Mr. Mohamed Junaid, started his journey at a very young age as a fireman at Male’ International Airport. After a period of time, he decided to work on a ship as a seaman. While working on the ship, he dreamt of becoming a qualified Chief Engineer and saved all his earnings to accomplish this goal.
He pursued further education at Colombo International Nautical and Engineering College. After achieving his engineering certification, he started his career in the international shipping industry. In his career of over 22 years as an engineer, he has worked in more than ten international shipping companies. As a Chief Engineer and Port Engineer, he had the opportunity to travel to almost every part of the world and interact with people from various business communities. Throughout the time, he acquired knowledge and skills crucial to succeed in international trade. This experience helped to strengthen his passion for trade. At the time of retirement from shipping industry, he was serving as a Superintendent Engineer.
He explored the opportunity for a reliable, professional trading and distribution company to cater the ever-growing need for quality food and beverage products for the locals and Maldives Tourism industry. Thus, he formed a company today known as ‘Ondhigo’.
Ondhigo entered the market in 2014 with its own brand, “CHEF Basmati Rice”. The packaging of the product was designed and created by Mr. Junaid. Today the brand has become the most demanding and bestselling brand of Basmati rice in the country. Mr. Junaid has brought revolutionary changes to Maldivian FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) industry with his innovation and creativity. Currently, Ondhigo holds exclusive distributorship of many international brands of food and beverage products, imports directly from the manufacturer and distributes to the Maldivian market.
In 2017, Mr. Junaid decided to acquire more knowledge in this field to further develop his business. Therefore, he opted for Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from Anglia Ruskin University, United Kingdom to strengthen his leadership in business management.
The Government of Maldives recognizing his capability, appointed him as the Chairman of the Maldives Ports Limited (MPL), a 100% State owned company responsible for managing and operating all international ports in Maldives. He was also appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the same company twice. Moreover, the President of Maldives appointed him to the position of Commissioner General (CG) of Maldives Customs Service at State Minister Level twice as well. Now, he is a retired Commissioner General of Customs.
Mr. Mohamed Junaid is honored to lead the company with his expertise and continues to be the Chairman & Managing Director of Ondhigo Pvt. Ltd. Today, Ondhigo is one of the leading and fastest growing company of FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) industry in Maldives.