KANOO
- a UAE Superbrands
The Kanoo Group has been selected in the
first annual Superbrand awards program conducted
in the UAE. The Superbrands organization
is acclaimed worldwide as being an independent
authority and arbiter of branding excellence
and is committed to paying tribute to exceptional
brands and promoting the discipline of branding.
A 10-member Brand Council selected the 100
Superbrands. The UAE Brand Council is comprised
of individuals who have shown exceptional
aptitude in business and who have a thorough
knowledge of that particular country's markets
and methods of business.
The Superbrands Council are asked to score
brands from a list provided by researchers
and the scoring is tabulated to result in
the top 100 scoring brands being designated
as Superbrands. The Superbrands Council
scores each brand against the criteria of
Superbrands' definition of a Superbrand.
The guiding principal for selection is that
a Superbrand should offer consumers significant
emotional and/or physical advantages over
its competitors which (consciously or subconsciously)
consumers want, recognize and are willing
to pay a premium for"
There are now Superbrands
Councils in nearly 30 countries, among them
are the United Kingdom, United States, Australia,
Japan, Holland, Ireland, France, Denmark,
Spain, Germany, the Philippines, Hong Kong
and now the United Arab Emirates.
|
|
|
 |
Kanoo
- A Brand Story |
|
The
Market |
|
Achievements
|
|
History |
|
Product |
|
Recent
Developments |
|
Promotion |
|
Values |
|
Things
you don't know |
Kanoo
- A Brand Story
Kanoo corporate signature continues to appear in
all advertising and marketing communications as
a constant symbol of the brand personality. Kanoo's
corporate signature, incorporating the palm tree,
evokes feelings of stability, trust, friendliness,
generosity along with the strong heritage attributes.
The brand Kanoo and its graphic symbol have established
high levels of recall across most of the UAE market
segments. The awareness level of The Kanoo Group
as a corporate entity has grown in the recent years
to a level that is normally associated with consumer
brands.
The
Market
Nearly two centuries ago, fishing and agrarian
communities occupied most of the Arabian Peninsula.
They settled in small villages, together with nomadic
Bedouin tribes that roamed the length and breadth
of the region. During the late nineteenth century
the prosperous towns were coastal ports with an
economy based on maritime industries: fishing, pearl
diving and boat building.
Since 1971, the UAE market has undergone a profound
transformation from an impoverished region of small
desert principalities to a modern state with a high
standard of living. For the last three decades much
of the economic activity has depended upon imported
skills and services to compensate for those which
the area lacks. The UAE industry now is a well-known
exporter of products and services, other than crude
oil and gas, ranging from everyday consumer necessities
to specialist items. The UAE nationals are now competent
contributors to the economy growth and diversity.
Achievements
Haji Yusuf was the first local Arab shipping and
travel agent competing with long established British
companies at the beginnings of the twentieth century
and managed to steer the family business through
two World Wars and several economic depressions
successfully and smoothly.
The Kanoo name and corporate signature are among
the most recognized names and symbols in the Gulf
region. With over a century invested in the brand
values and continued delivery against customers
and principals needs and expectations the Kanoo
name has become a byword for trust, reliability
and quality.
The findings of a qualitative research on The Kanoo
Group image in the UAE stated that " The Kanoo
Group emerges as a group that embodies a host of
attributes which enhance its perception as being
" Reliable". " Very strong"
and " Trusted".
The Kanoo Group implements world class business
models to achieve higher quality standards in all
its business divisions. Kanoo, Shipping and commercial
group comprising Machinery, Oil & Gas and Power
are all ISO 9001:2000 certified. Kanoo Travel was
the first travel company to achieve ISO 9001:2000
certification in the Middle East in 2001.
The Kanoo Group is also complying with the quality
and business excellence standards initiated from
the local government. In 2000 Kanoo Travel won the
prestigious Dubai Quality Appreciation Program certificate.
In 2001 Kanoo Machinery won the same prestigious
certificate and Kanoo Travel was the first travel
company to win the prestigious Dubai Quality Award.
The Kanoo Group is a major sponsor of Rashid Pediatric
Therapy Center, a corporate member in Emirates Environmental
Group and an investor partner in Dubai Quality Group.
The Kanoo Group sponsored many community programs
that aim at economic and human development. Moreover,
Kanoo continuously initiates special programs designed
to foster economic sustainability within the community
through the creation of jobs, supporting further
education and innovation, increasing quality awareness,
increasing the social and environmental awareness
and making philanthropic investments in economically
disadvantaged communities.
Shababona, Arabic for " Our youth ", The
Kanoo Group Emiratisation Program managed to address
the key issues in the recruitment and training of
UAE nationals and has become now a benchmark for
both private and government sectors in the United
Arab Emirates.
History
Haji Yusuf bin Ahmed Kanoo took over the small
family business in 1890 in Bahrain and established
one of the most successful and trusted family businesses
in the region today. The Kanoo family expanded its
business in the early 1930s to Saudi Arabia and
in the early 1960s to Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah.
In due time and particularly during the height
of the oil boom, the Kanoo family business grew
from its early trading and shipping business to
become one of the most diversified and highly regarded
business houses in the Gulf region and beyond.
The traditional values that underlined the Kanoo
family and the guidance of the late Hamed Ali Kanoo
had a great role in involving The Kanoo Group in
the business and social fabric of the UAE.
Kanoo is the oldest and largest shipping agency
in the region handling over 5000 ships every year
from Suez to India. In 1972, Kanoo was the agent
for the first ship to dock at "Mina Zayed".
HH Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahayan, President
of the UAE and HH Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum,
attended the official inauguration ceremony of the
port.
Kanoo's involvement in air travel goes back to 1937
when the company provided refueling facilities in
Bahrain for Imperial Airways seaplanes en route
to India and Australia. In 1947 Kanoo Travel became
the first IATA agency in the Gulf. In 1963 HH Sheikh
Saqir Al Qasimi granted Kanoo a license to open
the first travel office in Sharjah.
Kanoo Machinery started its operations in the UAE
by the mid of 1960s. With the introduction of oil
and gas industry along with the development of new
infrastructure it grew rapidly contributing to the
national development by providing first-class machinery
and equipment along with its associated services
to the Government and private sectors.
The primeval form of the present KRT, (Kanoo Rapid
Transit LLC) a member company of The Kanoo Group,
was born in 1976 as basic document and parcel transportation
service from Dubai to Abu Dhabi, Oman and Qatar.
Today, KRT provides a total logistic solution through
its structure, which comprises Courier Services,
Warehousing, Distribution and Transport.
The Kanoo Group is greatly respected for the ability
to combine traditional values with a global vision
and has always been linked to the progress and development
of the entire region.
Product
The Kanoo Group is a diversified business conglomerate
in the United Arab Emirates with business activities
across the world's most dynamic industries from
Shipping, Travel, Holidays, Machinery, Oil &
Gas, Power & Industrial Projects to Exhibition
services, Courier Services, Logistics, Specialty
Chemicals and Business Centers.
In addition, The Kanoo Group has a remarkable history
in forming joint ventures with world class companies
serving the service and industrial sectors such
as Norwich Union Insurance, Mearsk, BASF, Johnson
Arabia, Akzo Noble, Freightworks and others.
Recent
Developments
Kanoo celebrated its 100th birthday in 1990 and
to mark this occasion a book entitled " The
House of Kanoo" A Century of an Arabian Family
Business was launched. In this book the author,
Khalid M. Kanoo, recounts the history of the Kanoo
family business, charting in fascinating details
its growth from trading in basic commodities to
being now one of the leading international companies
in Arabia.
In 1999 The Kanoo Group launched a new strategic
Plan to strengthen and update its original values.
Among the improvements was the launch of "
Hamed Ali Kanoo Business Innovation Award"
in the year 2000. The award aims at supporting the
core brand value of "Innovation" and improving
employee development.
Over the past 3 years, Kanoo Shipping Agencies
have changed from a shipping agent concentrating
on liner business to the region's premier tanker
agents. Kanoo Travel has also managed to increase
its travel market share in the UAE from less than
3% to over 8%.
Kanoo Machinery took significant steps to automate
manually intensive sales operations with the incorporation
of technology. This is the first phase of a comprehensive
eCRM initiative to be implemented throughout the
various divisions ensures the seamless integration
of Kanoo Machinery's existing sales processes and
channels with online trade transactions with Tejari.com,
a leading B2B marketplace.
H.H. Sheikh Mohamed Bin Rashid al Maktoum, honored
two Kanoo divisions for their quality and business
excellence drive in 2001. A remarkable and unprecedented
achievement in the history of Dubai Quality Award
since its launch in 1994, where two companies from
the same group honored in the same year.
Promotion
Kanoo corporate signature continues to appear in
all advertising and marketing communications as
a constant symbol of the brand personality. Kanoo's
corporate signature, incorporating the palm tree,
evokes feelings of stability, trust, friendliness,
generosity along with the strong heritage attributes.
The brand Kanoo and its graphic symbol have established
high levels of recall across most of the UAE market
segments. The awareness level of The Kanoo Group
as a corporate entity has grown in the recent years
to a level that is normally associated with consumer
brands.
The Kanoo Group has achieved a remarkable credibility
record with the media in the UAE over the years.
The levels of attention given to Kanoo from the
local media is superb with regular features, interviews,
press releases and articles covering business and
social issues appearing in the press, magazines
TV and radio.
Recently Kanoo's marketing has focuses on a message
that communicates The Kanoo Group's business diversity
and positions it as the key to many opportunities
in the Gulf regions. The new corporate web site,
launched in 2001, achieved remarkable growth of
over 300% in the number of hits.
Sponsorship is high on Kanoo's list of promotion
essentials. Recipients include Rashid Pediatric
Therapy Centre, Higher Colleagues of Technology,
Emirates Environmental Group, Dubai Quality Group,
Dubai Marathon, Dubai Exiles Rugby and Football
Club, Al Majlis Gallery, Abu Dhabi Music Foundation
among others.
Besides participating in numerous trade shows and
events across the region, Kanoo organizes many technical
seminars and roadshows for its products and services.
Kanoo organizes special annual events as well like
"Kanoo- Drewry Strategic Forecasting Forum"
for the shipping industry and "Kanoo Open Day",
a corporate hospitality event designed for Kanoo
customers and business partners with their families.
Values
For over 110 years the Kanoo Family has always
been associated with the progress and development
of the entire region. The Kanoo Legend is a multi-generation
history of energy, productiveness, success and above
all the shared satisfaction of making a difference
in the world through philanthropy.
The pursuit of quality and excellence in business
has been a key factor in the success, growth and
stability of The Kanoo Group of companies for over
a century. The values that underlined the Kanoo
family members' lifestyle, attitudes and aspirations
have had a great influence in their corporate policies
and goals.
Throughout Kanoo's history of growth and diversification
emphasis has focused upon retaining traditional
business values which remain at the center of their
relationships with customers and partners. Together
with a global vision that adopts advanced business
efficiency and management models.
The Kanoo Group looks forward, with confidence,
to the future with a renewed commitment to maintain
and enhance its services and products. By providing
great stability to their business through cohesiveness
and predictability, being qualities of the family
traditions that underline them, and by being responsible
social institutions, serving the community in all
possible means.
Things you don't
know
Haji Yusuf bin Ahmed Kanoo was 22 years old when
he started the small family business in 1890.
Statistically, the odds against family-owned and
controlled business, continuing to thrive through
successive generations, are astronomical. Less than
1 per cent reach the fifth generation. The Kanoo
family tree shows that the company is now in its
sixth generation.
Kanoo was the first Arab ship agent I the region
in 1911.
Kanoo travel was the first travel company in the
region in 1937 and was the first to be registered
in the IATA's list in 1948.
Kanoo was a co-founder of Gulf Aviation Company
formed in 1950, which became Gulf Air in 1974.
Kanoo was the first private entity to use computerization
in business back in 1965. Its first computer was
an NCR 390 model.
