Comfort Zone

Although he’ll never admit it, one can guess from a chat with him that Hussein Hachem is Aramex. The GCC CEO’s first job, after all, was with the company, and it may be his last. “Aramex gave me lots of opportunities from the time I joined,” he explains. “It has turned out to be a good decision. Ten years from now, I think I’ll still be around these offices.”

Hussein Hachem, CEO – GCC, Aramex

Hachem joined Aramex in their Management Trainee programme in 1990, right after he graduated from the American University of Beirut.Beirut was recovering from a civil war and Hachem took the job as way to leave the country. At a time when opportunities were limited, Hachem considers himself lucky to have gotten out.

And, luckily, Hachem’s career grew with the company. “When I joined, I was sent to Jordan for eight months of training,” he says. “After that I went to Kuwait to set up a new office. It was very exciting as we were witnessing the construction and rebuilding of the city after the Gulf war.” The company’s growth in Kuwait was staggering, says Hachem – a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

After eight years in Kuwait, he moved on to Sri Lanka, what he describes as the logistics hub of the Indian Subcontinent. Four years later, in 2002, he moved to the UAE. “When I came to Dubai, I was handling Dubai and the Northern Emirates, then I moved to handling UAE and Oman and now I’m running the Gulf,” he says proudly.

Hachem even refuses to talk about his himself without taking Aramex into consideration. In fact, he knows himself very little outside Aramex. “I do not know myself as a professional outside the industry because I haven’t worked anywhere else,” he says.

The courier business is his comfort zone. “I’m a demanding, aggressive and results oriented person,” he says. “For me things have to happen now.”

But he is not fiery enough to shout at his staff. He believes in nurturing his employees, giving them the right work environment and a satisfying career path. He feels because Aramex has been around – through price fluctuations, depression, war – the company has been able to evolve its culture, its leadership and its customer confidence. This in turn has given employees an environment of transparency, mutual support, competitiveness and aggressiveness.

Hachem says, “We let our new recruits exercise their ideas. We self-criticise and challenge each other for the best of the company. It’s not an individualistic but a group approach.”

Being in an industry where every minute counts, Hachem says that he is accessible 24/7, even when he is on holiday with his family. But he enjoys spending time with them most. After seven years in Dubai, he feels he is at home.

Hachem also seems comfortable with his routine, commuting from Barsha to either the Aramex office near the Dubai Airport or the office in Jebel Ali, if he is not travelling. And by 10:30 am, he is on his third cup of coffee. “I like my coffee,” he says, “and I like to smoke.”