Jacky's Gulf achieves 50 per cent growth in relief supplies business

Jacky's, which started as a Hong Kong-based mail order business in 1970, has seen its supply to international projects grow by 50% in 2004 over the previous year, said Manohar Panjabi, Executive Director, Jacky's Gulf FZE. "With our base in Jebel Ali, we are ideally located to respond to demands from all corners of the world. In addition to the logistical advantage that we posses, over the years, Jacky's has grown its range of offerings to cover almost every requirement of organisations operating in remote or distressed locations. Hence, Jacky's is in a position to offer timely delivery of nearly every relief requirement to anywhere in the world," said Punjabi.

Jacky's has explored opportunities where they could meet and interact with a cross section of people from international aid agencies, UN agencies as well as other aid industries suppliers from the region and overseas. The first Dubai International Humanitarian Aid and Re-Development Conference & Exhibition (DIHAD), held last year proved to be a powerful platform where Jacky's interacted with a number of NGOs and other agencies who showed interest in the core products that Jacky's had to offer.

"Ranging from safety and security to telecom and IT products, Jacky's was successful in converting some of these inquires into deals during the last quarter of 2004. At DIHAD 2005 we are going to showcase emergency relief supplies such as refugee blankets and tents, jerrycans, medical and first aid kits as well as mosquito nets which are in great demand in calamities like the Tsunami," Punjabi said.

Last year Jacky's supplied building materials to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for their housing projects under the rehabilitation and settlement programmes in Eritrea. In addition to this, Jacky's has also supplied various security and safety products such as access controls in eight regions in Afghanistan that included installation and commissioning by a technical team of Jacky's.

"Other safety products included fire extinguishers, medical kits and CCTVs to leading UN agencies in Afghanistan, Gerogia and Congo. One of our latest contracts is to supply a large quantity of tarpaulins to International Organization for Migration (IOM) for Darfur refugees in Sudan. This requirement is urgent and with our logistical advantage we will be able to meet the deadline,"

As a company duly registered with the United Nations Global Marketplace, Jacky's has been working on a regular basis with the World Health Organisation, the United Nations Development Programme, United Nations World Food Programme, Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations and International Organisation for Migration.