Amadou Diallo, CEO of DHL Global Forwarding MEA Interview
Channel: مجلة أموال
Date: 03/11/2020

DHL Global Forwarding is a division of Deutsche Post DHL providing air and ocean freight forwarding services. It also plans and undertakes major logistics projects under the brand name DHL Industrial Projects. Diallo leads a team of nearly 4,000 employees and is responsible for the performance and long-term strategic development of the unit.
Amadou Diallo explains how they faced the challenges that came with the exceptional situation of Covid19. With logistics being considered an essential activity he tells Amwal-Mag how they made sure their people were safe and were able to communicate across all countries and continents. Then they were able to connect with their customers. Also, the capacity to cross borders and to make sure customs processes went through despite the difficult situation. Finally, once the goods have arrived at terminals or warehouses to do the last mile distribution. Yet, the change that happened was people looking for home delivery which created an explosion in ecommerce demand. Also, DP DHL was focused on making sure protective equipment reached the population in need across the globe from China, to the Middle East and elsewhere. 
As Covid19 has been a catalyst for tech, Amadou clarifies how innovation is at the forefront of DP DHL strategy. He explains that a decade ago as demands of customers increased in the hundreds of millions across China, India, and ASEAN countries, they reverted to technology to satisfy this demand. It was also since then that they made sure that their supply chain solutions are sustainable in terms of respect for the environment. Then DP DHL transitioned to the “2025 Strategy” to deliver excellence in a digital world and adapting to smart devices. All this started in their innovation offices in Germany more than a decade ago since then similar centers have been opened in Singapore and Chicago. 
As the demand changes, with customers wanting to receive products from all over the world in 3 days and with a growth in global population, Diallo states that tech is the main solution to deliver on this demand. 
He also explains why it is important for DP DHL to empower entrepreneurs and businesses in the ecommerce sphere all over the world to be enable them to build global businesses from a local presence, which caters to the demand of communities across the globe. As a “proud African” he delves into the efforts DP DHL puts forward to support entrepreneurs and the importance of technology to achieve this for both businesses and consumers. 
This comes with a lot of technology that the group has started to put in place from IOT, to Artificial Intelligence and machine learning, as well as robotics across the full scope of the activity. He gives an example of what they have done in Hungary five years ago of connecting the information on a shipments, with the palettes of shipment as well as the truck that will take on the shipment, going through a full digitized and streamlined processes.  
About the hot topic of drone deliveries, Amadou explains that the first pilot project was in Germany to deliver medicine to the elderly and the same thing in Tanzania to connect hospitals in remote areas. In the UAE, they are working with the Dubai Future Foundation on many applications, especially as Dubai is a hub for many goods and commodities. Innovation extends to collaborating with their customers with for example smart glasses to get information more conveniently and faster, their supply chain division is now using bracelets to scan faster as well as the use of robots in their main divisions to carry heavy loads. A gives these few examples on how DP DHL is getting ready to service 9 billion people which is the expected world population in the coming years.