The incumbent managing director of Apollo Holdings Pvt Ltd Mr. Abdul Muhsin Hussain have been holding office since April 2011 as an appointed director from the parent company Lily Enterprises Pvt Ltd. He himself being a shareholder and a director of Lily group is a renowned figure in the corporate environment of the Maldives. His experience in the strategic management surpasses three decades.
How did you get started?
Apollo holdings Pvt Ltd was incorporated initially by two individuals joining together combining their individual business operations. One director (Mr. Ahmed Arif), who were into trading offered the other director (Mr. Mohamed Waheed / Dhigali), who happened to be a distributor and a logistics operator to join hands to form the present conglomerate Apollo Holdings Pvt Ltd. So in simpler terms it is a vertical integration of the value chain.
What would you consider as successes?
We being one of the key player in the construction, transportation and logistics industries is success enough in a short span of two decades. Our ability to do on-sight delivery to our customers anywhere in the Maldives is a milestone worth to remark.
What are some of the challenges you have faced?
Our challenges are mainly economic specific as do rest of the organisations of the Maldives. To name some; access to low cost finance, single borrower limit from financing institutions, availability of dollar, regulatory challenges, vast population spread, high credit risk, port facility congestion and the list goes on.
What do you do differently?
What we believe on how we differentiate our services to that of our competitors’ is being honest and serving them as promised and ensure that it is the earliest possible that the customer could get it otherwise. In doing that we ensure that our customers get the best value from the available choices. To achieve this we have a policy to never outsource any part of the supply chain from the point of customer order until it reach to our customer site. We have heavily invested on logistics infrastructure to ensure that this is achieved.
What is your advice for the young MD’s and your hopes for the future?
Have proper procedures and policies in place and make sure the operational autonomy of the organization. Have a peace of mind so that you can have a futuristic vision. Try to differentiate yourself from the competition and keep customers in the center of your plans. Keep a good relationship with your staff. Have faith and trust in Allah on the decisions you make.
What I wish for our organization is to excel out from the competition and be among the largest 10 conglomerates of the Maldives. I always want to see either I or my successors or theirs to take this organization to greater heights.
