Ajay Bindroo Group CEO Supermax The responsive efforts an organisation makes in times like these to encourage consumers to use their products as opposed to the competition’s offering is what makes all the difference. We devised various product lines and price promotions offering both performance and value and communicated them well to our consumers. During a recession the natural tendency of shoppers is to alter their requirement depending on how much their budgets permit. However people will continue to shave irrespective of the recession.
Avi Bhojani Group CEO Bates Pan Gulf Middle East Opportunity in Adversity! From as early as Oct 2008 after the Wall Street meltdown, we realized very quickly that almost all our clients were unclear about the future, particularly those with heavy Dubai exposure. So very quickly we got four complementary firms (McKinsey, E&Y, Al Tamimi and BPG), all run by friends to organise a day long, closed door- thought leadership symposium branded ‘Paradigm 2009’. All of us invited our respective C Suite clients to deliberate over the future course we would need to take in retail, travel and tourism and financial services. This helped position BPG as a ‘go to’ firm for marketing solutions, and our new business wins more than made up for the shrinking spends of our existing clients.
Raza Beig CEO Splash and Iconic If challenges are not part of your life, you are not innovating. I look at setbacks or challenges as opportunities because they are the best teachers and help develop skills you were unaware of. I was an average student in school, but a fantastic teacher. The challenge of bringing bread into my home made me evaluate what I had, and I realised I had nothing; the easiest alternative was to teach. Fear, setbacks and challenges have been at every stage of my career path... and my future will still have them. Any new activity I do, they come staring back at me.
May / June 2012 GC 11