Not all tea is created equal.
That’s the message Ahmed
Rahim is trying to send at Numi Tea Inc., the company he
founded with his sister, Reem.
Rahim, who serves as the company’s CEO, makes sure his
message is clear to both consumers and his staff by communicating through every possible
medium — marketing materials,
PowerPoint presentations, the
company Web site and even the
packaging of the products.
“People get it if they see it
over and over again,” he says.
“They might not get it the first
time. It might not be clear, it
might be subliminal, it might
be in their subconscious somehow, but if you keep mentioning it on every piece of information you have … if you’re
drilling the same point over
and over again, eventually people are going to get it.”
Plenty of people have indeed
“got it,” as Numi has grown
into a $15 million, 40-employee
company.
Smart Business spoke with
Rahim about how he sparks
fresh ideas and why it’s important that his employees share
his commitment to organic teas.
Q. How do you get your
employees to take ownership?
Set clear goals. It starts by
hiring the right people; that
takes time. It takes some trial
and error, but once you hire
the right people, you need to
set these monthly, quarterly,
annual goals.
Once they’re set, if you’re
hiring the right people and
they’re professional at what
they do, they should be able to
run with it, be accountable for
what they do.
Q. How do you make sure
you have the right people?
Company culture is very
important. They have to clearly
understand the company values.
One, they can mesh with the
culture of the people and the
brand. Two, they really get and
hear and believe in the values.
For example, with an organic tea company, they’re not
putting a product that is very
low quality or very low value
in their bodies. They really
walk their talk when it comes
to sharing the values of
the company — of
organic, sustainable.
The last thing is having
the experience in the
marketplace that you’re
in, or at least the type of
consumer packaged
goods that Numi’s in.
You want to have someone who has the experience and motivation and
leadership to join the
team and lead their
force in growing the
company.