After seven years at BMMI, the tenure of our CEO, Marek Sheridan, will come to an end at the end of this quarter. We recently sat down with Marek to discuss some of his experiences and memories at BMMI, as well as his advice for the team.

What was your experience like moving to Bahrain?

I’ve lived in the GCC since 1992, including in various cities in Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Abu Dhabi, and Dubai. I was very familiar with Bahrain since I had travelled here a lot, so when I moved I understood it to be less frantic than Dubai. But what I wasn’t expecting was the warmth of the people I experienced here. Integration between nationals and expats is seamless and a natural part of everyday life in Bahrain, and that makes it very special.

In Bahrain, at BMMI, almost half our workforce is Bahraini, and local employees are working all over the organisation, including the head office. The integration of expats and locals working together closely is really great. In fact, even in my personal life here, a lot of my friends are Bahraini or Saudi. There is a true sense of genuineness and realness in Bahrain, people are working towards making a living and doing the best they can for their families. It has been very rewarding working with people supporting their own families in their own country. You know that you are helping them progress in their career and build a life for themselves and their families and loved ones. There is a sense of permanency when you can help develop someone’s career as you know that will impact their entire family and be part of developing Bahrain – it really is “making a difference.”

What was it like joining BMMI?

It was exciting! I knew a lot about BMMI because of its history with my previous company. I actually knew the previous BMMI CEO, Gordon Boyle, for many years prior to me joining BMMI. It was he who inspired me to join, and I owe a huge amount to him. We got on very well and although we had different managerial styles, we shared many of the same values and at our core, we were very similar in terms of what drove us. I think that’s why Gordon felt comfortable nominating me as his successor.

Gordon was also responsible for one of the things that inspired me to join BMMI and that struck me as what made it different from other companies, and that is its culture and its Winning Hearts values. I was always so struck by how inclusive BMMI was and continues to be. I remember that he invited me to join a training session once, where he would coach people from all levels of the organisation, across all grades and designations. I was struck by how comfortable people were putting their hands up and asking questions of the CEO. I was taken by that because once you have people that are prepared to ask questions and be curious that’s where you create a point of difference. This means that you are harnessing the collective and the brain of everyone in the organisation. You need to hear from people who interact most with our suppliers and customers. If your culture doesn’t allow people to be comfortable asking questions and giving their suggestions then you’ll never get where you need to be. But Gordon and the team around him had achieved that and it was something quite special.

I was able to build on that great foundation. I noticed people didn’t like challenging each other because they feared it might be rude or seen as attacking somebody. When you challenge someone politely, respectfully and at the right time, and in the right way, you’re not being rude or trying to put them in a small place. Rather, you’re trying to make things better and that is a goal we all share. If you’re challenging yourself and others the right way and for the right reasons, only then will we all get better.

We have to continue to ask ourselves whether what we’re doing has achieved what we want, and even if it does, how can it be done even better? That is our responsibility – to be the best that we can be. That’s why we changed the R in our Winning Hearts values to Responsibility, and it’s also how we’re arriving at what’s becoming our brand essence: “Making a Difference”.

What are some of the accomplishments that you are most proud of?

Honestly, there are a lot of things that the team achieved that I am proud of!

When I took on the position it was clear that we needed to review the direction of our GSS business, as a number of their markets were not performing well. I felt one of the most important steps to take was to consolidate that business and then re-strategize it and as such I have worked very closely with Robert and his team and the Board to achieve this. It was a long journey where we had to exit some countries, but now we have a focused business, with the real drive for growth in GSS being the sourcing and supply businesses. Being single-minded in that direction has created really good results. Of course, no progress happens without some headaches, but we now see that business with much more clarity than we saw before. I am pleased that we now have a direction for it and how that supports our group strategy – every credit should be given to the team for supporting and driving that change.

Similarly, back in 2017 our restaurant business was struggling and needed some change in direction. We had diversified into a new business arena that we were not well equipped to manage directly.  So we shifted our focus – we excel at providing support in terms of our properties, our logistics, support services, and of course our Beverage and HORECA businesses, so we re-engineered our presence in that sector and brought in McGettigan’s as a joint venture, which is one of the most successful outlets on the island still to this day!

I would also say E-commerce. I think we had a good start with it, but it was only ever considered as a support to existing channels. We’ve now brought in a Head of Digital and E-Commerce and have a real understanding of what we need to do to evolve our strategy. As a result, I believe that certainly in the future we could create a great platform for growth and protect BMMI’s existing business as we evolve.

Most importantly, I think I’ve enjoyed seeing people’s growth. I like coaching, and I enjoy seeing people evolve. Over the past seven years, I have seen people grow, either into the roles they were already in or into bigger roles. That is truly rewarding for any leader, in my opinion. It’s not just the milestones for the organisation, but the individuals as well. Personal growth drives organisational growth, driving a positive iterative cycle of mutual growth and therefore satisfaction and reward.

What are some of the challenges that were faced under your leadership?

Without a doubt, the biggest challenge was the COVID-19 pandemic. We hit our record year in 2019 in terms of profit and were on target with some very robust growth objectives in Q1 2020. Then in March, that is when things hit us in Bahrain.

The world had never dealt with a pandemic like this before, certainly not in our time. It created a lot of uncertainty, evolving into a real disaster for people on a personal level. During the first year pre-vaccines, I remember the horror that we all saw unfold on our TV sets. People were terrified and many were dying. There was no book written for us to follow in the face of these huge challenges.

Looking back on our response, I’m extremely proud of what we did as a team. We created a crisis committee that consisted of an inclusive group from across the organisation. We met frequently and set up processes, standards, and communication lines. During that first year, it certainly felt like we were one step ahead. For example, we had already practiced working from home prior to when the authorities said it was mandatory. We were already set up for that and understood how our rotations worked. We were proactive, and I think that not only helped us cope, but also helped protect people and that is something I am proud of. It's an example of where collaborative but strong leadership helped us through some difficult decisions and tough times.

I also take great pleasure in the fact that even in 2020 we managed to deliver a profit while not making anyone redundant. We deployed our teams that were unable to work because of restrictions in their normal departments (such as Beverages and Bayader) to ensure we met the huge demand created by the pandemic in our Supermarket business. I am blown away by the team spirit we all showed in 2020. I think it was one of the hardest years that many people faced personally and professionally, but the team spirit that we felt in that year and the sense of accomplishment was amazing. Even though the results were less than we have become accustomed to, they were still fantastic given the circumstances. After all, we are a hospitality- driven organisation – that’s where the vast majority of our profit comes from. So, to be able to still turn a profit even when the industry was ravaged by COVID just shows the depth of ingenuity, hard work, and commitment of the team, as well as the business structure of the organisation.

The responsibility of leadership during the time was very demanding and stressful, but it was shared with everyone, and everyone stepped up. We should all feel exceptionally proud for how we steered the ship through those stormy seas. Here we are, two years later, having driven a performance that almost matches our pre-COVID highs in terms of our directly managed business streams.

What are some of your favourite memories from your time at BMMI?

I like people, and I like laughter – and there were a lot of great memories at BMMI. I also will hold dear all the moments I had helping coach and develop people.

I still get a real kick out of remembering some of the looks of surprise on people’s faces when they receive recognition awards. I look at everybody over the years that deserved recognition and think of how much they appreciated it. Even when you say thank you to people, it is amazing how much they appreciate it, and it is so nice to do that. I think the Winning Moments initiative was lovely because you get to recognise people on the spot when you see them doing something great or going the extra mile.

I think all my favourite moments at BMMI were all-around people. For example, whether it was our annual parties, or some of the Town Hall meetings, or the broader management get-togethers we had, there was a true sense of connection, genuine warmth, and a feeling of shared purpose and belonging. All of these moments with people, are my fondest memories over the years.

Do you have any advice for the team?

I know there’s a change of leadership coming and that’s appropriate. People might feel a bit unsettled, but just be yourselves, maintain your curiosity and desire to make a difference. Be one of the people that want to understand more, take responsibility for solving problems don’t settle for just dealing with the immediate symptom, and make a real and lasting positive difference. People that do that help differentiate us from our competition. This is true of the entire team, at every single level, from those of us interacting with customers every day and picking products off the shelves, to management. We need to always ask ourselves ‘how can I make things better’ - challenge yourselves and remain curious. It’s a really rewarding philosophy, both individually and organisationally.

Finally, be kind. People respond to kindness. We saw some of the best of humankind through COVID, and unfortunately, some of the worst.  Learn from that  - “kindness” is not a weakness it doesn’t mean being soft and it doesn’t mean don’t challenge people. In fact, one of the kindest things you can do sometimes is challenge somebody because it helps them become better and equips them for more things in the future. So, embrace that and always be positive, kind, and curious.

I would also like to wish the incoming CEO the best of luck in his new role. He has a huge amount of experience, and I am sure that together, the team will achieve great things under his leadership. If you support him as much as you have supported me over the years, he will be a lucky man!