MFC News

Do you remember your initial days in MFC?

Ans: It was in Dec 1996, in Jebel Ali Freezone, we had a 500 sqm warehouse and office, with hardly 10 people. The mantra at times was multi-tasking and time management, we had to handle multiple projects and deliver everything on time. Delay was not an option and there were days we would work for 14 hours straight only fuelled by tea and biscuits. We had a shelf only for biscuits at that time and if lucky we would have sometimes banana chips brought by some one from India. At those times everything was mostly manual, computers were slowly integrated in our system and remember fondly working on Wordstar a predecessor of Microsoft Word. But inventory was maintained manually and was handwritten in long blue manuscript books the reason being we had to track the Import Declaration Number as a reference for the outbound shipment for Dubai Customs. At that time, I was managing almost 40 clients, and it was a back breaking job, I would start for work at 5.30 am from Sharjah to avoid traffic and would reach home at midnight after making sure nothing is pending.

What was the most challenging time in your career?

After completing my probation, I was sent for training for a new business to Colombo, Sri Lanka. As luck would have it, the day I reached Colombo Airport early morning, there was a bombing nearby and curfew was imposed. I still remember clearly the roads were manned by policewomen and we had to go thru multiple checkpoints by foot with our luggage to get to our hotel safely. The next day we were to reach Colombo port but this time I was able to make contact a Sri Lankan acquittance who helped me immensely to bypass the Kalashnikov totting guards on way to the port. Due to the war like situation, I was largely confined to the hotel and could not explore the beauty of Sri Lanka.

What was the most challenging event you faced in Custom Clearance?

It was in 2003, one of current clients had a product launch event for which we had to clear the shipment of home appliances from Jebel Ali port. But things didn’t go as planned due to technical reasons the ship berthed at Khor Fakkan Port instead of Jebel Ali and was already a day late. In those days custom clearance procedures were not completely online which made the process cumbersome and challenging. Time was running out our logistic team did a great job of at least bring the containers from Fujairah to Jebel Ali overnight saving crucial time. Then started the real work of clearing the goods in customs, due to our good track record with custom authorities and the trust they had on us all the documentation was submitted and cleared on priority basis even after midnight. I still get goosebumps when I recall that night, it happened only because of our teamwork and "can do it" mentality.

What motivates you?

It is the people whom we work with makes a big difference and I'm lucky enough to have a good team who are very understanding and supportive. The trust, my senior managers had in me and who gave the opportunity to grow vertically and horizontally within the company is another reason. Such timely recognitions and client appreciations motivates you automatically. The company culture and positive values we have makes you feel at home.