DHL Middle East awards competition winners

Four DHL Middle East employees were awarded at the company’s headquarters in Bahrain. Mr. Duncan Watson, DHL Middle East Commercial Manager, presented the awards - a certificate and a cash prize to the winners of an internal commercial competition. The four employees – Allan Jackson, from DHL UAE, Rob Brown, DHL Kuwait, Ahmed Gelgel, DHL Qatar, and Jeffrey Solivio, DHL KSA - participated in the “Spymaster “ programme and obtained outstanding results. “Nothing to do with real spies, I am afraid. We just thought that it would be an interesting way of motivating our commercial agents and add a bit of glamour to our incentive programme,” says Mr. Watson. “This annual competition is one of several internal actions aimed to reward those employees that contribute decisively to DHL’s success. In this case, the achievements are directly related to one of our faster growing areas, Import Express.” “The regional economy has been booming, partly due to long standing growing processes, but also partly due to the increase of oil related revenue. This has had an obvious effect on national imports and DHL is extremely keen on offering solutions that suit the local importer. With Import Express, our client takes control of the import process and incorporates elements of cost control that would not be available if the transportation process was managed from the other side.” The four winners agreed on the fact that their own success in surpassing sales expectations reflects DHL’s results. “Clients realise that it is much more cost effective for them to take control of the import process. In this way, they can control not only the direct cost of logistics but can also implement better resource management in other areas such as warehousing, time management, etc.”, adds UAE winner, Allan Jackson, that has been in the DHL for the past 10 years and declares to feel “completely at home” in Dubai, “especially after getting married here”. Allan won the “James Bond League” competing with colleagues in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. “Unlike Kuwait and the UAE, where there is a large re-export market, KSA and Qatar are mostly net consumers,” agree Jeffrey Solivio and Ahmed Gelgel. “The import sector is exclusively market driven. Evidently, in this situation, direct control over the import process is even more important as flexibility and swift reactions are key. Elements like customs handling are also fundamental and DHL has established excellent relationships with local authorities in the region that facilitate these processes.” “Kuwait, the whole Gulf indeed, is a very strong import market,” pointed out Rob Brown. “The general trend has been of strong growth in all areas of operation. The advantages of controlling your own operations are so evident that many times the product sells alone.” “Clients realise that it is much more cost effective for them to take control of the import process. In this way, they can control not only the direct cost of logistics, but can also implement better resource management in other areas such as warehousing, time management, etc.,” adds UAE winner, Allan Jackson. “There is no other logistics operator in the region that can offer these advantages,” adds Mr. Watson. “Both local network and international presence, plus the availability of integrated solutions guarantee that DHL is the carrier of choice for importers in the region.”