Jacky Panjabi is looking beyond 2017 for business to improve. “Whether due to liquidity concerns brought about by lower oil prices, currency fluctuations or a tightening of credit, there was a clean-up of the market in 2016,” Panjabi told Arabian Business. “Coupled with this we have seen various business models evolve that have challenged the traditional means of business. We expect 2017 to be a year of consolidation in which the better businesses survive.”
Those that make it through 2017, Panjabi says, “should be ready to bounce back when the markets recover in 2018 because the UAE is still a buoyant market that has a lot to offer going forward”.
But 2016 was also a very strange year for the electronics company because it sells Samsung phones, which means it had to deal with the fallout from the exploding Galaxy Note7 in September 2016 and the subsequent recall of all models. The man who has been behind the electronics giant for nearly half a century has seen plenty of ups and downs. With distribution outlets in the UAE, Hong Kong and Africa, annual sales are thought to exceed $250m. But today’s success comes from humble beginnings as a mail-order company that handled everything from televisions to typewriters.
For the man who moved into wholesale electronics in 1980, Panjabi will be able to weather any storm and come out ahead of the competition.
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