RAK Ceramics credentials cemented at Pan-Asian event

The leadership credentials of the world's largest ceramics manufacturing company, RAK Ceramics, were acknowledged last night when the organisation picked up two major awards at the Asian Brand and Leadership Summit Dubai 2013, which took place at Madinat Jumeirah. RAK Ceramics was honoured with Asia’s Most Promising Brand 2013 and Industry No. 1 Award at the event, with Abdallah Massaad, Chief Executive Officer, RAK Ceramics, also receiving the Asia’s Most Promising Leader’s Award.

RAK Ceramics was chosen as one of the top 200 most promising brands in Asia and one of the top 50 most promising brands in the United Arab Emirates and thus received Asia’s Most Promising Brand 2013. The company was also honoured with Industry No. 1 Award in the Ceramics category at the event. Abdallah Massaad, Chief Executive Officer, RAK Ceramics said: “The recognition from Asia’s Most Promising Brand Summit will surely enhance the reputation of RAK Ceramics as one of the most successful brands in the region and provide a major boost to our ongoing efforts to strengthen our presence across international markets. Moreover, we are confident that this award will help create global awareness about the favourable business landscape in the UAE, particularly in Ras Al Khaimah, that provides greater leverage for companies to actively pursue their international growth plans.”

The Asian Brand and Leadership Summit was held as an initiative to examine the various successful brands that operate out of Asia and which contribute to the growth of the Asian economy at large. Around 200 brands from across 50 disciplines participated, with entrants hailing from India, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Japan, China, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the UAE.

“It was an honour to have received ‘Asia’s Most Promising Leaders 2013’ during the summit,” said Massaad, speaking after the event. “First and foremost, I have to give credit to H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Saud Al Qassimi for the strategic direction and support to elevate RAK Ceramics into a strong global brand. Furthermore, I would like to accept this prestigious award on behalf of all my colleagues at RAK Ceramics. The award is a reflection of the incredible level of teamwork and mutual understanding that we have in our organisation,” he added.

The citation for Massaad’s award acknowledged the pivotal role he has played in nurturing the company’s success as the world’s largest ceramics producer. RAK Ceramics exports tiles and other ceramic products to 160 countries across the globe, whilst at the same time ensuring that they continuously invest into new technology. The organisation’s ground-breaking product development has positioned it as a pioneer in the ceramics industry.

During Massaad’s tenure at RAK Ceramics, the milestone of sales figures of one billion square metres of tiles and 50 million pieces of bathware were achieved. Massaad has also been instrumental in RAK Ceramics’ being largely unaffected following the 2008 financial crisis and was in fact able to lead the company to expand further during this period of uncertainty. The result of the increased growth saw RAK Ceramics becoming world’s largest ceramics manufacturer, with an annual output of 117 million sq.m. of tiles, 4.5 million pieces of bathware and 20 million pieces of tableware.

“Today RAK Ceramics is a brand force to reckon with in the global ceramics industry and the continued accolades and awards reinforce its stature,” said Abdulla Mahmood, General Manager, Marketing and Corporate Communication, RAK Ceramics “We will not rest on these laurels but use these honours to motivate us further to enhance RAK Ceramics’ brand image by continuously introducing innovative product ranges and further enhancing customer experience,” he added.

RAK Ceramics expertise was on display in another capacity at the summit. On behalf of RAK Ceramics, Abdulla Mahmood participated in a panel at the event, where he spoke about Asia’s infrastructure and gave an overview of the continent’s growth. He had been invited to share his knowledge by the organisers behind the initiative, World Consulting and Research Corporation (WCRC), a brand research, knowledge and consulting enterprise. Based on the panel discussion participation, jury and KPMG team chose RAK Ceramics as Industry No. 1 in Ceramics category for their valuable contribution to the construction and infrastructure segment.

Recently, RAK Ceramics received the awards ‘Brand Excellence in Construction & Real Estate’ and ‘CSR Best Practices’ at the CMO Asia Awards 2013 organized US-based CMO council that recognises excellence in branding and marketing.