GMG: From the UAE to the World

Mohammad A Baker, Deputy Chairman and CEO of GMG, shares details of the UAE-based company’s growth, diversification, and investments in the global well-being market

Founded over 40 years ago in Dubai, how has GMG evolved alongside the wider transformation of the UAE?

For over forty years, GMG has been relentlessly working to be a trusted partner for growth and innovation. From humble beginnings in Dubai, today we are a global well-being company retailing, distributing, and manufacturing a portfolio of leading international and home-grown brands. Today, GMG is proud to support the UAE’s boundless entrepreneurial ambition. Like the UAE, we are always pushing to achieve more and are always looking to do what is next. To continue living our value of putting the consumer first in all we do, we recently redesigned our business to reiterate our mission to promote healthier and more active lifestyles through four main business verticals – GMG Sports, GMG Food, GMG Health, and GMG Consumer Goods. As a result of our restructure and global launch, we plan to double our global workforce by 2025.

We recognise that communities and governments around the world have a renewed focus on personal well-being. Additionally, our industries are experiencing significant disruption, whether through climate change, rapid digitalisation, or the Covid-19 pandemic. We are prepared to respond to these changes and push the boundaries by developing better products and experiences that change lives.

With the UAE leadership placing great value on community happiness and well-being, how does GMG intend to add value to people’s lives?

The wellness market—considered a subset of the wider ‘well-being’ concept—has expanded considerably in recent years. McKinsey & Company estimates the value of the global wellness market at over $1.5 trillion. Consumers today are conscious of how a brand engages and adds value to them. The relationship is no longer transactional; they want to be actively involved with brands and be aware of their impact.

As such, GMG focuses investments into active living, nutritious food, and good health. Through GMG Sports, for example, we inspire and empower our community to live healthy and active lifestyles by providing consumers with authentic, high-quality sports gear from the world’s leading brands. Our health vertical delivers a 360-degree, holistic approach to supporting consumers’ well-being through nutrition, pharmacare, vitamins and supplements, and more. In the food sector, GMG is both a food manufacturer under GMG Food, and a distributor for popular food brands, bringing quality and nutritious food to consumers under our GMG Consumer Goods vertical.

In addition to being a well-known retail player, GMG does far more than that today in the UAE and beyond. Where do your other interests lay?

We are much more than a retailer – we retail, manufacture, and distribute. All this is backed by solid research and development, consumer insights, market analysis, and more. We are passionate about what we do, and we constantly try to perfect our formula for success.

For example, our food vertical has grown substantially in the past four decades. Last year, we expanded our food manufacturing division, adding five state-of-the-art factories supported by an R&D kitchen and food laboratory in the UAE. By 2022, GMG will have six dedicated product lines under one roof. By doing so, we are committed to adding value to the UAE’s economy and supplying our customers with fresh and nutritious food. With an objective that all these efforts will help the country reduce its food imports.

Additionally, our entrepreneurial spirit takes us beyond our core businesses. GMG Ventures includes Trilogi, our logistics arm, which enables us to complete the full circle of the customer journey. We have the capacity to provide air, sea, and land freight solutions including dry, ambient, cold, and frozen warehouse and distribution capabilities.

GMG has introduced over 120 global brands in the UAE, MENA, and Asia. Looking to the decades ahead, what do you think makes GMG a partner of choice?

We are proud to work with leading global brands across our four key verticals. We strongly believe that investing in our partners’ success has been pivotal for our success, and GMG has grown with them. We have continually innovated new ways to bring superior customer experiences to our partners and customers.

GMG is an organisation always on the move, and always looking to do what is next. That is a culture that aligns well with the ethos of many of our brand partners. Many of our investments will in turn support the UAE’s strategic vision to support healthy and positive lifestyles across the nation.