Recently, McKinsey estimated the global wellness market at more than $1.5 trillion, with annual growth of 5% to 10 %. The pandemic has impacted almost all industries across the globe; however, the rise of the health and wellness industry has forced itself to evolve for the customers’ needs. Incepted in 1958, Fine Hygienic Holding (FHH) has been a leader in the wellness and hygiene industry, and a manufacturer of hygienic products for over six decades. From the headquarters in Amman in Jordan and Dubai in the UAE, the company serves consumers in over 80 countries around the world. Currently, it has more than 10 factories located throughout the MENA region, in KSA, the UAE, Jordan, and Egypt.
With the ongoing crisis, Fine choose to continue its long-standing commitment to wellness and stay on the path towards becoming one of the leading wellness companies in the world. As the first and largest hygienic tissue producer in the MENA region, the dependence on Fine Hygienic Holding’s products in homes existed long before COVID-19 struck the world. With the pandemic, consumers have gravitated towards familiar products such as sterilized Fine tissues, paper towels, and toilet paper. With the onset of the pandemic, Fine was well placed to better serve the communities in a time of real fear and uncertainty. It took a pre-emptive response to the pandemic – diversifying and creating an entirely new business channel with the production of reusable antiviral face masks, under the “Fine Guard” line.
Meeting The Surge Demand
Fortunately, Fine Hygienic Holding (FHH) has enough experience in handling challenging situations before. Previously, Fine’s exploratory work with textile technology on paper products meant a head start in terms of R&D allowed the business to quickly pivot and launch a safe product. This protected the airborne COVID-19 virus – and offered a more sustainable alternative to disposable mask options. The company retooled production lines in a number of its facilities across the region. To meet the surge in demand, it increased operations in Jordan, the UAE, and Sri Lanka to produce up to 30,000 plus masks daily. Additionally, it also launched a new production facility in Ajman, concentrating solely on the mask.
Capitalizing on the success of the Fine Guard face mask product, Fine expanded its range to include sports masks and family-friendly alternatives, as well as gloves, before diversifying further into the hygiene space with the launch of Fine Guard PureHands and PureSurfaces – hand and surface sanitizers which incorporate anti-viral technology that offer long-lasting and environmentally friendly antimicrobial solutions. These new products took environmentally friendly, long-lasting germ protection to the next level in the region, providing a safe and reliable solution to its customers.
Fine is continuing its strategic evolution into the consumer wellness space in 2021 through a new product pipeline and diversification drive which reinforces its commitment to protecting and improving the quality of life of the communities it serves across the region.
The pipeline of innovative new products including health-boosting natural supplements called ‘Motiva’, and healthy beverage called ‘Nai’, a FabricBooster, antimicrobial wipes ‘Ultra Wipes’, and laundry disinfectants called ‘SteriWash’ and much more.
Offering Diverse Range of Products
Fine Hygienic Holding is renowned in the markets for its wide range of products and has further diversified into new products through its focus on wellness, sustainability, and best practice in the production processes. Fine ventured into natural and healthy food and beverage products by acquiring a majority stake in Nai Arabia Food Company in 2019. Fine also launched Fine Disinfection Solutions, a full disinfection service for a broad range of businesses and premises that aims to disinfect and stop the spread of germs in premises, including restaurants, hotels, gyms, schools, restrooms, and laboratories, as well as offices, warehouses, factories and more. The service offers reliability and reassurance to operators. As the industry adjusts to COVID-19, operators and brands must balance tackling the realities of the pandemic while re-engaging with core customers. Hygiene standards are the common denominator. Consumers will be aware of government guidelines, but they will also expect their favored restaurants and hotels to go the extra mile when disinfecting surfaces and objects to mitigate potential sources of infection and disease.
“Our legacy stretches far beyond products and services, but to serving humanity and helping in small yet meaningful ways, making our world a better place.”
Walls, floors, tables, countertops, desktops, doorknobs and faucet handles, can all transmit viruses from person to person. Therefore, disinfecting premises is a crucial step in protecting lives and amplifying consumer trust in your brand. FHH’s world-class disinfection solutions will help sanitize, disinfect, and stop the spread of germs by providing streamlined disinfection of high-touchpoint surfaces, regardless of facility type. This full disinfection solution includes treatment, waste management procedures, and post-disinfection safety briefing. All services, including spraying and fogging, are undertaken by highly trained disinfection professionals sporting the full armory of personal protective equipment (PPE), including suits, Fine Guard gloves, and Fine Guard face masks, as well as Fine sterilized paper tissues and no-touch wastebaskets. All products used in the process have approved data sheets and are fully endorsed by relevant authorities in each regional market.
One of the Most Diversified CEOs
James Michael Lafferty, CEO of Fine Hygienic Holding is recognized as one of the most diversified CEOs in the world today. Not only a successful CEO – he is an Olympic coach, an award-winning journalist, a college professor, athlete, philanthropist, husband, and father of five. James began his career with humble roots, as a youth track and field coach. Hired by Procter and Gamble in his hometown Cincinnati, Ohio, he was recruited from the ranks of a fitness instructor to enter P&G’s ‘Brand Management program. After superb business and organizational results on the US business, James was transferred into an international career that took him to North Africa, Central, and Eastern Europe, The Middle East, Western Europe, Africa, and Asia.
With a marketing and general management career that spans over 30 years, James is among the leading global experts on business-building, marketing, and branding – particularly in emerging markets. He has had a long and successful career building businesses and organizations across five continents for some of the world’s leading fast-moving consumer goods companies, including CEO positions within P&G, Coca-Cola, and British American Tobacco. James continues to coach professionally, having coached national level athletes in his native USA as well as Nigeria, and most recently as a coach of the Philippines Olympic athletics team at the 2016 Rio Games. He also remains active as a key part of a healthy lifestyle, having run over 30 full marathons, and was recently the 2017 Philippines National Champion in Powerlifting.
‘If we take care of our people, the business will take care of itself’
Currently, as businesses are dealing with numerous challenges, the mental and physical health of employees is under constant stress. James understands that and has several policies in place to ensure that the employee’s mental and physical well-being is looked after. One of these policies is maternity leave, Fine offers new mothers 16 weeks of maternity leave, paid in full and an additional 16 weeks, unpaid after which they can choose to either return gradually or come back full time. It also offers new fathers a four-week leave with three weeks at full pay and one additional week unpaid, as well as flexible work arrangements.
“Employee physical wellness is also vital to create a positive corporate environment. This is a key pillar of my management style at Fine. Late 2018, we revamped our offices to include gyms and training facilities for employees to have the option to destress through sport during the day rather than being hunched over a computer all day,” asserts James.
Employees and their wellness are always at the heart of Fine Hygienic Holding. One of its core values states, ‘If we take care of our people, the business will take care of itself. The company places an immense value on employees and has launched a comprehensive wellness program they can take advantage of. It offers gym co-payments, promotes office-wide fitness challenges and wellness sessions, and now free virtual exercise classes. Furthermore, FHH was the first company to build a comprehensive wellness center on its premises in the UAE which includes a fully equipped gym, yoga room, and high-intensity track. It’s important to understand a healthy work-life balance and getting to grips with what the employees want and need. Even during these uncertain times, Fine has introduced a series of initiatives to ensure employee well-being and safety by setting up an Employee Assistance Program. It provides 24/7 confidential hotline counseling and support services delivered by qualified psychologists in English, Arabic, French, Urdu, and Hind and is available to all Fine employees and their immediate family members to tackle challenges such as stress, anxiety, and illness.
Focusing On Expansion
Numerous companies with paper portfolios like FHH have had good business in the crisis. There have been increased consumer purchases of toilet tissues and other paper categories. However, Fine went beyond this and leveraged its technology to launch reusable masks under the “Fine Guard” name and have become one of the world leaders in reusable masks in a short period of time. This business has become rather quickly a substantial portion of the business. “And as we increase into long-lasting germ protection products, we see this as a sustainable business long-term. I have no doubt we will exit this crisis as a much stronger company than we were coming in. And this is saying much as we were very healthy as a company pre-COVID-19,” says James.
With its unflinching commitment to quality, strong brand recognition, and strategic outreach, Fine has been able to develop an elevated presence of its products around the world through both direct operations and a network of distributors in various locations across the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe, and the USA. In the coming years, Fine is planning for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the London Stock Exchange in the next few years. As a long-term strategy, Fine focuses on expansion in terms of both consumer reach and investments.
James states, “With any products or new launches, we are always looking for a brighter future, and we will continue to look at the development of new products and services with this philosophy central to any decisions that we make.”
