Al Islami, the leading provider of Halal foods in the Middle East region, reported its gross sales grew to AED 151mn for 2005. Other items on the agenda at the company’s recently concluded General Assembly included product improvements, health issues and production efficiency.
Despite global challenges being faced by the poultry industry, Dubai Cooperative Society’s Al Islami brand, continued to make forays into new markets during the past 12 months. The Halal food giant has entered into partnerships with local supermarkets to set up factories for meat production and processed food products in Iran. Al Islami has also introduced its products in the Saudi Arabian market through its dealers based in Al Riyadh. In an effort to further consolidate its regional presence, the company started shipping its products to Jordan last year.
“Due to regional economic growth, the Dubai Cooperative Society has expanded its activities of production and retail Halal sales to all GCC countries and into strategic markets such as Iran and Jordan’, explained Saleh Saeed Lootah, Managing Director.
Certain highlights of the previous financial year include Al Islami’s dynamic corporate re-branding initiative, which saw the company win the award for ‘Most Creative Marketing Campaign’ at the ‘Halal Journal Awards, 2006’. The company was also a recipient at the Retail News ME awards for ‘Best Food Manufacturer in the GCC, 2006’.
Other initiatives conceptualized by the company during the past year included marketing management campaigns aimed at spreading awareness about Al Islami’s new products. To improve production processes, Al Islami installed a new SAP system to keep track of operations in real time. The new system allows the company to monitor the entire production process to increase productivity and efficiency. In an effort to accommodate the company’s growing operations, Al Islami built warehouses equipped with cold storage facilities with a capacity in excess of 2,000 tonnes and new modern offices built in accordance with latest architectural technologies.
The CEO, Saleh Abdullah Lootah is optimistic about the company’s prospects. “With the Halal foods market continuing to show signs of strong growth, Al Islami’s expansion strategy will allow the company to tap the vast potential for growth in this sector; estimated to be worth $500 billion by 2010.”
Already a regional market leader, Al Islami aims to continue making progress in an industry whose current global worth is estimated at $150 billion.
