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Setting up a recent inspiring conversation with Dinar Standard, Mr. Ghandour said, "My sense of commitment and satisfaction is seeing this organization where it is today and continuing to build it ..this is what drives me.  There is so much that can be done with it and it continues to challenge me." 

Fadi Ghandour is a much welcomed and rare, new-economy entrepreneur in the region. He is rare because, in an environment where family businesses are still struggling with professional leadership and protecting their markets, Mr. Ghandour has looked to expand his market and grow by delivering innovative new solutions such as ARAMEX's Shop & Ship service - a service that would even make Fred Smith, FedEx CEO, proud.

He is rare because, in an environment where businesses continue to rely heavily on government subsidies and favors, he has taken ARAMEX to be the first Arab-based international company to trade its shares on the NASDAQ stock exchange in 1997, returning to private ownership after five years, and recently in June 2005 taking the company public on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM).

He is rare because, in an environment where businesses continue to rely on hard assets, he has been able to build a knowledge driven service Company with locally developed technology and its people as its main assets.  Now on the backbone of those assets ARAMEX is positioned to become a multi-national global brand.

Beginnings as 'Courier Company of Courier Companies'

ARAMEX began back in 1981.  Mr. Ghandour describes the landscape then by saying, "At that time, other than the foot operators, there was really just one company, DHL, which was serving the region and Pakistan.  Fedex was just catching on in the US and the whole overnight express industry was just starting to be recognized."

Mr. Ghandour saw an opportunity for at least the MENA region where there was barely any serious company serving it other than DHL.  This resulted in a vision to establish a courier company, "something that looked like the FedEx of the Arab world."

However, it was obvious to him that to start something from scratch with that goal would require hundreds of millions of dollars. 

The next best thing was to establish an operation in every city of the region and offer services to the big companies in the US (Fedex, UPS, Airborne Express, etc.)  None of these companies had an international strategy and they were only looking at the US domestic market at the time.  Most of them were using DHL which was a competitor of theirs in their local market. 

"Our proposition was very simple and straight forward and it caught on very quickly, which was--you shouldn’t give business to your competitor.  We are based in the region and know the region.  We'll establish an independent network in the ME and we will be your delivery arm if you want.  You can have all your deliveries, all your packages that you have for the Middle East delivered by us on your behalf."

That's exactly what happened for a long time.  Soon ARAMEX became known as the "Courier Company of Courier Companies" in the ME serving as a wholesaler delivering packages for the large courier companies in the West.

This approach was a brilliant strategy that gave ARAMEX immediate business and vast geographic reach.  The second key strategy was to derive industry knowledge through association with industry leaders.  Mr. Ghandour points out that, "These people taught us the business; in fact they were paying us and teaching us to learn the business.   Aligning ourselves with FedEx and Airborne early-on created an incredible knowledge base for us.  For example, having access to the tracking system that Airborne Express provided us with - which we brought online in the region  - gave us probably substantial advantage over our competitors."

Emerging as a global brand

After the initial momentum, ARAMEX changed its business model from being dependent on the integrators in the US and other countries into a grassroots company in the Middle East; selling its own services from the Middle East to the rest of the world.  Today, its range of services includes international and domestic express delivery, freight forwarding, logistics and warehousing, publication distribution and other specialized offerings. Last year it revenues stood at $189 million with 3,800 employees.

When asked about ARAMEX's future, the excitement and enthusiasm in Mr. Ghandour's voice becomes ever more evident, "I think there is an opportunity for the ARAMEX brand to be a global brand.  There are four or five big companies today in our industry which include FedEx, DHL, TNT, and UPS.  We think ARAMEX can become that fifth brand."

Mr. Ghandour points out that even after a massive consolidation in the industry that has been happening over the last 15 years, the market still remains fragmented.  Mr. Ghandour thinks ARAMEX can position itself through acquisitions and alliances to create a global brand in strategic markets around the world, a market that would go beyond its traditional demographic. 

ARAMEX's existing Global Distribution Alliance (GDA) which brings together 40 of the world's independent express companies leveraging each others’ specialized markets, gives it the existing relationships and experience to execute a robust growth strategy.

Innovation - The Ingenious Shop & Ship Product

In today's competitive global environment growth is being driven by innovation.  ARAMEX's Shop & Ship product is a testament of its world-class ability to innovate.

For ARAMEX this turned into a tremendous opportunity, an opportunity for innovation that was identified by its front-line employees in Jordan.  Clients were coming to its field employees and telling them they need to buy various products from the US or UK but were not able to use the credit card which has an outside US address.  This gave birth to the Shop & Ship product through which these consumers can go online to get a US or UK based address assigned by ARAMEX, do their shopping and get their packages delivered to that domestic address in the US or UK.  ARAMEX picks up and brings it over to the region. 

"It has caught up like mad fire for us. It’s a massive product for us." says Mr. Ghandour proudly.  "The product was tried in Jordan and then went across the company and has been rolled out to every single location and is doing extremely well for us." 

At ARAMEX, Mr. Ghandour has created an environment where there is an emphasis on entrepreneurship and innovation led by the front-lines.  Keeping a much decentralized structure, every manager that runs a country is looked as a local CEO.  He believes his team on the frontlines needs to feel empowered in creating products that are needed in the marketplace. 

This is systematically practiced and encouraged allowing the center and the frontlines to develop products that make sense.  "If they make business sense we try them out.  We find a pilot site to implement them and if it succeeds it goes to the rest of the company after further tests within each market."

"You have to take care of your people"

One thing that Mr. Ghandour was aware of from the early days is that, as the CEO of the company, he has to take care of his staff and that the Company cannot be dependant on him alone.  He focused on the reality that organizations are run by people, and to hire and retain the best talent he has to ensure that there is ownership and satisfaction in their involvement.  Today a great number of employees have been around for more than ten years, and prior to the IPO on the Dubai Financial market over 400 Aramex employees owned no less than 7% of the shares in the company.

As is true with most organizations, attracting newer talent to propel the further growth of the company continues to be a challenge for ARAMEX as well.  However, its solid brand and good reputation are reducing the hurdles. 

"Today when we attract talent we also have to look-good for that talent.  Talented people interview companies nowadays; not the other way around." says Mr. Ghandour.  "So we have to create the right environment not only in terms of monetary rewards, but in terms of them exercising their skills.  A lot of people need to know that when they join an organization, they are going to develop, they are going to learn, they are going to be influential, they are going to be heard, they can make a difference, they have access to the leadership." 

Passion for Innovation

Speaking management with Mr. Ghandour is like speaking to any entrepreneurial global business leader with his grasp of actionable strategies that define an innovative company. 

It's no surprise then that he sees Peter Drucker, the preeminent management strategist of this century, who recently passed away, as one of his most influential thought leaders.  As Drucker said, "Innovation is the specific instrument of entrepreneurship... the act that endows resources with a new capacity to create wealth" (Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 1985.)  The Shop & Ship product and the environment that created such an innovative product is a reflection of Mr. Ghandour’s leadership approach.

Mr. Ghandour studied political science and is a passionate reader of politics and history.  For him, becoming an entrepreneur was a learned skill - one which he has honed by reading management books, attending seminars, and observing and benchmarking against world business leaders.  He admires the management thinking of Peter Drucker, he has respected the leadership of Fedx CEO, Fred Smith, and he is a regular Harvard Business Review reader. 

However, its not been all business for Mr. Ghandour.  He is also involved in micro entrepreneurship and micro-credit in the region and is chairman of the National Microfinance bank in Jordan, a new non profit Microfinance organization.   In fact a recent book he has read is called "Fortune at the bottom of the Pyramid" which is about how one goes into less privileged markets and to activate that side of the economy. "It's essential for us business leaders in the region to be in touch with the realities of our region."

Challenges for the Region's Private Sector

Given his success so far as an entrepreneur in the MENA region, Mr. Ghandour has a lot to offer to address challenges facing its private sector. 

The private sector, which is mostly family owned businesses, has historically been an asset based and government program based community.  "These business communities in the region built their money from government contracts through the oil boom of the 70's.  We need to get out of that." 

"The world is changing, the global knowledge economy is changing everything, and if we want to be a part of that we need to create and transform our current organizations from being totally thinking of hard assets and more thinking of soft assets.  The founders of these enterprises did a brilliant job in building those organizations but the next challenge is a different challenge than that of 30 years ago." 

Mr. Ghandour also emphasizes the need for organizations to think outside of the family and create a process where people that are actually making money for the organization become the leaders of the organization and not necessarily only the family members.  "This is a big challenge and a specific challenge. Today if you are talented you can go anywhere you want at the end of the day.   A lot of our talent goes to the West because the West allows you to explore.  The only way we can retain talent, has to be by converting family structures into more modern structures to move with the knowledge economy."

Mr. Ghandour does however see a positive trend towards entrepreneurship and diversification compared to five years ago.  "You can feel it.  You can see some diversification away from oil dependence."

A Role Model for the Region's Entrepreneurs

Mr. Fadi Ghandour has shown how a knowledge economy driven service company can be built from scratch in the MENA region and be positioned to become a global brand. 

This rare accomplishment makes him an exemplary role model for others in the region; a responsibility which he has also taken on seriously.  He has been an avid supporter of Young Arab Leaders forum, Entrepreneurship Network in Beirut, and other various leadership initiatives in the Arab world. He is also the founding Partner in Maktoob.com the world's largest Arab On-Line community.

Just as he built ARAMEX from being the courier company of courier companies, he now is building his own legacy of being an entrepreneur of entrepreneurs for the region.

What do you think? Does ARAMEX has what it takes to become a global brand? Any suggestions for Mr. Ghandour?

YOUR FEEDBACK

I am an employee of ARAMEX family, I have been with ARAMEX for almost 6 years. I feel proud working at ARAMEX. It is the place for innovation and creativity that is driven by young leadership management style.

I don't have any advise to Fadi, my feedback is simply "Thank you" for being part of ARAMEX family.

E. Nino