Follow The Leader: How Kibsons CEO Halima Jumani is Redefining Success by Putting People First Born in the heart of Dubai in 1980, Kibsons has today grown into a market leader in the fresh fruits, vegetables and produce industry. But behind the success of its pioneering efforts in affordable pricing, sustainability and quality has been a very simple notion that CEO Halima Jumani has empowered the family business' core culture with: put people first.
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There are endless stories on why different businesses decide, at a given point in time, to pivot to or incorporate the e-commerce/online retail model. But perhaps few business leaders will be able to say what Halima Jumani, CEO of Kibsons, a UAE-based family-owned company that delivers fresh and ethically sourced groceries (including fruits, vegetables, poultry and bread) across the UAE, shares. "My background is in finance, so one day I was looking at the numbers of one of our divisions that was not making money and I was contemplating shutting it down," she recalls. "In the process, however, I found out that there were 45 merchandisers on our payroll who would become redundant as a result of this decision. They came to me and said, 'Ma'am, if you shut these contracts down, what will we do?' I did not know at that time that they were also facing some visa problems due to political reasons [in their native countries]. But that conversation bothered me so much that I started this little hobby called e-commerce –back then we used to call it "home delivery" – thinking that if I make a spreadsheet of all our products and give it to close family and friends, they can eat well and save money, while our workers could also have a job. I thought that maybe 50-100 orders would keep them going. I was not looking at money; I was just looking at breaking even and surviving for their sake. I had no clue that that idea would grow, and that we would now be doing 150,000 [online] orders a month! But think about that empathy for a moment…When I sit at the level I do, I have the privilege and power to drive that across my leadership team."
The incident Jumani narrates happened circa 2016. Today, Kibsons' e-commerce vertical alone has become possibly its most significant cash cow. But what happened then was not an isolated event but simply an extension of one of the three pillars the brand has been built on since it launched in the UAE in the year 1980. "Kibsons has three strong core values, and the second of those is trust– we take relationships and trust very seriously, and honor them generation after generation," Jumani says. "And when we look back now, that [in itself] has become the brand. Because it all started with a non-negotiable value that people should be able to trust us. It was also important that we developed that trust not just by honoring relationships, but by going above and beyond. Many years ago, in 2007, when I joined this company as a finance employee, I remember Jamal Hussain [Kibsons' present Managing Director] would be focused on giving proper or higher returns to farmers even if we'd suffered a loss. But I just couldn't understand that at the time! I used to ask him, 'If we are having losses, why are you giving higher returns?' And he would smile and say, 'Halima, we might survive this year without our profits, but they won't.' Because for farmers, their annual returns are what they count on, and relationships are long-term based. That view stuck with me. When I started our e-commerce vertical, upholding that became paramount. Also, with the home delivery system it was all about making sure that we deliver quality, affordability, and reliability to our customers –day in, day out– every single delivery, right? So that too was about connecting back to the value of trust."
Apart from building trust, Jumani shares that the other two pillars that make up the core of Kibsons' operations are authentic passion and customer-centricity. "This is a generational business that understands the importance of quality, freshness, traveling around the world to deeply understand which varieties are better than others, and ultimately choosing varieties that are best enjoyed by the consumers in Dubai," she continues. "So that passion in what we do has converted to expertise over time– that's pillar one. And for the third pillar, I actually wouldn't even say customer-centric– I would take that one step forward and say we are very empathetic of humans as a family leadership. We have deep empathy and understanding for, first and foremost, our employees. Customer-centricity is of no use if you're not employee-centric. For us, people are people. They are not numbers on a spreadsheet. Whether it is suppliers, employees or customers- we try to understand them and deliver what is expected to the best of our ability as humans. And then to do it so often, and so much, that it owns that word, and becomes, 'culture.'"
Image courtesy Kibsons
Perhaps the most tangible reflection of the company culture Jumani has strived to build is in the way the Kibsons' headquarters has been designed, located within a 130,000 sq.ft. area in Dubai's Ras Al Khor area that houses both offices as well as a cold storage warehouse. When I arrive there for my interview with Jumani, there are two things that immediately catch my attention: the first is that there are no physical demarcations within the office area- it is simply a big sunlit room where all the work desks are organised next to each other with no barricades in between. The second thing that piques my interest is how Jumani, whose fully glass-walled room is located right in the centre of the office space, walks in and out of her room to talk to her employees. The door to her cabin remains open for almost the entirety of my stay at the company (except during our interview).
"I have an open door policy," Jumani tells me. "We are the only, I think, organization at our level which has such an incredibly flat structure. I am sometimes told by other CEOs who visit my office that this is not a good idea. That my doors should not be so wide open because, according to them, it takes from my energy. They suggest that I should move to some other place where there's a receptionist and my employees have to take permission to come in. Now, that probably makes sense because then I can get my space to do things, right? But then I would lose that day-to-day connection with the team. How can I inspire, motivate, and influence them then? I see myself as being the "influencer" in this office. How can I influence my people if I can't connect with them? That is what creates the culture, right? But to say you have an open -door policy of connection is one thing; to do it is very difficult. So what I've ensured is that my senior leadership team carries that approach forward. That way we all have a united message that this is who we are, this is what we believe in, and this is what we do. That's how I create the culture."
Jumani's endeavors in this regard led to Kibsons being ranked #16 in the GCC's Best Workplaces in Retail (2025) by Great Place To Work®, the renowned global authority on workplace culture, employee experience and leadership behaviors.
But the accolade didn't come Kibsons' way simply because of how the organization's interiors have been designed or for how its senior managers function. To ensure employee wellness remains sewn into the company's fabric, Jumani's people-centric approach has been extended to its hundreds of blue-collared employees as well. "We have recently, very discreetly, started offering organizational and life coaching to them," Jumani reveals. "We are all humans at the end of the day. We have another life, another planet back home. So maybe there is something going on there that is affecting the work, but instead of giving our workers a black and white performance review and highlighting that there are some development needs, it is important to recognize that it may just be lack of focus because they're going through a phase right now. And I've learned that the hard way because Jamal and I as owners have also had our phases. But we have the luxury to go through all these fancy mental coachings; they don't. So what we've done is we've hired an organizational coach and very discreetly my new head of human resources (HR) arranges them, especially when I sense something is wrong. Not everyone is immediately open to it, of course, but there's a contract that states that everything discussed is confidential. And over time, we've seen…honestly, forget about work, we've seen them change as human beings, and it just is the best feeling in the world. If you can impact one human's life mentally, what is the value of that?"
Image courtesy Kibsons
Indeed, while there is certainly no standard way of measuring the full impact of such initiatives at a visceral level, there have been multiple ways it has translated into positive business and societal impact. For starters, Kibsons' 1,500+ strong workforce is today behind more than 200,000 tons of fresh produce distributed from its cold stores and production facilities, every day, to a network of more than 600 suppliers and customers. In April 2023, spurred by the positive feedback from customers and an increasing demand, Kibsons also expanded its grocery home delivery fleet with 80 new refrigerated vans from Thermo King, a leading transport temperature control solutions provider. "What is important is that we are mindful of our cost control," Jumani says. "We've achieved profitability through the years, especially last year. But the challenge for us really has been to remain profitable without increasing prices. We haven't done price increments at all so far! Because we also know that if Kibsons increases the prices, everybody else will follow. So we are holding that fort for our customers because it's really difficult; the grocery shopping bills are difficult. The way we look at it, we are also very grateful that we are in a position to positively impact the community of Dubai and the UAE by enabling them to eat better and healthier at an affordable price, and therefore the notion of health and wellness itself becomes widely accessible. Don't forget, back in the days, a packet of blueberries in supermarkets was, like, AED20-23; we brought it down to AED9. Differences like that make our produce all the more accessible and penetrate into the lifestyle of the layman. We also give them access to varieties that would typically otherwise get rejected down the distribution chain. Today, our customers can choose across a number of categories including vegan, organic, expensive, premium quality, and affordable quality. That access and choice has changed the game."
In extending this accessibility and fair pricing to more avenues, Kibsons has also forged partnerships with UAE-based retail outlets M&S Foods and Sainsbury's. But so far, the company has strayed away from collaborating with third-party delivery platforms in the country. Jumani notes that while this reluctance is not a definitive "no", it is a decision that, once again, goes back to maintaining Kibsons' core values. "It's more about talking about the challenges that we face when we consider that option because for us, in the world of fresh produce, our cold chain management is extremely important. Not only that, but also we put our brand on the products that we deliver. So preserving that reputation of our brand is so important to us. But, mainly, there's the affordability aspect– when we have more players, is it still going to be as affordable? I'm not sure. So I feel that there are so many different challenges to look at. But it's not that a decision has been made that we will never work with them, nothing like that. We are still looking at ways on how we can collaborate in a powerful way without compromising on what is important to us. So that conversation will continue."
Now, in creating an equitable ecosystem, Jumani and her team have taken decisions that have inadvertently positively impacted the environment as well. In late 2024 it was announced that Kibsons had made the decision to shift away from its cardboard delivery boxes which had, for years, been visually associated with the brand and its marketing. The company transitioned towards a smarter, more sustainable solution: the reusable Kibsons box. Since then, in addition to cost reductions, it has also achieved a number of environmental milestones: approximately 875 tonnes of cardboard packaging were removed from circulation, a little over 14,000 trees were saved, and an estimated 177.6 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions were avoided.
"When we removed those boxes –for a number of reasons but mainly because they were killing 2,100+ trees every month– we became environmentally sustainable, and it brought our costs down as well," Jumani iterates. "Very easy to now talk about it as a story but, you know, back then, I was super scared. Because our boxes were the brand. It wasn't an easy decision but we made it and we survived it. Similarly, in-house, we did our last-mile artificial intelligence (AI) digitization. So, for starters, we were able to make all our drivers' routes more efficient and even more than that, we were able to track that efficiency for performance purposes and our fuel cost was reduced by 20%. So, for example, even though I lost 15 vehicles a few months ago due to some rain-related issues, I haven't had to replace them yet and we're still operationally fine. There's also the fact that we now have a completely automated, AI-driven purchase order (PO) system, which means that if you're a local supplier in Dubai, your POs are system-generated. How does that help us? Our targets on food wastages were already 2%; now they've come down to 1% because the system is just so smart. So small things like that help us reduce our costs, increase our employee payouts and remain profitable."
Halima Jumani, CEO, Kibsons. Image courtesy Kibsons
Maintaining this low-cost model ultimately helped Kibsons survive the COVID-19 pandemic as well, with Jumani revealing that their unchanged prices during a time when many took a financial hit actually resulted in an increased demand. "Because of COVID-19, the inbound logistics were expensive, and I remember going and asking Jamal what we were to do with all these extra costs," Jumani recalls. "And he said, 'Halima, do not change the price on anything on our platform. Because if you do, then people will panic more.' So we took the financial knock –no business is ready for three to four times the demand within a period of a few weeks– but we also lived up to the expectations that were placed on us. During those three months of lockdown, nobody in Kibsons took a single day off; we treated that as a moment of responsibility! I remember telling my team, 'Look, all of us could have been anywhere else in the world, but why are we here? This place, this moment in time, this is our destiny. We are meant to be here.' And, you know, people rose to the occasion. We truly believed we were second in line to healthcare for an emergency service, because you need medical help and you need food. It was a tough period where we took financial hits, but we also went back to same-day delivery in six weeks. We expanded that much in a short span of time. That's a lot of work, but it's done well. I think that was a real testimony of who we were as a team, how our values were aligned, and how each department kind of ticked the box swiftly."
Living up to its title of being a certified Great Place To Work, the Kibsons' top management has ensured that its well-performing employees aren't just met with a pat on the back for their work but rather receive opportunities to upskill and grow. "Two words, attitude and hard work– that's all I hire for; the rest I can teach even if you don't have a degree to show for it," Jumani says. "Everybody here gets on-the-job training. So when our employees do well, I don't just say, 'Yeah, well done;' we give them a reward and performance-based increments. In fact, all of my senior operations team have risen through the ranks from within our internal system. So my picker becomes a driver. My picker becomes a storekeeper. My picker becomes logistics or data entry personnel. They upgrade! My top-performing pickers get upgraded. From there on they can become an assistant inventory controller or become a store manager. How would you become an assistant store manager without any degree in education, tell me? It's because intellect is not equated with degrees in my eyes. And when your employees have something to contribute to the company that they are working for, they are aligned to the shared vision. This is not my vision; it is our vision."
It is here that Jumani makes a heartwarming revelation. "Remember the 45 workers I talked about earlier? Well one of them is my entire distribution in-charge today. Without him, I don't think we can do any deliveries. You've got to meet him. Doesn't talk, didn't really go to school, but he is the smartest brain in the compound. I have so much respect for him! So my motivation has always been people. I, as a human being, enjoy being around them, and reminding them that the fact that they did not get an opportunity to go through education does not mean they don't have intelligence; it does not mean they don't add value."
Image courtesy Kibsons
Much like her decision to have an open-door policy at work, such sentiments too might be viewed as unconventional by some. But Jumani remains unperturbed by such external noise. "I've always been too busy and focused in my own life," she says. "When raising me, my mom never said, 'Don't worry about what other people say.' She just kept me so busy that I, by default, never worried about what other people said. It's like what Shah Rukh Khan [the Indian cinema superstar] once said in an interview: "I don't think good about you, I don't think bad about you…So if you don't think about anyone, neither good nor bad, then life goes on very easily." I resonate with it. I don't think about people or anything. I'm very focused. What that does is it gives you clarity. And if you don't have clarity, you cannot go ahead with a strong sense of belief and authenticity. You can't fake things for too long. Consistency cannot be achieved. And consistency cannot be achieved effortlessly unless it's authentic. That decision has to be made internally as a leader."
It is with that clarity and purpose that Jumani now aims to continue leading Kibsons. One potential goal that she says is "a matter of time" is an initial public offering (IPO). "Every business has their stages of growth and then there is a certain amount of growth that you cannot finance yourself," she says. "The question always is how do you borrow that money or how do you raise that fund? But even more important than that, to me, is how those funds are going to be used. Because often what happens is business owners make very ambitious plans, they raise the capital, the funds come in and they don't know what to do. I'm just very mindful of the fact that we need to have a financially feasible project and a timeline and clarity on where these funds will go. So that is something that we are actively working on."
An IPO could mean a "Kibsons 2.0", declares Jumani. But even while working towards that target, and striving to maintain and grow the company culture she has so carefully fostered, the CEO has embarked on a transformative journey of her own. "When God gives you privileges or the universe bestows you with privileges, whether that's your mind, your talents, or your position of power, how do you do your best to positively impact others and choose to be more kind than more right- that is something I constantly keep thinking of," Jumani says. "I've always been the person who had to be right and fair. But fairness is also kindness. And maybe because now my position in life allows me to do that more, I'm slowly working to evolve to be just that: more kind!"
