A plentiful future

Going from global to local might be a step back in some people’s careers, but not for Hussam Hammad, who arguably has created the biggest legacy across his 30-year career as General Manager of Saudi Arabia’s Sunbulah Group, one of the largest food manufacturers in the region.

In Hammad’s nine years at Sunbulah Group, which he joined after four years at global fast-moving consumer goods giant Kimberly-Clark, his mantra has been diversification for growth, with the development of a new distribution arm from 2017 being one of the most significant impacts of his tenure so far.

The new venture, now to be launched as a standalone entity under the name Aliyah United, is wholly owned by Sunbulah Group and primarily serves its own brands across frozen pastries, vegetables and meat, and premium cheese and honey. Yet it has also better positioned the company to bring new international foods to the Saudi market, whether it’s Kerrygold butter from Ireland or halloumi cheese from Cyprus, and helped it diversify into other products like ice cream and baby care.

“If a company is around 40 years old or more, the ability for you to make a leapfrog jump in sales becomes a bit limited because you have already reached maturity level,” Hammad says. “So, this is where the idea of bringing in a new revenue stream came from.

“This incremental business is helping us to better optimize our capital and human resources. While the business has reached maturity level, we’ve had organic growth every year, alongside the new product developments and innovations that are coming from Sunbulah Group brands.

“Yet the ability for our distribution company to make a really big jump in sales came from a new revenue stream, through the second leg of the business. That helped us to optimize the capabilities of our people, and grow sales by double-digits.”

Boosting Sunbulah Group’s brand

Hammad is keen to entice more international food brands to enter the Saudi market through Sunbulah Group, with Aliyah United acting as the gateway to a region that is highly dependent on food imports. There is also a high demand for premium products and a growing interest in foreign brands.

“I’m hoping that this will showcase our abilities as a partner that is willing to work with both local and multinational brands who are eager to launch their brand in the Saudi market,” Hammad says.

Such a strengthening of the company has also created a more promising environment for employees, he adds.

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“Sunbulah is a professionally managed distribution house supported by excellent talent and best-in-class processes with a reputation for consistent business delivery in Saudi Arabia. The company enjoys very strong trade relations and the team is always an asset to work with.” – Yousef Abdulkarim, CEO, Luban Foods

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“Broadly, I see success as the ability to drive change and add value to the business,” he says. “Within Sunbulah Group, the launch of Aliyah United has put us in a really strong position to attract, retain and develop top talents.

“Within this part of the world, it is important for all companies to build the organization by focusing on locals. Luckily, we have many talented Saudis, yet they are in need of a healthy working environment that we are really proud of being able to create within this group.”

That, Hammad adds, has made Sunbulah Group particularly attractive to the best candidates in Saudi, particularly from younger generations.

“We invested in them, we believed in them,” he notes. “They managed to grow our business, and they grew themselves by being promoted and moving to the next level within the group.

“We have a lot of examples that we are really happy with, of people making it to the next level within our company in a very short span of time.”

Navigating troubled waters

Despite this prosperity, Sunbulah Group has had its fair share of challenges. Disruptions of commercial shipping by insurgents in the Red Sea – an essential waterway for 30 percent of the world’s water traffic – has caused difficulty for the company, especially during the Ramadan earlier this year.

“Ramadan in this part of the world is the most important season for the food business, and specifically for Sunbulah Group. Our wide range of frozen pastries, along with processed meat and frozen vegetables, is key to the company,” Hammad explains.

“The challenges happening with the Red Sea crisis and importation have caused a huge increase in freight costs, which have hurt most companies in this region.”

But Hammad and his team were determined not to falter in the face of adversity.

“Our team, especially the procurement department, were eager to work day and night to ensure that we secure the availability of the raw material required for us to be in adequate stock holding level in preparation for Ramadan season,” he says.

“And that was honestly a very big competitive edge for Sunbulah Group, that enabled us to have stock, while many other competitors were running out of stock because of this.”

With shipping chiefs in doubt about a foreseeable resolution to the crisis due to ongoing conflict, Sunbulah Group is no doubt strengthened by the addition of Aliyah United. Support from partners such as Badr Investment Group have contributed to its success, as well as the leadership prowess of Hammad.

He explains how unique challenges that initially attracted him to this role at Sunbulah Group continue to motivate him.

“Kimberly Clark was a very good school to learn from. But it was about one-third of the size of the business I’m currently handling, and didn’t have the diversified portfolio of Sunbulah,” he reflects.

“Ultimately, it was the vision to create this new business structure and a standalone distribution company that has made Sunbulah such an appealing opportunity for me.”