MARKET highest standards in all its business divisions. Since the seventies the UAE has enjoyed a Kanoo Shipping, Kanoo Commercial Group, meteoric rise to fame and while the economy Kanoo Rapid Transit (KRT) and Kanoo Travel are has had to look to other countries for skills and all ISO 9001:2000 certified. Kanoo Travel was services the trend is slowly changing. The world the first travel company in the Middle East to no longer looks at the UAE and thinks only of oil achieve this international certification. and gas. Today the UAE is a reputable exporter The Kanoo Group is the only corporate group of world-class products and services ranging from to consistently win local quality awards for seven everyday necessities to highly specialised items. years running. At the forefront of this economic revolution In 2000 Kanoo Travel won the Quality lies The Kanoo Group. It is one of the largest Appreciation Programme certificate. In 2001 Kanoo independent, family-owned group of companies Travel took the limelight again as it became the in the Gulf region with products and services in first ever travel company to win the Dubai Quality shipping, travel, machinery, logistics, property, oil Award while Kanoo Machinery took its turn as the led to an all-round improvement in satisfaction and gas, power, chemicals, training and a whole Dubai Quality Appreciation Programme certificate of all the stakeholders, e.g. customers, suppliers, lot more. holder. 2001 marked a tremendous event in the employees, society, government and owners. In Operating extensively throughout , history of the Dubai Quality Awards – it was the 2007 The Kanoo Group became a member of , UAE, , , , Iraq and Sudan first time ever H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid the prestigious European Foundation for Quality The Kanoo Group sets the pace for progress and Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister Management (EFQM), where the majority of its development in the entire Gulf region. of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, honoured two members are reputed Government Companies Kanoo Shipping Agencies has evolved from companies in the same group for their quality and and Institutions. With such a remarkable track a shipping agent to being the region’s premier business excellence. record it is certain that The Kanoo Group will tanker agent and offshore service In 2002 Kanoo continue to achieve bigger and better things for provider. Kanoo Travel has evolved Administration became both itself and the UAE. to provide a sophisticated array the first winner of the The Kanoo Emiratisation Programme is of travel services specialising in prestigious Dubai Human a prime example of The Kanoo Group’s the fields of corporate travel, Development Award and enterprising spirit. It helps train and recruit young airline representation and marine 2003 saw Kanoo Machinery UAE nationals and sets the benchmark for both travel. Kanoo Machinery is winning the Sheikh Khalifa the private and government sectors in the UAE moving on from being one of the Excellence Award and – raising the bar not only for The Kanoo Group region’s leading materials handling Kanoo Shipping winning the but for the entire local business industry. equipment distributors to being Dubai Quality Appreciation the leading solutions provider Programme certificate. HISTORY offering the widest product range About 115 years ago, The Kanoo Group’s from ‘sale only’ to ‘full off balance founding father, Haji Yusuf Bin Ahmed Kanoo, sheet contract rental’. took over the small family business of trading in There are over 1,000 people basic commodities in Bahrain. He immediately working for The Kanoo Group and began to modernise the business by charting a its joint ventures in the UAE, each boat to trade in rich spices, rice, tea and exotic of them working towards the common goal of 2004 saw timber along the coasts of South-west , being an innovative leader in the UAE market Kanoo and Zanzibar. satisfying its customers, suppliers, employees, Machinery From Bahrain the business spread to Saudi owners, society and government. win the Arabia and, early in the 1960s, the roots of The Dubai Kanoo Group took hold in , Dubai ACHIEVEMENTS Quality and . The oil boom catapulted the Kanoo Less than 1% of family-owned businesses ever Award. family from its trading and shipping business to survive beyond the fifth generation. Yet The Kanoo Travel the empire that today represents one of the Kanoo Group, a sixth generation family-owned proved most diversified business houses in the Gulf. business, has not only survived but has achieved its quality While the Kanoo family business saw success tremendous success despite two World Wars again by the Kanoo family values remained true to its and several economic depressions. winning the Sheikh Khalifa Excellence Award traditions. This adherence to ethics and beliefs It is this determination and ambition that Appreciation in 2005 and the Sheikh Khalifa along with the guidance of the late Hamed Ali drives The Kanoo Group to strive to do even Excellence Award in 2006, while Kanoo Oil & Kanoo, Haji Yusuf Bin Ahmed’s grandson, made better. The Kanoo Group implements world- Gas Division won the Sheikh Khalifa Excellence The Kanoo Group an essential component of the class business excellence models to achieve the Award Appreciation in the same year. This has UAE’s business life.

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100-101_The Kanoo Group.indd 2 1/15/08 3:48:29 AAMM RECENT DEVELOPMENTS BRAND VALUES Kanoo Travel has been the American Express As one of the largest independent groups of lead franchiser in the MENA region for the last companies in the region The Kanoo Group few years and, from August 2005, the franchise strongly believes that investing in people, extended to cover Saudi Arabia and consists investing in the country and investing in cutting of a group of dedicated travel agents around edge technology will achieve success while at the the region under a common programme. This same time consistently providing a level of quality ensures higher standards, better operating and excellence that serves as a benchmark procedures and many other benefits valuable to for the industry. both the travel agents and the travellers. While today The Kanoo Group stands as a Kanoo Shipping has recently made significant modern symbol of growth and diversification the investments in a new global shipping agency core of the group remains true to the traditional business. S5 Agency World was launched by business values Haji Yusuf Bin Ahmed Kanoo five major regional market leaders to provide practiced over a hundred years ago – the values global port agency coverage to oil majors and of ethics, respect, fair-play and compassion for operators of large fleet. humanity. This is why The Kanoo Group takes its Kanoo Machinery has embarked on expansion responsibility to serve the community as sacrosanct. through establishing JV’s with partners that offer It is this combination of modernity with complementary products, the most recent of tradition, cutting edge innovation with the human The Kanoo Group excelled at shipping and which are CIS (a JV with Kone Cranes of Finland) touch and global standards with local know-how when Kanoo Shipping became the first Arab and Arabian Equipment Rental, a dewatering that makes up the unique personality of this shipping agency in the Gulf region in 1911 no one pump rental business with Sykes of Australia. market leader. thought that it would challenge the monopoly of long established British companies and go on to PROMOTION www.kanoo.com become the largest regional shipping agency in Almost anywhere in the Gulf region people the Middle East. Today Kanoo Shipping handles recognise the Kanoo name and corporate logo. over 7,000 vessels every year from Suez to India After more than a hundred years of delivering and covers every port in the Middle East. services and products that continually live up to The Kanoo interest in travel was sparked off in the demanding expectations of their consumers, 1935 when the company provided the refuelling the Kanoo name has become synonymous with facilities for Imperial Airline sea-planes en route the principles of trust, reliability and quality. to India and Australia. Then Kanoo Travel became The well-known Kanoo symbol of the palm the Gulf’s first IATA agency and now Kanoo tree appears in all communications evoking a Travel can proudly claim to be the largest travel sense of trust, stability and friendliness with company in the Middle East with over 170 offices. compelling ties to a strong heritage. During While Kanoo Travel was expanding throughout a qualitative research of The Kanoo Group the region, another of The Kanoo Group’s success image in the UAE, the words ‘reliable’, ‘very stories was beginning – in the 1960s Kanoo strong’ and ‘trusted’, came up again and again Machinery started supplying construction and with awareness of The Kanoo Group as a material handling equipment in the region. At corporation matching levels usually associated that time the UAE was just setting up its oil and with consumer brands. gas industries and developing its infrastructure. Kanoo’s marketing approach focuses on By providing the government and private sectors the company’s key selling-proposition of with world-class equipment and services Kanoo ‘Many Opportunities. One Address’, which Machinery helped lay down the foundations for the highlights The Kanoo Group’s diverse business UAE and today Kanoo Machinery is still keeping opportunities. pace with the UAE’s ever expanding success. Kanoo Group can usually be found gracing the As impressive as its past has been the future pages of the UAE newspapers and magazines of The Kanoo Group promises to be even more with regular features, insightful interviews and spectacular. With its more recent explorations discussions on the company’s latest venture as into dynamic industries such as power and there is always something to talk or write about Things you didn’t know about information technology The Kanoo Group has a with The Kanoo Group’s intensive sponsorship The Kanoo Group whole lot more to look forward to. agenda. The Kanoo Group associates itself with worthy causes such as the Rashid Paediatric Kanoo Machinery delivers enough Bobcat skid steer PRODUCT Therapy Centre, the UAE IT Challenge and the loaders each year that, if you stood them end The Kanoo Group is one of the most diversified Environmental Group as well as the on end, the pile would be higher than the new and successful conglomerates in the UAE with fields of sport, art and culture with sponsorship Burj Dubai. interests in shipping, travel, machinery, logistics, and support of Dubai Rugby Sevens, Dubai Kanoo Shipping supply boats in Fujairah have steamed property, oil and gas, power, chemicals, training, Marathon, Dubai International Film Festival and two and a half times around the world. information technology and industrial activities. Beit al Qur’an among others. Kanoo Travel services over 15,000 customers in the Add to that Kanoo’s joint ventures with The Kanoo Group promotes its products and UAE every month. internationally renowned names in the service and its services by hosting trade shows and events industrial sectors such as AXA Gulf, Maersk, BASF, across the region from the highly technical The Kanoo family owned the second ever car in the Kingdom of Bahrain, a Model A Ford that was later Murray & Roberts, Mitsui OSK Lines, American Seatrade Exhibitions and Conferences and the lent to a major in the British Army so he could Express, Akzo Nobel, Freightworks, Johnson Arabia, annual Arabian Travel Market to the fun of the visit the King. Cranes Software, International Paints, KCI, Sykes Kanoo Open Day, when all of The Kanoo Groups’ Australia and it is easy to understand the group’s customers, employees, partners and their families Kanoo Travel was the first travel company to be phenomenal success in the region. get together to enjoy the famous Kanoo hospitality. accredited the ‘IATA’ Status in the region in 1974. The Kanoo Group is the only business group in UAE, which has the distinction of having its business divisions winning various awards under DQA and SKEA Schemes each year for the last 7 years. Kanoo Travel is the first travel company to introduce “ Satellite Ticket Printing” in the region.

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