Mindware FZ LLC

Contact: +971 4 450 0600
Website: www.mindware.ae
Headcount: 130
Active Accounts: 5,000
Regional Offices: UAE, KSA, Lebanon, Egypt
Key Brands: Alcatel-Lucent, Brocade, CA, Citrix, Dell, Huawei, Symantec, Intel, Juniper, McAfee, Microsoft
Ownership: Mindware is an affiliate of Midis.
2009 sales: $189m
2010 sales: $183m

What were the company’s main milestones in 2010?

The Intel business has been contracting, but we have compensated by scaling up other business lines - Dell, Microsoft, Symantec and McAfee grew very well. There are more constraints on credit, which has been a restraining factor on growth in 2010. We have been increasing our customer base significantly, by using our CRM systems to drill down into SMBs. We a lot growth coming from the SMB segment across all brands.

What are your strategic plans for the rest of 2011?

The big plan is to strengthen our product line-up in non-component hardware and networking, and to improve the overall quality, and the rapidity with which operations are done.  Our CRM roll-out and our B2B platform, which links our ERP system with those of our major vendors, simplifies the type of operation that we are running, and gives us a high level of integration with vendors, for a fully transparent operation, and to make us fast enough to support the market.

Verdict

Mindware showed a decline in revenue in 2010, mainly through the components business. The distributor has looked to broaden that mix with additions to its value portfolio, with an opportunity for cross-selling between several large partners, and it is also a leader in investing in targeting the SMB sector, a strategy that could pay off.