“…We remain confident that we’ll have a special role to play during these [times]… [we strive to] make sure there’s availability where consumers need us more than ever before,” Malik told BT
As the head of Reckitt for Asia, Middle East, and, Africa (AMEA), Tahir Malik believes the international FMCG manufacturer has a significant responsibility to help households navigate through today’s marketplace.
“…We remain confident that we’ll have a special role to play during these [critical times] … [we strive to] make sure there’s availability where consumers need us more than ever before,” Malik told BT in an exclusive interview.
Malik sat down with us to discuss his time at Reckitt – the organization behind household staples such as Dettol, Vanish, Finish, Harpic, Strepsils & Gaviscon to name a few – and how the company is responding to today’s economic challenges.
Tahir Malik - Reckitt's SVP Regional Head AMEA Asia, Middle East & Africa
In the past 27 years, I have had the privilege to work in six to seven different countries across three continents.
I started my professional career back in the mid-nineties with Proctor and Gamble, where I stayed for 15-16 years; starting in Pakistan, I worked my way up from assistant brand manager (ABM) all the way to becoming the first Pakistani marketing director.
Afterward, I completed my last 10 years at P&G in Brussels and Geneva, handling the laundry category for the Middle East and Africa.
In 2011, I switched to what I call my first love, or more I’d say true love, Reckitt, as its CEO for Pakistan for two and a half years before being promoted and moving to Turkey.
In 2016, I was promoted as Reckitt’s head of Latin America and moved to Sao Paulo. In 2018, [I] moved to Dubai where I handled the Asia, Middle East, and Africa markets for Reckitt's hygiene business unit.
When the business units were combined, I was given the responsibility to head Asia, Middle East, and Africa for the company.
So, that’s been my career journey. I am married to Mariam, and we have one son Ali. He just moved to London’s King's College; he wants to be a doctor.
I think there are a few principles that we’ve always followed. The first is that consumers are always looking for value, something that enables them to get the best value for themselves, and for their families.
Our products in the categories that we play in are far superior in nature, [they give consumers] superior solutions. And we’ve seen that when the world is undergoing economic challenges, brands like us who [provide consumers] with superior value have an even more important role to play.
Hence, I think that we are navigating through these challenges with a very positive mindset, striving to give consumers the best value in the categories we play in.
At the same time, we also believe that controlling costs and being super agile to keep costs as low as possible is important, that’s the second thing that we follow.
Third, but equally as important, and we started seeing this post-COVID, is that the world has gone through a bit of a disruption; disruption in the supply chain, and disruption in availability [of certain products]. One of our purposes is to make sure that our consumers have access to our products, not just as a privilege but as a right.
And as the world goes through these challenges, we also make sure that there is product availability across the world… We’ll have to be agile; we’ll have to be cost-conscious. We’ll have to drive value even more and make sure there’s availability where consumers need us more than ever before.
I handle the Asia, Middle East, and Africa unit; that’s around 73 countries and 1.7 billion consumers. For us, Egypt is one of the most important markets, it’s in the top five markets within the 73-75 markets that we handle.
[Egypt] has massive potential, and we look at this as one of our key growth drivers. It has a wonderful population, and an emerging middle-income [segment of] consumers, where mothers have a key role.
Family values are very important [here]; she wants to give her family the best, but at the same time is also very cutting edge. She wants to experiment with new things, and learn as she navigates through [shopping] decisions. That’s the perfect household for Reckitt.
Egyptian moms are well-aware of the germs out there, and that’s where Dettol has a role to play. [She] wants to give her family the best look, that’s where Vanish has a role to play…
We see Egypt as a country with massive potential, as a country with a brilliant future, as a country where we believe we have miles to go before we can [rest]. As a result, we are increasing our investments in our brands, in the organization, and in all verticals.
