GIT awarded “valuable” export certification
June 14, 2018
GIT CEO Sassan Dieter Khatib Shahidi (Credit: Jeffrey E. Biteng/The National)
The Dubai-headquartered German Imaging Technologies has revealed that it has been awarded the “Verified Exporter Certificate” by Dubai Exports.
Following an “in-depth verification process and site visits by Dubai Exports and SGC”, GIT’s CEO, Dr Sassan Dieter Khatib-Shahidi has revealed that the company has been awarded the Verified Exporter Certificate.
Speaking exclusively to The Recycler, Khatib-Shahidi explained that GIT began developing its export business a year and a half ago, due to popular demand. Describing the EMEA region as the company’s target market, the CEO said that the region is not typically catered for by Western OEMs, as you cannot use the same business practices as you would in the West. Instead, Khatib-Shahidi explained, the process of developing your business is more ‘fragmented’, requiring companies to develop country by country.
Holding the title of the largest single industry supplier in the EMEA region since 2007, GIT expanded its operations to Kenya in 2016, and last year celebrated the first eighteen successful months of business in the country.
As the CEO described, GIT is well placed to reap the benefits of regional exportation, as the company has garnered in-depth knowledge of regional markets; subsequently, exports for its Lion brand of products have “picked up very nicely”. So far this year GIT has already added 16 countries to its roster.
Khatib-Shahidi said that, “Product-wise, we are very happy,” and explained that GIT’s cartridges have been developed over many years. In recent months, the company has witnessed a particular burgeoning in its sales of colour toner cartridges, which accounted for 64 percent of GIT’s 2017 revenue – an achievement Khatib-Shahidi described as “exceptional”, and which he says “underlined the capabilities of colour”.
As well as developing its export business, GIT has also been in the news this week for extending its partnership with WWF. Khatib-Shahidi described his company as having a “very strong” CSR policy. In October 2017, GIT affirmed its commitment to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, and Khatib-Shahidi described sustainability as being a crucial part of GIT’s ethos, as well as being his own personal preoccupation. Having grown up in a ‘green’ household in Germany, the CEO described sustainability as being in his “DNA”, and said that being able to contribute to a sustainable future meant everything to him.
In addition, he described the importance of GIT’s role as a provider of jobs in the region, stating that the company’s goal is to provide 10, 000 new jobs by 2030 in what he called a “job intensive industry”.
While the company has already reported a positive start to 2018, Khatib-Shahidi explained that he anticipates further growth – indeed a doubling up – of the export business, as well as expansion in GIT’s document printing solutions division. Currently, GIT is the only independent document solutions provider in the UAE, and as well as its toner cartridge remanufacturing business, also offers managed print services to corporate customers.
When asked what the next 5 years have in store for GIT, the CEO said that he expected the company would become “directly present” in 6 countries – so adding an additional four nations to the current two – and expressed his hopes of expanding their export network to cover 30-40 countries in the region.
With such goals in mind, it seems that GIT’s steady expansion is only set to continue.
Categories : World Focus
Tags : Business Cartridges Dubai EMEA Export GIT Growth Remanufacturing
