Innovation

Al Rawabi’s vision states that "To be the UAE market leader in fresh dairy and juice products while creating a performance-based environment for our people to thrive in and maximize their potential”.

Vitamin D Milk is one of the major innovations created and introduced only by Al Rawabi company. This milk was created to help people with vitamin D deficiency and many people in the UAE are lacking in Vitamin D, because of the lack of sun exposure. Al Rawabi was pushed to innovate to come up with functional products such as Super Milk, Nutree Boost, and Vitamin D milk - products which help combat Vitamin D3 deficiency that affects 90% of the country. While readily available in other countries, the UAE did not have such products before as Cows are not indigenous to the desert climate.

Since Al Rawabi consumes a high amount of water for different purposes and mainly to wash the cows before and after the milk pumping procedure, the company considered environmental changes and tried to take ethical action. This led to the new water purification system they installed to conserve water. This innovation saves the water for the society and decreases water consumption by the business.

In addition, Empowering the management team, allowing them to take part in decision-making and assume greater responsibility and ownership for their respective functions makes Al Rawabi a leading company in innovation, because the commitment and dedication of Al Rawabi’s employees are integral ingredients in the success of the business. Hence, they invest in their people to ensure they are happy and are a part of what the business is trying to achieve. This also led to the “Dairy Museum”. Its main purpose was to inform society and shows how Al Rawabi is transparent to make their own manufacturing space a museum that anyone can access.

Inspiration

Innovative ideas at Al Rawabi always come from a large team by looking at what is the demand in the market or the lack in the market, then the team comes up with these inspiring ideas that will fill the market gap. Moreover, Al Rawabi was the first branded dairy company that came up with functional products in the area. The functional products are any products that give customers an advantage in vitamins and minerals. For example, Vitamin D milk is created after seeing that the market they serve has a high Vitamin D deficiency rate because of the climate of the area. “Innovation is the core of Al Rawabi we don’t want just to see a product in the market and reduplicate something similar, our aim is to come up with something uncommon that others brands will follow” As said by Iman Irfan, Al Rawabi's Customer Care Coordinator.

Overall impact

Vitamin D milk was a competitive advantage for the business because Al Rawabi was the first and only dairy company producing a functional product the United Arab Emirates market. The short-term effects were being the only business in the market to introduce functional products, while the long-term effects help consumers manage their deficiency in vitamin D by the consumption of milk and to satisfy customers needs in the market. The evidence of Vitamin D milk serving the needs of customers was mentioned by Iman that "Milk infused by Vitamin D one of our best seller products".

The overall impact of the water purification system is to reduce the consumption of water by purifying the old used water. The short-term effects are clean water being available daily for consuming, while the long-term effects are less water being consumed which is being an environmentally friendly operating system that will save water for when it's most needed. As Iman stated: “We are famous in CSR and the environment is a major concern for us”.

In addition, Al Rawabi was the first to introduce functional products such as plastic bottled juices in the United Arab Emirates market since 1991. This innovation gave the business a chance to produce juices with a longer shelf life than the squeezed fresh juices. This innovation impacted the society by giving them a verity of juices flavors that last longer and consumption will be more due to its longer shelf life that increases the lifespan of the juices and the product is more practical for people to drink on the go. While the impact on the environment was that fewer fruits are being wasted because of the long lifespan a juice is being able to get consumed for. This also helped contribute to the Vitamin D deficiency problem.

Business benefit

The innovation of Al Rawabi helps the business stay in an advantaged state among their competitors that it produces unique and innovative product-lines that everyone else tries to follow. The innovations that the company come up with also raise the reputation awareness of the brand among customers and gives Al Rawabi a higher market share. In addition, the employees also are more interested in their work as when they respect the values and ethical behavior that the business is taking, it also motivates them when doing their work to be productive and think of the whole society that they are producing to when working, because Al Rawabi brand message is “The Nation’s Health” which always reminds employees the importance of their production to be the most ethical and sanitized to assure the health of their consumers.

Social and environmental benefit

Al Rawabi benefits the society and environment in various ways. First, the decline in Vitamin D deficiency in the population shows the direct societal benefit of the products they offer. Second, the company's use of treated water instead of fresh water reduces negative environmental impact. Regarding the environmental life of cows, Al Rawabi's cows are being showered daily and cooled with a special air conditioning system that keeps them stress-free from heat. This system is an automatic cooling system that turns on when the temperature goes above 21C degrees. There is also a "cow's health team" that helps the cows 24 hours daily to ensure that there are no diseases and that all the milk that comes from the farm is 100% healthy & safe for consumption.

The company also take part with UAE Food Bank which helps in distributing surplus food. In term of recycling, all the water Al Rawabi uses at the farm are recycled and these waters are used for the cooling system to minimize ecological footprint.

The company also supports different institutions that are for good such as donation institutions. They donate to mosques, schools, prisons, and medical centers. For instance, Al Rawabi collected and donated AED 100,000 to the Rashid Pediatric Therapy Centre (RPC) during the farm festival that they are doing every two years. They also support the Dubai Autism Center that provides effective therapies and medical care to the community. Furthermore, Al Rawabi executed a CSR led Ramadan campaign aiming to encourage people to donate to those in need.

Interview

Iman Irfan, Customer Relationship Coordinator