Pankaj Bhatia

• Manage the sales and operations of the branch and grow business by providing quality service & cuisine.

Key Result Areas:
•Setting up a sales team to handle existing and potential customers across the UAE.
•Identify potential customers in each channel and establish business relationships.
•Evaluate opportunities in new product categories and expand distribution/sales volumes.
•Plan to achieve an agreed budget number for value, volume, profit, and distribution across several channels.

Result Areas:
•Full responsibility & accountability for all operations of the UAE branch as a center head.
•Responsible for the achievement of sales volume, profitability, and sales & marketing activities.
•Agree on annual budgets & produce a detailed annual business operating plan.
•Execute the distribution of company products in a cost-effective manner to minimize distribution costs.
•Establish sales objectives by creating a sales plan & quota.
•Maintain & expand customer base by counseling the sales team, and building & maintaining rapport with key customers, while identifying new customer opportunities.
•Recommend new product lines by identifying market/product opportunities.
•Produce business performance reports on a monthly/quarterly basis.
Major Achievements:
•Streamlined the logistics operations of the UAE branch, which brought down the operating costs by 40%.
•Increase in the number of reputed and profitable customer base by 35% from 300 to 405 customers.
•Monitored and reviewed the timely collection of due amounts which reduced the debt turnover days to an all-time low of 67 days.
•Controlled the customer dues and had zero bad debt amounts.
•Strengthened the customer recovery process and ensured collection of 95% against the YTD sales.
•Revitalized the UAE branch by generating first-time profits (of AED 3.5 million in FY 2020 & AED 6 million in 2021), compared to previous years’ losses.

Key Result Areas:
• Lead the Food Service Division for the UAE market
• Manage a sales team of 8 and provide mentorship to achieve yearly sales, distribution & profitability targets.
• Work collaboratively with 50+ key strategic accounts by negotiating rates/other terms to drive volumes & revenue.
• Ensure customer satisfaction by building & strengthening work relationships through regular interaction.
• Review progress of sales roles throughout the Division & suggest/implement corrective actions.
• Provide category wise forecast and monthly revenue streams via regular review.
• Collaborated with the R&D team to suggest, develop and introduce 4 new & profitable products.
• Develop & implement annual sales strategies for various categories working with the Category Marketing team.

Company Description: OVOD is an edible oil manufacturing Co. based in Salalah, Oman and having own distribution network in Oman, UAE & Saudi Arabia with a turnover of USD 50 Million/annum. Heading the entire operation of the business in UAE, I report to the Head- Marketing & Sales, where the UAE turnover is USD 8 million/annum. I have total staff of 25 people reporting to me.

Key Result Areas:

• Responsible & accountable for all Sales & Marketing activities of Co. products in the UAE territory.
• As profit center Head for activities of UAE, I have to ensure the profitability of the Centre.
• Meet the Company’s sales & profit objectivities by planning sales, prepare annual budget, controlling expenditures, analyzing variances, initiating corrective actions etc.
• Organize distribution of the Company’s products both in the Modern and Traditional retail Trade & in food service channel in the most cost effective manner & plan & organize the necessary infrastructure & Sales Personnel required.
• Plan, organize & monitor the performance of the sales staff & motivate them to achieve their targets.
• Ensure maximum shelf presence of the Co. products in the retail outlets & expand customer base by identifying new customer opportunities.
• Recommend new product lines by identifying new opportunities &/or products, packaging, surveying consumer needs & trends, tracking competitors.
• Identifying, approach & develop new business with private label brand operators in the retail /wholesale trade.
• Implement trade & Marketing promotions as per budget approved by the Co.
• Responsible for the entire infrastructure like stores, stock, vehicles, and staff etc. and comply with the statutory requirements.

Achievements to date:

• Successfully launched new brands in Oil category namely Al Safa Vegetable Oil, Sun life Cooking Oil, Sun Drops Sunflower Oil & Corn Delight in the Retail & Food Service line of business in UAE.
• Negotiated with leading key account/self service outlets & listed new brands with major retail chain of Supermarkets to be available with 150 new customers & 110 new food service customers
• Opened new depots in Abu Dhabi and Ajman in addition to Dubai for wider and economical distribution of product & improving shelf presence & visibility.
• Added 20 new customers in the retail private label business, contributing to 35 % of Co. business.
• Grew business volume from Dhs 6 Million/annum to Dhs 30 million/annum in a span of two years.

Due to my passion and work commitment, I had the opportunity to handle multiple job responsibilities in following line of business during my career with them:-
Retail Distribution (Modern, Traditional Trade and Van sales)
Food service & Ship chandlers
Wholesale (Al Ras Re- Export Market, Fish Market and Fruits & Vegetable Market) & Export in GCC Countries
Following is the list of my working in IFFCO’s various Group units & product categories handled by me:
IFFCO Distribution Services
This Company is currently the distributor of products manufactured by IFFCO Group Companies.
Product Categories handled by me: Oils & Fats (Noor, Hayat, Sunny & Amber brands) Flour (Al Baker brand), Culinary (Ketchup, Mayonnaise and Sauces etc. under Tiffany & Noor brands), Ice cream (Igloo & London Dairy brands), Frozen paratha, dough & meat ( Al Baker & Al Khaleej brands), Spices, Pulses under Shama brand, Beverages (Tiffany & London dairy brands) Pasta & Bakery Ingredients etc.
Emirates Refining Co Ltd: Product Categories handled by me: Oils & Fats
Al Ain National Juice & Refreshments Co: Product Categories handled by me: Beverages (Long life Tetra pack Juice, Milk) and Ketchup, Mayonnaise, Sauces etc.
Unipex Dairy Products Co Ltd: Product Categories handled by me: Ice cream & Frozen Paratha/dough.
Key Result Areas with IFFCO Group:
• Plan and execute sales & business strategy for sales of all group company products.
• Submission of rolling sales forecast & distribution plan for each product category based on current market trends.
• Responsible for achieving agreed sales volumes, distribution & contribution targets thru a dedicated sales team in Retail Modern & Traditional trade & in Food Service line of business in UAE.
• Negotiate shelf space rentals with key retail accounts & gain maximum advantage to improve visibility/availability of brands and thereby consumer off take.
• Ensure display of brands by Merchandisers in the retail outlet shelves as per approved planogram.
• Achieve optimum balance between sales volumes and profit contribution.
• Train & guide the sales team and motivate them to improve performance year after year.
• Close co-ordination with the Marketing department of various categories to approve marketing plans & budgets for new product launches, brand positioning, promotions and sponsorship deals for different customer needs.
• Participation in the tendering process/contractual business of large customers, negotiating various contractual terms & develop, maintain cordial relations with key decision makers.
Achievements with IFFCO Group Companies:
• Successful implementation of a very aggressive sales plan by launching new & innovative shape sku’s, coupled with attractive consumer promotions, hiring of shelf space & improving visibility in retail outlets forced closure of Nestle & walls Ice cream operations in GCC countries. This made Igloo & London dairy brands leaders in the ice cream industry, with a market share of 55 % in a span of three years from a meager 11%.
• Got the ice cream & juice factories approved by U S Army by convincing our customer and prime vendor to U S Army; Seven Seas Ship chandlers with whom I had excellent working relations. This facilitated supplies of our Ice cream & juice brands to U S Armed Forces in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan & sales improved by Dhs 30 million/year.
• Initiated shaping & revamping of the Food Service Division by allocating exclusive sales resource, identifying & adding new customers in various segments (Restaurants, QSR, Hotels, Catering Co’s, and Bakeries). By this effort, we could add 450 new customers & improve sales from Dhs 4 Million/month to Dhs 21 Million/month in a span of 2 ½ years.
• I was conferred with Director’s award for extraordinary work and efforts made in developing, managing and growing critical food service customers.
• I was promoted from Area Sales Manager to Sales Manager for my various achievements in sales.

•Enhanced sales, market share, and profitability in the UAE Traditional Trade sector for dairy and FMCG products