Gaining respect and admiration from his fellow employees is nothing new for Amar Zahid, the MD of Tetra Pak Arabia, a leading supplier of food and beverage packaging systems.
Formerly the MD of Tetra Pak Saudi Arabia, with an MSc from the University of Strathclyde in Scotland, Zahid has certainly shown that he knows the formula for running a successful business.
As a matter of fact these attributes have come as part of a packaged deal of sorts, gained from more than 15 years of experience and, recently, assisting in merging the company's GCC operations Tetra Pak Gulf and Tetra Pak Saudi Arabia into one company in January 2007.
"As Tetra Pak Arabia we are now able to cover all of the GCC and Yemen," Zahid says. "Our packaging system is used widely in the Middle East for products such as cream, milk, laban and juices, as well as some food items like tomato paste.
"The packaging material we produce here is used for consumption in Saudi Arabia as well as other GCC countries and also gets exported to 24 other nations in the Middle East, Europe and Asia. At present Tetra Pak has more than 340 employees covering 32 different nationalities. We take great pride in the fact that more than 55 per cent have been with us for over five years," he adds.
Asked what has changed at the company since the merger, Zahid starts by saying that it has had a phenomenal first year. "It was definitely a positive decision to merge the two entities," he says.
"Apart from synergising in our production, sales and service offers, we've also been able to approach the business in the region in a holistic manner.
"The consolidation of these different business divisions has aided our objective of better serving the markets and supporting our customers that include leading dairy, food and beverage manufacturers in the region."
Tetra Pak started operations in Saudi Arabia in the 1970s and, soon after, together with Bin Zagr Co, the food and drinks wholesalers, and Sadafco, the dairy and food manufacturer, built factories in the Kingdom.
Tetra Pak became a listed company with a local partner in 1983. In 1989, the firm established the Riyadh office and a carton factory was set up in south Jeddah 10 years later.
Due to growing demand the factory was expanded in 2000 and, thanks to the national Saudisation drive, has developed the local workforce to include Saudi nationals, which now make up nearly 40 per cent of its staff.
Marketing-wise, the company has adopted the tagline, "Protects What's Good", which, Zahid says, dictates the company's approach to the entire value chain, from suppliers to customers, distribution, employees and consumers.
"In this region, food safety and the need for healthy products are at the forefront. Our marketing focuses on communicating how we want our products to become known for protecting what's good and for convenience," Zahid says.
He adds that Tetra Pak Arabia works with government ministries to participate in such educational programmes as milk awareness campaigns. He says the company plans to expand but its focus now is on product innovation: "For example, Al Rabie, one of our biggest customers in Saudi Arabia, revolutionised the Middle East food industry when they launched a new range of local food items like foul (fava beans) and other ready to eat foods in Tetra Recart packaging."
This is the first time in the region that products like chickpeas, carrots and beans have been made available in packaging other than cans.
Another good example Zahid cites is Mehdi Foods in Oman, which became the first company in the region to package iced tea in cartons. "We work closely with our customers to expand their existing product or processing portfolios and work with them to address the needs of end consumers," he says.
Speaking about the latest trends in packaging, Zahid says that convenience, health and environmental consciousness are the three drivers that have been shaping the packaging industry over the past few years.
"Consumers today expect these elements to be part of the packaging that they consume their drinks or food from and we work closely with our customers to identify how we can process and package these items into high-quality products that meet consumer demands," he says.
The introduction of newer categories of food like soya beans, carrots and ready-cooked meals in carton packaging is a result of a response to a market trend, he adds. In addition, Tetra Pak is a strong supporter of campaigns that highlight positive environmental change.
"The most important achievement for us in this region took place in July this year when we signed an industry first agreement with Mepco (Middle East Paper Company) to initiate the recycling of post-consumer cartons in the Kingdom. Through this agreement, Tetra Pak Arabia will collect and recycle food and beverage cartons discarded by households in Saudi Arabia.
"We will organise collection, sorting and recycling cartons for use as raw material in manufacturing paper. This campaign is the first of its kind in the industry as no other company or entity recycles food and beverage cartons.
"Recycling and sustainability are key business values to Tetra Pak worldwide and in the region. The Jeddah factory of Tetra Pak Arabia is ISO 14001 certified and the entire factory waste is recycled regularly," he concludes.
Curriculum vitae
Born: 1962
Education: Master of Science degree from the University of Strathclyde, Scotland
Hobbies: Skiing and travelling
First job: Marine engineer
Career high: MD of Tetra Pak Arabia
Career Low: None so far; hope I will not have one
Fantasy Job: I am in it
Tetra Pak reaches record sales in 2007
Tetra Pak reported record sales of E8.7 billion ($12.4 billion) in 2007 up 6.1 per cent from 2006.
Sales of processing solutions reached E911 million ($1.3 billion) in 2007, up 12 per cent, while packaging reached E7.8 billion ($11 billion) in sales, up 4.1 per cent from 2006.
Emerging markets including the Middle East and China were significant drivers of growth.
Last year, the company invested E60 million ($85.3 million) in a packaging material manufacturing plant in China, with an annual capacity of 8 billion packages. It also opened a new converting plant near Moscow, with the company investing more than E100 million ($142.2 million).
Tetra Pak supplied a record 137 billion individual packages during 2007. Food and beverage companies around the world used these to deliver over 69.5 billion litres of milk, juice, fruits and other products enough to fill 27,800 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
© Gulf Marketing Review 2009
