Mohammed Khalid Alakeel, CEO at Deemah: Every week, My Morning Routine looks at how a successful member of the community starts their day — and then throws in a couple of random business questions just for fun. Speaking to us this week is Deemah’s CEO Mohammed Khalid Alakeel (LinkedIn). Edited excerpts from our conversation:

I’m Mohammed Khalid Alakeel, the chief executive officer of United Food Industries Corporation, also known as Deemah. I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a major in finance. I started my career at Deemah in 2016 and have rotated through most of the company’s departments — from HR to sales and marketing, supply chain, and production. Finally, I became CEO last February.

At Deemah, my primary focus is on the company’s growth over the next three years. This involves implementing our current strategy and updating it on a rolling annual basis. It’s a continuous practice of asking: How do we grow? Which markets should we expand into, whether by exporting or establishing a new manufacturing footprint? What new categories should we enter, even here in Saudi Arabia?

Beyond expansion, a key part of my role is focusing on efficiency — meeting our targets for material, operational, and conversion costs so that we don’t have significant variances from our budget.

I see three major factors shaping the industry right now. First is the demand for healthy products. Second is the need for tech solutions to be implemented within the organization. And the third is a focus on people themselves; to attract top-tier caliber, you need to have excellent training programs, clear career path plans, and succession plans for every department.

Deemah is investing significantly in our research and development department. Part of our branding strategy is to focus on Gen Z; and to do that, we need to create new, healthy products, because Gen Z is a very health-conscious generation. We have developed several products that are zero sugar, have no added sugar, are low in gluten, or are protein-based. And when we say protein, we are talking about high-quality whey protein, not vegetable protein. These products will be launched in the next three months. We have worked with the best labs in the world to develop products that meet our consumers’ expectations for good quality and good nutrition from Deemah.

We’re focusing more on Saudi Arabia. Our Saudi business contributes over 70% of our total revenue. The other 30% comes from exports, where we focus primarily on the GCC market, as it is a stable market in terms of its political situation, purchasing power, and currency strength. In the last three years, we’ve automated approximately 70% of our production lines, and we’re on track to reach a 100% automation rate this year.

We don’t see major challenges within our sector. However, some of the tariffs we face from other countries can affect our export business, which is a challenge we can address by establishing a manufacturing footprint in those regions.

I believe in engaging with my colleagues by sharing ideas, not like a boss and a subordinate, where I am just giving them orders. We share ideas, we brainstorm together, and we welcome ideas from any level in the organization.

I wake up at 6:30am and have a 45-minute commute to the office. The first thing I do is review my mailbox and handle operational tasks like approving purchase orders and other pending items in our internal system. After that, I begin my daily routine. Each day, I have a dedicated meeting with my direct reports to review their weekly operational tasks. My approach is to first finish the work that requires my direct approval. After that, I engage with the department heads to review sales performance, production plans, adherence to those plans, and the accuracy of our demand forecasting.

I recharge myself by walking for 45 mins every day. I also do boxing exercises three times a week, but my daily routine to shut down my brain and create a balance between home and work is that 45-minute walk.

I’m very interested in reading about Industry 4.0 and how we can implement new technologies like AI to increase efficiency and reduce workloads across the entire organization. This isn’t just theoretical; for instance, inspired by this research, we are now implementing a virtual management system. It allows us to monitor all of our key metrics — overall equipment efficiency (OEE), downtime, scrap, and quality output — as live data in real-time, visible on any screen from a mobile phone to the shop floor itself.

The best advice I received is an Arabic proverb — “Ya bunay la tusri’ fa nahnu fi intidharik.” It translates to, “My son, do not hurry, for we are waiting for you.” The meaning is not to be too fast in your actions or your expansion, or you risk collapsing. You have to take things step-by-step to succeed.

EDITOR’S NOTE- This story was amended on Saturday, 4 October. A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Alakeel confirmed Deemah is considering an IPO.

Tags: