East he'll make us the distributor here.
"I couldn't believe he was including the whole Middle East, not just the UAE. They announced the competition to other distributors - for them, the incentive was an award of some kind, but for me it was the distribution rights.
"Anyway, we sold the highest and got the deal."
Nokia Deal
This distribution breakthrough followed shortly after Axiom won the role of Nokia distributor in Pakistan, and Ericsson (now Sony Ericsson) distributor in the UAE. None of these monopoly-breaking deals was easy to come by, Al Bannai recalls.
"At the beginning, nobody wanted to give us any distribution rights because there were exclusive agreements already in place. So we would approach the principals and they would turn us down.
"We had quite a tough time building the business. I found out that Nokia had lousy distribution in Pakistan. I flew out and set up an office there, put a team in place and I pestered Nokia until they appointed us in 1998." Al Bannai's persistence and deal-broking skills paid off, and Axiom has enjoyed phenomenal year-on-year growth - now, 10 years on, it operates at 400 outlets in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman.
And as part of an expansion strategy in the Middle East region, Axiom has just launched six retail outlets in Egypt. The company aims to use the Egyptian market as a platform for launching further operations, in North Africa, Iran and India.
Last year, Axiom enjoyed sales revenues of close to $1.3 billion (Dh4.77bn), up by 20 per cent on 2005; 2004 sales totalled $650m (Dh2.4bn), an increase from $450m (Dh1.65bn) a year earlier.
Al Bannai spotted the potential in the mobile phone industry in 1997 after his return to the UAE from studying abroad and a failed attempt to launch a computer software company.
He had just finished a Master's degree in England, and was keen to set up new business ventures.
He started by introducing Boston's Pizzeria Uno restaurant franchise to the region through his family's Al Bannai Group. "I wanted to get involved in software related telecommunications, which I did with three or four of the guys who studied with me at university. But after a couple of months we realised the software company really wasn't going anywhere and we were running out of funds - the software wasn't ready on time.
"So I borrowed some money from the [Al Bannai] Group to do some temporary trading activities.
Help From Friends
"One of my friends was a mobile phone distributor so we started importing some phones - I was going to the airport, collecting the stock and delivering it to the dealer. A few months down the line, we closed down the software side and we set up a small trading unit as part of the Group. In 1997, we started trading and distributing mobile phones.
"It's a very fast-moving, young business - 15 years ago, mobile phones didn't really exist - so there are a lot of opportunities as well as challenges. One thing I guarantee all my managers on their very first day on the job is that they will never get bored - they might die of fatigue, but they'll never get bored." He tells me that the growth of the company has brought about a whole new set of hurdles to overcome.
"As you get bigger you start facing new challenges.
"It's one challenge to maintain the business when you have five shops - it's another entirely when you have a hundred or more.
"One challenge for us is to continue growing in the key markets and develop into new ones and another is to con tinuously add new products and new services.
"It's also very important to maintain the entrepreneurial spirit of the company and not get lost in the corporate, bureaucratic philosophy.
"And I think companies that lose focus on the customer are companies that get lost, so it's crucial to keep that element alive."
When asked how he intends to stay ahead of the pack and guarantee future growth for Axiom, Al Bannai says: "This is a rapidly growing industry, so u have to be looking ahead, knowing how to position yourself in the market.
"We went aggressive on retail in 2001 and a lot of guys in the industry and a lot of banks were telling us we were going too aggressive.
"But we think they weren't seeing things. You can always take a particular position after things happen, but if you can take your position as the wave is coming, that's where you get the maximum benefit.
"There are companies trying to catch up with a number of things we're doing, but now it's late - They'll now have to run five times faster than I do just to catch up.
" As a firm we definitely have ambitions to become a global player. We have the skills and the know-how to compete on the global stage.
"It's a continuous balance between sales number and making sure your margins of profitability add value.
"Today we are retailers, we are distributers, we are service providers and we do after-sales service. We are building more and more of these pillars in the company, which act as the foundations."
Graduate Recruitment
Axiom is aiming to target universities as part of a drive to recruit more fresh graduates to its management team, Al Bannai revealed.
This is something Im really trying to push this year, he said, his enthusiastic tone a clear indication of his determination on the matter.
Its a young business which needs a lot of energy and fresh minds, whether its in marketing, sales, whatever. I think talented young graduates have a lot to offer us, and we have a lot to offer them in terms of experience and exposure to a large business in an exciting industry.
We pride ourselves on having a lot of young guys at the company, but I want to make sure we continue to thrive on that element.
Our HR department is talking to several universities here and were really starting to target universities more aggressively in all the countries we serve.
I think telecom is an interesting field for a lot of the guys from university its not like theyre going to be selling steel, for example. Its a line where they can show a lot of creativity and innovativeness.
Global Distribution
Global satellite communications giant Inmarsat recently appointed Axiom Telecom to exclusively handle worldwide distribution of its new handheld mobile satellite phones.
Inmarsat will launch the new voice services in the third quarter of this year, initially in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, before rolling out the service globally in 2008.
Axiom will act as Inmarsats exclusive logistics and repair partner, stocking products, fulfilling orders and providing maintenance.
Inmarsat, which had wholesale revenue of $500 million (Dh1.8 billion) last year, is entering the handheld phone market for the first time and with Axioms help aims to grab 10 per cent of the global market currently worth $350m (Dh1.28bn) - by 2010.
[The] arrangement means our 500 or so distributors around the world will all come to Axiom for their handsets, said Inmarsat president and COO Michael Butler.
Emirates Today 2007
