As it turns out, one man’s burden could become another man’s treasure. This is literally true for Dr. Saguber Ali, whose business success could be attributed to his cargo company. Back in 2004, when he flew all the way from India to Kuwait he did not know that he would one day lift the weight off people’s shoulders by establishing his door-to-door cargo service, GMS Express Cargo. Although Dr. Ali initially rolled out his career as a successful pharmacist at a local hospital, he pursued the freight industry and hit the jackpot when he built one of the most reliable logistics services in the country.
Venturing the business world: Dr. Ali hails from a traditional Indian village named Poolangal in Tamil Nadu state; he took his Bachelor of Pharmacy in JSS College Ooty and MBA from Annamalai University and is currently working on his research paper on Indian logistics for his doctorate degree. Beyond academics, he is a social servant and participates in various Tamil and Indian social forums to extend help to underserved people, and holds a charitable trust for medical and educational aids.
In 2004, Dr. Ali landed in Kuwait and launched his career as a pharmacist at the Royal Hayat Hospital. In 2010, he simultaneously started a pharmacy business and a traditional Indian restaurant in Mahboula. Along the way, he eventually saw a huge opportunity in the logistics sector in Kuwait and opened a reputed door-to-door cargo service to India and worldwide.
“As per my experience, Kuwait is one of the best countries to open a business for Indians. The Indian community in Kuwait has a large number of domestic workers and laborers, and they need very economical prices to send packages back to their families. Even professional workers and business people want to send their goods to their family at affordable prices, while providing professional services. So to meet their requirements, we worked hard to provide 100 percent committed service,” Dr. Ali remarked.
Serving one package at a time: At the onset, Dr. Ali had seen opportunities in the logistics business and he opened GMS Express Cargo, a door-to-door cargo service catering to India and the rest of the world. Through the sponsorship of Faleh Shuwaireb Mohamed Al Ajmi, who saw Dr. Ali’s dedication and supported him to expand the business, the company opened its first branch in 2014. Since then, the company has spawned four more branches across Kuwait with the latest one opening in 2020.
To date, the company has sister companies in many cities in India, as well as, the most number of vehicles and professional staff under its belt. With his vision to efficiently serve the people and commitment to deliver goods with competitive prices in the market, his venture reaped success and is today among the top companies in this field in Kuwait.
“I found the act of sending goods to loved ones or families more sentimental than the actual goods, so almost all the Indians have the habit of sending goods to their families in India, especially the domestic workers. Most of them left their children in the country so they want to send the goods to convey their love for them. And this field has a lot of scope if we do it in a perfect and professional manner,” Dr. Ali said.
Delivering top-notch door-to-door service; Dr. Ali built the company with its own freight and shipping forwarding systems from Kuwait to many countries. It has its own clearance and forwarding network in India, and supports many small cargo companies and agents to forward their goods from Kuwait. He weaved the company’s reputation by generating safe and committed deliveries, with the goal to win as many satisfied customers as possible in Kuwait and worldwide.
He said that one of the key factors to the company’s success is setting a target based on the market potential then working hard to reach that target. He also said that taking chances is a must. According to him, applying his knowledge to plan for the future and solve daily business struggles is important in this field.
“After GST was launched in India, all cargo companies had encountered issues with airport clearance during that time. Most of the small companies struggled to run the business. But I opened a new branch at the same time,” noted. Dr. Ali.
“We always give competitive and economical prices in the market. In fact, most of our customers receive their goods before the committed time. GMS had a unique record when the clearance issues occurred in India in the past five years. It is the first company to solve these issues and take out containers than other GCC-based logistics companies,” he continued.
Building on challenges and experience: Establishing the company from scratch comes with multitude challenges according to Dr. Ali. He said that before GST, the government of India was providing free clearance without tax if the value of the goods was less than 20,000 Indian rupees. But with GST, the cargo clearance is 41 percent if the value of goods exceeds 5,000 rupees.
“When our company was launched eight years ago in Kuwait, most of the top 20 companies had more than 20 years’ experience in the cargo business in the country, so I found it very difficult to switch customers over to GMS. But now, I can proudly say that GMS is the fastest growing company, and is among the top five companies in Kuwait in the field of doorto-door cargo in just eight-years’ time,” he pointed out.
Looking into the future: Dr Ali is planning to establish more branches in Kuwait and reach customers’ homes through these branches. He said that through this, customers would feel safer and more secure when shipping their goods. He is aiming to launch more branches in other GCC states and in Europe, as well.
Dr. Ali attributes his success to his wife, who supports him in his business, as well as his two sons.