The CO-RO Partner of the Year event is an annual gathering for joint-ventures, distributors, and retail partners across the Middle East and Africa. With attendees from 28 countries, the event serves as a platform to share success stories and best practices. Held every February during the Gulfood in Dubai, which attracts over 5,000 exhibitors. At this year's event, Al Maya FMCG, a part of the Al Maya Group of Companies, was recognized as the "Partner of the Year 2022" by CO-RO A/S. Al Maya achieved new milestones for CO-RO A/S brands with a focused approach that involved adapting the right distribution strategies.

CO-RO A/S is a leading manufacturer of fruit-based soft drinks headquartered in Denmark. The company has been providing high-quality fruit-based soft drinks to people in over 80 countries since 1942. Their product portfolio consists of 4 brands, namely Suntop, Suncola, Sun Lolly, and Sunquick in MEA region.

Established in 1982 by a pioneering businessman late L.K. Pagarani, Al Maya’s FMCG arm is one of the leading FMCG distribution companies with presence across the GCC including UAE, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait & Bahrain representing leading regional and international brands sourced from across the world.

The award was bestowed upon Deepak Pagarani, CEO, and Chairman of Al Maya Group, by Morten Friis, Executive Vice President MEA region. Friis commended on Al Maya's execution excellence, which resulted in exponential growth for the brand during 2022. He further added, "Al Maya registered a strong double-digit volume growth and successfully covered a large portion of the market in the first full year of the partnership and still continues to expand. Al Maya has also helped largely in understanding competition landscape, mapping pricing across different trade channels, and set ambitious value initiatives for 2023 by ensuring all Mega activities were successfully implemented thereby creating an example of Excellence across our Global Distributors.”

The Senior Leadership team members of CO-RO A/S, including Soren Holm - President, Morten Friis - Executive Vice President, and Sammi Bouzo - Regional Sales Director, along with other leadership team members, attended the event.