Client Situation
Our client is one of the oldest and biggest money exchange companies in the UAE. It is involved in currency exchange, international money transfers and payments while also being a currency wholesale dealer. The client was interested in setting up an innovative technology-enabled Cash-In-Transit and Cash Handling business in the UAE.
Cedar’s Approach
The client mandated Cedar to perform a market assessment, in order to develop a deep understanding of the market & key areas which the client should leverage on. The process entailed:
- Review of all relevant internal documents related to the strategy and operations of the client
- One-on-one interviews with key/relevant members of the management teams to gain their perspective of the vision, the financials, customer, internal process, and organizational issues/objectives of the enterprise in reference to this new venture
- Secondary research which involved the Macroeconomic overview, UAE Market assessment, Competitive assessment, Global Comparison & analysis of Key End User Segments
- External interviews with 16 organizations in the value chain
- Analysis of all qualitative and quantitative data
- Integration of the assessments, research, and interview inputs to develop a summarized analysis
Outcome
The program resulted in an in-depth market assessment to measure and track various factors to keep in mind while penetrating the market. These involved:
- Determination of market opportunity & capital requirement
- Identification of crucial value-added offerings in terms of product innovation/proposition such as Competitive pricing, value added offerings e.g. smart safes, instant credit, integrated end-to-end cash management solutions, etc
- Identification of key customer segment factors for market penetration success such as government assistance to aid conversion, grabbing market share of rival banks/ATMs, marketing and brand building to create awareness among end users
- Identification of crucial technological necessities where technology is leveraged to drive value proposition
- Need to optimize investments in Cash Processing Center & Armored Truck Fleet in line with business potential & expectations
- Presentation of three market entry strategy scenarios for the client to select from in order to proceed with an action plan