Tasmiyah Group, a global produce supply chain company
Based in Dubai, Ecuador, Costa Rica and Turkey, the group integrates the entire supply chain from production until destination markets, thereby having complete control over the chain. Thanks to its unique organisation, Tasmiyah Trading supplies a large number of markets with great commercial and logistics flexibility. It serves the entire Middle East, Russia, Ukraine, North Africa and all of southern Europe.
“We are able to provide customer service almost 24 hours a day from South America and Dubai,” said Mudasir Tak, founder and CEO of Tasmiyah Group.
The firm is focused on tropical produce and is one of the few Ecuador banana exporters with direct presence in Dubai and other markets like Turkey. It has a team of more than 50 people to coordinate all the pre- and post-harvest operations and engage directly with the shipping lines and buyers of all segments.
“Most banana producers don’t have a direct engagement in logistics and marketing all the way to final customers,” said Mudasir. “Each market has its own specifications and we try to customise our approach to fit them.”
Transparency and flexibility
The group focuses on establishing quality SOPs at source. Its technology allows monitoring of goods in real time, 24/7 and 365 days of the year. As product safety and customer confidence are both important, clients are being made partners in the process and given access to greater transparency and traceability in the system. A choice of multiple sources is also strategic for the group to allow it to serve different markets and bring flexibility while reducing the risk of a single origin. For Middle Eastern markets, the decision to add Ecuador for banana supplies was also strategic as it enables better quality fruit all year round, despite transits of around 45 days in some cases. Tasmiyah Group is able to manage shipments of quality bananas for markets with transit times ranging from 18 to 46 days.
The most diversified market base
For many years now, Tasmiyah Group has been serving what is probably the most diversified portfolio of customers, with an average volume of 72 containers per week. Its premium brands are Ecuban, Alexandria, First Pick, Maya’s and Agora, which find their way to almost twenty markets under different specifications to service multiple market segments, from wholesale to the consumer.
“We can supply both large and small customers, and we also help them to diversify markets when there is oversupply,” said Mudasir.
Tasmiyah Group also engages in seasonal import programmes of pineapples, grapes and citrus, as well as specialties like dragon fruit by air.
Supporting local communities
“We see a change with greater demand for more responsible CSR,” said Mudasir. Giving back to the communities and responsible profit are at the heart of the group’s core values, which is why it began supporting local communities with education and sanitation programmes several years ago.
“We see a great need to focus more on social issues rather than on the environment, which is usually the forte of larger corporations. Our goal is to be a facilitator of change. But our sole focus is to bring improvements at community levels with a combination of smaller and more effective actions,” said Mudasir.
Tasmiyah Group is in discussions with larger stakeholders in the industry to consolidate efforts in the CSR area, bring more synergies and make a greater impact in the years to come.
