Yahya Abbas has a degree in civil engineering. It’s hardly surprising, then, that the 59-year-old president and CEO of Ya YA Foods, Toronto, still considers himself to be more of an engineer than a pen pusher. His philosophy is, therefore, not to simply wait and see which challenges happen to come his way, but instead to seize the initiative and actively anticipate the needs of the market.
“I invest and generate capacity; our customers then come to us of their own accord,” said Abbas. “Our clients include the world’s top 10 beverage brands. Some of them have been our customers for 30 years.”