Satish Moorjani, the recently appointed Group CEO of Mustafa Sultan Enterprises shares his vision and roadmap for the business
Can you give us a brief background on your education and professional career?
I graduated as an engineer from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and thereafter did a post-graduation in management from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM). In addition, I have undergone training in ‘Global leadership’ (Carnegie Mellon University, USA), ‘Transformational Coaching’ (‘Franklin Covey’) and Counselling (Indian Institute of Psychotherapy & Medicine).
Professionally, my work experience covers a variety of roles and industries, in the Indian domestic and global markets, in reputed organizations like Tata’s, Mahindra’s, Honda, Baskin Robbins etc. My experience includes working in the Middle East markets also, including Oman.
As I look back at my career the only constant I find is ‘change’. I have always been attracted to challenging assignments in new unfamiliar terrains which may be termed as adventurous by many but for me they held the promise of great achievement and satisfaction. By the grace of God I have been quite successful in turning around and transforming all businesses that I have led so far, despite having no past experience in those roles or industries.
Prior to joining Mustafa Sultan Enterprises (MSE), I was the CEO of a Mahindra Group company and a director on the Boards of its subsidiaries in Germany, Malaysia and Singapore. I have also held several honorary positions like – Member of  the ‘National Advisory Council’ of the SME Chambers of India; Member of the “IT Committee” of the ‘Indian Merchant Chambers’;  Member of the ‘European Business Group’, a CEO club; and a guest speaker at various business forums in the US, Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa etc.
What made you take up your latest assignment with Mustafa Sultan Enterprises?
I was attracted to the MSE assignment because of the challenge it provided for growing a diverse set of businesses despite a shrinking economy. I was also attracted to the diversity of the group’s business portfolio and the opportunity for learning, innovating and implementing global best practices.
MSE is one of the most respected names in the business, what is your vision for the group?
MSE has 20 group companies in diverse industries (e.g. Projects, I.T, Retail, Real Estate, F&B, Hospitality etc.) and several joint ventures e.g. with Voltas, BDP Logistics, LIC, Travel Food Services etc. My vision for MSE is a customer centric, dynamic, efficient, and learning organisation that innovates continuously to stay ahead of its competition to deliver sustainable value to its customers, shareholders and employees.
MSE of the future should be global in its reach, be regarded as the preferred company by its customers in the fields it plays in, and be regarded as a ‘Great place to work in’ by its employees.
What in your view are the opportunities and challenges that the Oman market presents?
The obvious challenge is that the economy is under pressure due to the low oil prices which will adversely impact the government’s budgets for new projects except maybe in a few priority areas. The trickledown effect will also dampen consumption demand at the retail end to some extent except for essentials. However, from MSEs perspective, there are still many business segments wherein our share of business is not adequate and there is ample headroom available to grow. Similarly there are various channels that have not been leveraged and can be leveraged for increasing our market reach and penetration in existing markets. Further, if we look beyond Oman, Iran and India are two big markets close by which can offer many attractive business opportunities.
I am looking from the perspective of how to catapult the group  into the next orbit. Various fundamental changes in our strategy, policies and systems would be required to get prepared for the quantum jump which are being discussed and finalized. Essentially, to grow in a diminishing market, we  will have to get a larger share of the market and at the same time ensure a leaner cost structure with improved productivity and efficiency. We have already launched a ‘Lean Initiative’ pilot project and have decided on the implementation of a state of the art ERP system. Further, we plan to leverage I.T and mobility for enhanced visibility, transparency and analytics.
We are also looking at opportunities for increasing synergies between the group companies as there are several common customers and service providers.. Another  potential area for growth is cross- sell opportunities. We are touching the lives of hundreds of thousands of consumers  in different ways through various retail businesses like -currency exchanges, consumer electronics retail, Pay TV , F&B, etc. and there is an opportunity to leverage those relationships for cross-selling. Similar opportunities exist even in our ‘Projects’ businesses. ‘Services’ is another area where there is considerable head room to grow. Further, hitherto, we have largely been an Oman centric company. While our main focus will continue to be on Oman, we need to explore other markets beyond Oman also. As our first baby step we have secured the distributorship of a global brand for overseas markets including Iran and some other GCC countries.