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IT is celebration time at AJM Kooheji Group. On Monday, this century old group marked 25 years of partnership with LG Electronics.
A company, which started as a small trading outfit in 1890, is today a professionally run, diversified group comprising 10 different companies in Bahrain.
Group CEO, Rohit Raina spoke to GulfWeekly's Anasuya Kesavan about the secrets of the organisation's success.
Calling it a phenomenal growth that has seen a tripling of business volumes in the last three years, Mr Raina said: "The secret of our success is a combination of many things. It's a cocktail of various parameters that sets us apart from other competitors.
"We are absolutely customer centric and are probably the only organisation that has an ISO certified service centre in the kingdom today. Before we decide about any system, any procedure or any policy, we first think about the customer.
"We are equally employee centric and we do believe in investing in the right people and giving them the right training ... we call them employee partners. Thirdly, we are absolutely business hungry. We don't sit on our laurels and we keep raising the bar on ourselves.
"We believe in investing in relationships, which is one of the main ingredients of our success. We have had a relationship with Bridgestone and Yamaha for over 50 years and with LG for twenty five years. The same is the case with our bankers, employees and our customers.
"Last but not the least the vision of our management to grow has also made this success possible."
The AJM Kooheji Group, which is primarily in the lifestyle business with its electronics, marine, tyre, and furnishing divisions, is planning diversifications in the same value chain. It has recently branched out into building materials, piling and MEP (mechanical, electrical and plumbing) contracting. Mr Raina said that there are four more lifestyle related projects to be announced in the coming five to six months.
The CEO believes that the international financial crisis is presenting the organisation with business opportunities. He elaborated: "Our company had forecast this situation in the last quarter of 07 and we have braced ourselves for any eventualities. However, we don't see this as a crisis; we see it as an opportunity.
"We have our plans to grow in Bahrain and outside. We have set up a small base in Dubai. Over the next couple of years we are expanding regionally ... and after that we have plans to expand even outside the region. We definitely visualise our group as a major global player and are working on that in this period of time.
"We would like our company to be seen as a passionate, customer centric, growth oriented, profitable business. We are many of these ... and I am confident that we will shortly be all of that very soon."
