Abdulla Al Hashmi
Harnessing the power of data to drive business growth at DP World
The beginning
Al Hashmi received his Bachelor’s degree in Financial Services from the Higher Colleges of Technology with Honours. He joined DP World in the Commercial Department in 2010, but later joined Emirates Transport, in the Finance and Business Development department. There, he managed a diverse portfolio of business activities, with revenues amounting up to AED800 million. Later on, he returned to DP World in 2017 and worked in corporate finance, business development, global opportunities research, acquisitions, mergers, and project development in the UAE. Since 2020, he has been leading the Business Intelligence department at DP World UAE.
Supporting decision making
Taking over his new position Al Hashmi was responsible for collecting DP World’s business information and analysing it to be presented to decision makers, who will in turn take decisions that may determine the organisation’s future and the growth of its business.
This role taken up by Al Hashmi was not easy. Gathering the right information, verifying it, sorting it out, and analysing it in order to ensure that it is the right kind of data needed to support the senior management’s decision making, is a very difficult and complex task. It required Al Hashmi to expand his scope of communications to include major international centres of expertise in research, that have the required information related to the global supply chain, as well as access to best practices that help DP World enhance its competitiveness and distinct position in this sector. Al Hashmi did not only succeed in this role, but was also able to present an integrated dashboard to the senior management during the outbreak of the pandemic, that gave them accurate indicators to decide the best approach for the organisation to achieve its main task of enabling global trade and supporting the supply chain.
Achievements and success
Harnessing the power of data
Perhaps one of Al Hashmi’s key achievements at DP World is the building of a top-performing team that supports the management in determining the organisation’s direction for the future, and implementing key strategic initiatives by taking advantage of the power of data and technology, and using it to launch high-return projects that support DP World’s goals. He also led the development of predictive analysis, and best practices within the company to ensure customer growth and retention, thereby enhancing revenues across all business sectors.
Increase customer loyalty
One of the important issues that Al Hashmi has been trying to solve since he took over his new role in the Business Intelligence Division, is to enhance customer loyalty and direct the company’s commercial sector towards attracting new clients. During his endeavour to find a solution, Al Hashmi collected a large amount of information by communicating with customers from different groups to understand their needs, and the ideal ways to meet them. Eventually, he accomplished two main goals; the first was to build DP World’s centralised customer care framework, which includes a unified database for all DP World customers, integrating all of the company's offerings into a single customer management system.
Enhancing business efficiency
Al Hashmi’s second achievement was the fact that he identified the potential categories of customers who could be contacted to work in the DP World system, and directed the commercial sector to attract them. This resulted in a significant growth in DP World’s business, as well as an increase in the efficiency of its commercial performance.
Developing the Traders Market
Developing the Dubai Traders Market has been a significant milestone in Al Hashmi’s career at DP World. He took part in this key project since its beginning, and contributed to formulating its vision and strategic plans. He then worked for long periods in negotiating with the Chinese partner and followed up the implementation processes step-by-step. When the project was completed and Al Hashmi had to move on to work on other projects, it was difficult for him to leave a project for which he devoted a great deal of time and effort in, and saw it develop moment-by-moment until its completion.
Ambition factory
Al Hashmi considers his career at DP World as one of the most important opportunities he has ever had. He describes the organisation as an ‘ambition factory’, because of its administrative and operational systems, dealing with global trade through an approach based on creativity and innovation. This opens the doors for employees, especially young Emiratis to achieve their ambitions and contribute towards empowering the UAE’s national economy, while making a difference for the generations to come. While DP World’s employees experience immense happiness and self-satisfaction, Al Hashmi advises young Emiratis to choose the organisation as their preferred workplace to succeed and fulfil their ambitions.