Mohammad Al Yahia, Director General of Prestige Import & Export Company Ltd, is at SIAL Paris 2024 with big ambitions for his Jordan-based brands, including Mustafa and Khalifa – but the spirit of the business, it seems, is rooted in a search for top quality
In an exclusive interview, Mr Al Yahia spoke about the company that went from one product to the broad selection of products it offers today.
As well as rice, Prestige has added many other offerings to its portfolio – please explain how your range is developing.
We started seven years ago with olives from Spain, then tinned mushrooms from Holland. We started bringing pasta from Turkey and now we are looking to import pasta from Italy. We are always looking for the best quality and that is not an easy job. You have to try it in the market, and see the reaction of customers before starting a category. The most important thing is to grow slowly, to reach your target, and to have many categories from all over the world. This is the main target for us.
What are you hoping to achieve here at SIAL Paris 2024?
The strategy here is to meet buyers from all over the world, to introduce our brands and our ideas inside the brands because our company always sells the rice with love. This is our secret. Because what we like to eat at our home, we like our customers to eat, and to taste this love and taste this quality. At SIAL, you can meet big buyers from many countries. You can also meet suppliers from other countries. Soon, Jordan is going to be a food hub for supplying the Middle East and surrounding countries, so we have two aims. The first one is to attract big companies to work in Jordan, see if they have the idea to supply other countries surrounding Jordan, like Syria, Iraq, Palestine, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, and then also to find buyers around the world.