The laundry business today is part of Oman’s greater hospitality sector that has evolved from the basic need for food and accommodation for tourists and businessmen. In fact, it has become a huge industry and partly drives Oman’s economy. While much may have changed for Snowhite a laundry established by Yahya Mohammed Nasib 37 years ago, there is still something they would recognise today.It remains to be the oldest and largest laundry in the Sultanate of Oman.

And this is indeed provenby the fact that Snowhite has managed to achieve consistent annual revenue growth of 5-7 percent since 2002. Considering the overall economic scenario, most would agree that this is no mean achievement. When Yahya Mohammed Nasib launched the business in 1974 the company was built on cleaning for individual customers. The basic process has not changed greatly and is similar to what anyone would use at home – washing,
drying, ironing – only on a vast scale.

But today, other than clothes, the company sees a turn-around of thousands of sheets, table cloths and pillow cases for hotels and venues. It also cleans hundreds of carpets every month and is theonly company which offers portable carpet dry cleaning as one of its home services. New premises have also increased the laundry’s capacity and  allowed a 24 hour, seven-days-aweek process. It has factories in Muscat, Nizwa, Sohar and Salalah with a production capacity of 10 tonnes per day in the Muscat factory alone.

Today, Snowhite employs more than 320 personnel consisting of expatriates and Omani nationals. Snowhite is committed to the employment and training of more Omanis to further its participation in shaping and aiding the Omani economy. However, it was only when British born James Prenter assumed complete charge of the business as general manager that the company redefined its vision and mission and re-aligned its corporate strategies/culture into one of high performance.

Spearheading growth
 
In September 2001, Prenter chose to be part of an industry which many, regard part of tedious domestic chore. Having worked in a multi-national chemical and retail company till then, this was indeed a tough decision on his part as taking up this job meant switching his profession completely.

Nevertheless, he accepted the challenge and is now successfully heading the company. Described by his colleagues and friends as dynamic and open hearted, Prenter is a man of many abilities. A face easily recognisable in the local media, thanks to his outgoing nature and capacity to grow beyond his professional duties, Prenter is a public man and calls interpersonal skills his forte.

In his 10 years tenure in the company Prenter with strong support and wise guidance of his Directors has taken Snowhite to great heights with his deft management and interpersonal skills. Since he took over, he and his directors set out the vision for the company which transformed its operations, culture and performance. They have always focused on maximizing Snowhite’s business opportunities and increasing efficiencies to remain higher on the growth curve.

A vision enables an organisation to move forward with clarity. It links the business’ specific objectives and targets with the core values that govern how the business will operate in order to meet those targets. It therefore goes further than a mission statement.

His vision after looking at the state of the company involved analyzing operations, performance and systems, and then decide on a strategy for change. “My vision after looking at the state of company initially was to implement control & monitoringsystems and build a management team based on responsibility & accountability. Once that was done, next was to gain new business. The company had initiated a strict budget control system. This strategy was successful and company turned around producing profit every year from 2002,” says Prenter.

Challenges

Right from the time he came down to Oman, enough challenges have been thrown at him. In fact, when he joined, he was not aware that the company was sick and needed professional management. Although Snowhite was a well established and well-known in Oman and controlled majority market share, Prenter was brought in to strengthen the ailing company. This was followed by the challenge of getting the staff to accept the need for change as most did not know the company was making losses. “Change is never easy, especially when the staff has been with the company for many years and are set in their ways. However, I am pleased to report that we now have a coherent management team who works towards a common goal,” says Prenter.Oman’ work culture is also quite different than that of U.K –

“As with many Islamic countries, initially Oman was a culture shock to me,” he says. “For example many people here have a different perspective on time compared with Western educated people and work is secondary to family obligations.” “In terms of laundry operations, most of them in the West are centralised, factory based and are split between separate industrial or commercial operations. Most operate on high technology and automation driven systems with minimal labour. In Oman, almost the opposite is true, the technology is simpler and as a result operations are often overstaffed. Compared to the west, Oman’s working life is also quite laid back, with little evidence of a sense of urgency. The country’s businesses operate largely on a discount based price driven culture.”

Historically Oman experienced many years of a flat neutral inflation rate, prices in Oman remained constant and low. Most contracts are on a three to five year fixed price basis with no opportunity to change prices during this period. Till 2006,Snowhite’s shop prices remained unchanged since 1996, and some contracts even continued at the same price for the past 12 years. Prenter had then said in an interview that it had been quite difficult to manage a resemblance of margin when imported chemicals, rising labour costs and maintenance costs increased over the same period. While this offered management an opportunity to control all operating costs, the prices had to go up at some point despite expectations that resentment and backlash from customers were to follow.

Another issue is customer education - a company captures a larger market share by understanding its customers and providing them with a consistent positive experience. Prenter points out that most customers in Oman are educated about basic cleaning, but unsophisticated regarding use of technology. Most customers are content to see clean items that smell good and pressed and packed in an acceptable manner.

He recollects that when a women’s group visited Snowhite’s main factory in 2002, they were horrified that “different families’ laundry” were mixed together in one machine. The circumstances required quite a bit of explanation.Prenter explained to them, Snowhite washes in high temperatures, using detergents and antibacterial chemicals to remove soils and bacteria from the wash load, once the cleaning cycle has completed. All items, no matter who they came from were all clean! adding that it is not cost effective to have one machine cycle operation per family. They were under the impression that we used a machine cycle solely for their families’ washing! Clearly customer education is required,” explains Prenter. “The women’s group left, I hope, a little wiser and more (confident in our services)
than they arrived.”

Likewise what was thought to be an innovativecost saving scheme fell flat on its face when Snowhite tried to introduce a discount tocustomers for returning used PVC-coated steel laundry hangers. “The response from majority of customers in the survey was that they were horrified that Snowhite would even consider recycling the hanger to be used for other people’s laundry,” says Prenter. A change in tactic stating the used hangars would be returned
to the manufacturing supplier for recycling, the end result was that very few customers over 18 months took advantage of the offer.

While all of this has now taken a back-seat, his current concerns are rising costs as imported chemicals/plastic which are all oil derivatives. “The recent demonstration in Oman and those across the region with demands for substantial increase in job opportunities and salaries for local Omanis is still a major concern, and will only fuel inflation” he says.

Prenter candidly states that Snowhite’s success is never the result of just one person, it is a combined effort by all parties involved in the company, with the support and guidance of directors and staff obstacles can be overcome and success derived. He adds as a quote “no one’s is perfect but a focussed team can come close”. However, he also believes that over a period of time, the nature of the market has widely influenced the ways in which those in Oman do business. That may be slowly changing with the focus on expanding the role of indigenous manufacturing and services.

“Oman is now an exciting new market for new companies as it has the right mix of business growth, favourable business laws, great trade relations and infrastructure.”

Streamlining futures

Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos once said that a brand image for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn your reputation by trying to do hard things well. And much like some people some companies start out with good intentions but run out of steam owing to many reasons: they can’t stay faithfulto their image, send confusing or irrelevant messages to others, cannot reinvent themselves or simply end up folding under pressure.

However, Prenter understands the tricks of his trade too well – he knows to sustain and manage a company’s reputation, one need to set out a clear vision that combines commercial targets and the company’s values & relationships. “We have all worked hard to put systems and checks in place. We have initiated a budget control exercise, purchasing & inventory control and factory output monitoring,” he says. To this add Snowhite’s unmatched service levels.

The straight talking man is clear about his mandate – maintain healthy margins, expand reach and keep business as usual. With a focus on aggressive pricing strategy for contracts and efforts to restructureits business, the company  seems to be on track in establishing and maintaining a formidable position. The group (Snowhite is part of the Yahya Group Holding LLC formerly Yahya Enterprises) has recently undergone a corporate restructuring plan placing each business unit under the holding company, Yahya Group Holding LLC. Lead by its managing director, Naseeb Yahya Nasib, the group is focused on vigorously pursuing its core activities while simultaneously developing new business lines.

It is under Naseeb, James Prenter, and the other directors that the company has displayed sincere commitment to environmental responsibilities. Snowhite is committed to  environmentally safe operations and therefore imports its laundry chemicals from the UK for its own use and as the UK’s agent in Oman, it also sells chemicals such as Rexodan to many smaller laundries. One third of Snowhite’s business is derived from its 74 outlets and the balance is via contracts.

“Snowhite’s years of experience and wide knowledge of the laundry business will be tremendous assets as we continue to enhance our services in this market,” Prenter concludes.