Emad Smadi

Munir Sukhtian Group - MS Group

When Munir Sukhtian opened a neighborhood pharmacy in Tulkarm, Palestine back in 1933, he created a solid foundation for dynamic expansion into a manufacturing, trading, marketing, distribution, service, and contracting company with regional presence. A pharmacist by degree from the American University of Beirut, this forward-looking entrepreneur successfully turned his pharmacy into a pioneering distribution organization that also established the first pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in Palestine. Over seventy years later, Munir Sukhtian's legacy is still clearly visible in the Group's enterprising approach to every aspect of the business. Munir Sukhtian Group has been a pioneer in a number of diverse fields, and is a company with many "firsts" in the region; the first greenhouse factory in the Arab world, the first flower auction house, the first privately owned tissue culture lab, the first to export locally manufactured pharmaceuticals to Europe, and the first to obtain European pharmaceutical GMP in a Middle-East plant, the first to introduce (C3I ) Command Control Communication and Information Systems in the region, to name only a few. But the true measure of success is the continuing and increasing achievements of our enterprises, with ever-expanding markets in an increasingly competitive world market. One of our key strengths has been our flexibility in adapting to market changes. Amidst the oil price increase of 1973, MS Group branched off from the pharmaceuticals and agriculture manufacturing and distribution sectors into the emerging industries at the time: communication, and electro-mechanical and civil contracting. The resulting demand for technology savvy professionals prompted the Group to further diversify into training as both part of- and separate from- our contracting activities. With today's globalization, MS Group is once again in the midst of change and is now more than ever ready to meet the new challenges.