Issue 15
Zhumino International FZC
Building a Healthier Tomorrow Writer: Emily Jarvis Project Manager: Joshua Mann Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, Zhumino International FZC has its sights set on replicating the same growth achieved in the past decade by expanding its farming interests into Southeast Asia. As one of the UAE’s leading importers and distributors of fresh whole and cut fruit and vegetables, the Company supplies many of the region’s top retailers and wholesalers, as well as the hospitality industry from a well-connected series of suppliers and sourcing companies located across Malaysia, Vietnam, India, Taiwan and the Philippines. Guided by the family-orientated and varied life experiences of Company Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Syed Hafizullah, Zhumino has joined the industry elite – including Del-Monte, Dole, Unifruiti, Sumifru and many others – already capitalising on the farming opportunities available in the Philippines. “Sourcing only the highest quality product, Zhumino has an unrivalled reputation which has led to exponential growth in the Company’s very short history,” says the website. “With the expanse of tropic being vast – in the midst of different regions and cultures – we carefully choose farms producing high quality tropical fruits and vegetables.” Responsible for the entire value chain – comprising the farming, harvesting, sorting, processing, packing and transportation of goods – Zhumino’s team of skilled professionals work quickly and diligently to minimise the time its fruits and vegetables take to reach the shelves. Supported by a new research and development (R&D) team, dedicated to reducing this time and ultimately saving long-term costs with the help of instilling…
Seahorse Seafood LLC
Reaching New Levels of Innovation Writer: Emily Jarvis Project Manager: Joshua Mann Having been under new ownership for the past five years, Dubai-based fish supplier, Seahorse Seafood has undergone a complete business transformation. By targeting international quality management and sustainability standards that further showcase the Company’s focus on quality, traceability and sustainability, Seahorse Seafood has set the benchmark for seafood business across the UAE. Founded 25 years ago in an emerging Dubai, with the majority of sales consisting of locally-purchased fish, Seahorse Seafood’s transition into a supplier of retail, wholesale and HORECA products in all seven Emirates is a direct reflection of the region’s rise to prominence in the present day. “The country changed and so did Seahorse. With the help of our first customers, the Company started as a few people trying to boost the availability of high quality seafood in the UAE, buying in the local fish market and importing small quantities from Europe; with two small vans transporting the products to our customers,” says Bas van Geldrop, Head of Sales and Marketing. “The management still regularly tells the story of our first salmon promotion ever as the perfect example of regional change and salmon’s rise to becoming one of the Emirates’ bestsellers. The order was so big that the whole team – including the owners – were packing and icing the fish in the factory. The next day, the managers who had been helping to pack the fish had to attend a meeting with a big retailer while smelling of fish! But we always…
Emirates Metallic Industries Company (EMIC)
Opening New OpportunitiesWriter: Emily JarvisProject Manager: Ben Weaver Approaching capacity at its four facilities across the MENA region, Emirates Metallic Industries Company Ltd (EMIC) is once again poised to reinvest in a new facility and two new production lines via its latest expansion strategy which will be rolled-out over the next few years. Having continuously diversified its range of general and food packaging solutions to stay ahead of growing competition from the Asian continent, the Company has now taken the top spot as the leading supplier of 73 mm easy-open ends (EOE) and tuna cans in the UAE and GCC.“Evolving from a small manufacturing unit when we first established ourselves in the region in 1989 – supplying metal cans and pails for the paint and chemical industries – EMIC identified a gap in the local market for sophisticated food packaging and now has a full range of printed metal cans and drums of all shapes and sizes in its product portfolio which are exported to the MENA and Southeast Asia regions,” explains Ala Alami, the Company’s Sales and Marketing Manager.“Experiencing organic growth over the years, thanks to longstanding and trustworthy relationships with our customers, we have focused our attentions on horizontal expansion to capitalise on upcoming regional growth opportunities; complementing our existing services with value-add in-house services along the way, such as coil slitting, coil cutting, sheet coating, sheet lacquering and printing designs at our facilities.”Through a continuous improvement strategy comprising pillars of safety, quality, manpower development, market awareness and R&D, EMIC is solidifying its existing business with further…
G4S UAE
Securing the EmiratesWriter: Emily JarvisProject Manager: Kane Weller To reflect the continued growth of the security sector in the Middle East, G4S UAE has widened its already extensive offering to bring a more diverse range of turnkey solutions to the market; offering custom-made solutions that are designed to fit the needs of each customer and their respective industry. Under the watchful eye of the Company’s new Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Alida H. Scholtz – who hopes to replicate her track-record for executing successful growth strategies by leveraging a wealth of experience from working in the service and manufacturing industries – G4S UAE is on course to implement a robust regional expansion and development plan that will deliver on both a technology and innovation front.“Following the rapid economic development in the Middle East, national security has become a top priority for the United Arab Emirates,” says Scholtz. “The Middle Eastern security market is expected to maintain its ongoing growth; urging government and private sectors to boost their budgets for the modernisation of national security through more professional security partners in the fields of technology, risk and gap analysis, and the sourcing of quality equipment.”Having operated as a trusted security partner across all seven Emirates in the UAE for the past 24 years with dedicated contact points across the region, G4S UAE continues to expand and grow its leadership capabilities; bringing in new industry leaders to look after its cash, ESS (electronic security system) and aviation divisions.The Company’s strategy to capitalise on the burgeoning commercial security sector in the UAE falls…
Advanced Technology Company (ATC)
Kuwait’s Healthcare DisruptorsWriter: Emily JarvisProject Manager: Donovan SmithAdvanced Technology Company (ATC) has spent the past four decades expanding its business both horizontally and vertically to build an unrivalled portfolio of products and services, reflective of the shared passion for technology and entrepreneurial spirit among its stakeholders.Reacting to – and predicting – the latest trends in the healthcare industry, the Company was able to forecast upcoming disruptive technologies and adapt its business to cater for the medical needs required across multiple divisions; including dental, biomedical, lab, pharmacy, security and other applications.“In 1980, ATC was nothing more than a shared vision. But by reacting accordingly, we were able to build early relationships with GE, Beckman Instruments and J&J. By 1981, ATC’s main two lines of business were GE’s CT machine and the Beckman Astra chemistry analyser. These two machines opened doors for ATC, driving interest in other medical equipment and services supplied by the industry giants and their partners,” Ghassan Mamlouk, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) recalls.Guided by its core values to be adaptable, trustworthy and competent – project after project, handover after handover – ATC continues to demonstrate a high level of competence; subsequently highly lauded by its partners and clients as an overachiever.“Even with more than 1,500 employees today, ATC still remains adaptable, flexible, and agile. Building a brand that is synonymous with the word trust was a gruelling challenge, especially in a hypercompetitive and dynamic industry such as healthcare; affected by multiple exogenous factors year-round,” the CEO adds.Encouraging innovationTransforming into a public Company via an initial…
North Sea Rigs
Boosting Value Creation in the Norwegian Offshore Sector Writer: Morten Helliesen, Media Advisor, North Sea Rigs Project Manager: Josh Hyland Demanding times in the petroleum sector have brought challenges, not least in the rig industry where scheduled projects have high capacity and complexity. Moreover, the industry is suffering from aging equipment that no longer meets the demands and requirements of offshore oil companies who are looking for a high level of efficiency and safety, while ensuring maximum uptime at a competitive cost. North Sea Rigs is facing these challenges head-on with three new rigs soon to be introduced to the market. Optimised for the mid-water segment, the North Dragon, Beacon Atlantic and Beacon Pacific rigs are suitable for the development, maintenance and drilling of new wells in the Norwegian offshore sector; as well as other strategic offshore oil hubs globally. The Company’s new rigs have arrived just in time to answer the industry needs, accompanied by state-of-the-art facilities to ensure operations are efficient and cost-effective. “Despite the market situation, the offshore industry still offers multiple opportunities. A high number of new wells are needed to drill proven petroleum reserves, in addition to wells designed to ensure enhanced recovery of already existing fields. From this perspective, the new rigs are a key tool in order to achieve maximum value creation on the Norwegian Continental shelf (NCS),” says North Sea Rigs’ Managing Director (MD), Stephen Adshead. With the goal to make offshore projects as robust as possible for decades to come in a bid to future-proof both the…
MAATS Tech Ltd
All Eyes on Consolidation Writer: Emily Jarvis Project Manager: Josh Hyland Leveraging its existing expertise in marine engineering to diversify during the current oil & gas downturn, UK-based MAATS Tech Ltd has been working closely with customers to strengthen its service offering as part of a wider consolidation strategy. Having developed into a major player in the offshore engineering and marine design industries over the past 27 years, MAATS now offers a range of refined turnkey specialisms; including ship design and build, through to installation and commissioning of bespoke equipment for handling, storage and offloading of flexible pipe systems, as well as a host of new value-add services. The Company’s Founder and Managing Director, John Holt introduces: “All companies operating within the oil & gas market are closely monitoring developments in order to adjust their business strategy accordingly; and MAATS Tech is no different. With the US currently not importing and Iran about to begin exporting its oil, no one has the answer yet to the surplus challenge, and a vote of confidence may be a little while coming. It is with this in mind that we have shifted our focus and gained a foothold in the cable-laying business for energy companies, while also remaining open to exploring alternative engineering-based markets where our fully-qualified teams can transfer their knowledge of flexible pipe handling over to cable handling.” This strategic move has coincided with an internal restructure of the organisation, with the aim of boosting the team’s commercial awareness in order to improve how business enquiries are handled…
SPETCO
Turnkey Project Execution Writer: Emily Jarvis Project Manager: Josh Hyland Renowned in Kuwait and the surrounding region for its integral role in revolutionising the oil & gas industry, SPETCO is placing a concerted focus on its pioneering early production facility (EPF) expertise and other world-class technical knowhow that will help to expand the application of its service offering in the surrounding region. Previously operating under the guise of Safwan Trading & Contracting Company (SAFWAN) when first established in 1963 – prior to the eventual divisional spin-off in 2001 known today as SPETCO International Petroleum Company (SPETCO) – the family-owned Company is now reaping the subsequent benefits of this earlier diversification strategy; fulfilling the products, services and technology requirements of the industrial, commercial and oil & gas sectors in Kuwait. “We initially established ourselves as trading Company in the early 1970 to cater to the requirements of the oil & gas sector in Kuwait, but quickly realised that the sector required more local service companies, which led to SPETCO expanding its range of services in a continuous and phased manner,” recalls Tariq Qaddumi, Deputy General Manager (GM). “Today, these services are housed under three divisions; namely Oil & Gas Services, Oil & Gas Projects and a Commercial Division under which sits our fabrication and miscellaneous services.” Differentiated by its turnkey offering and specialist niche value-add services, SPETCO’s proven ability to resolve complex problems across the upstream and midstream value chain – as well as the development and production of hydrocarbon reserves – is reflected in its portfolio of…
Middle Eastern Construction on the Up
There are 541 new hotels in the pipeline across the Middle East, bringing an additional 158,950 hotel rooms to the region, an industry report has revealed.The Middle East Hotel Construction Overview report prepared by TOPHOTELPROJECTS, exclusively for The Hotel Show Dubai 2016, forecasts that the majority of new hotel rooms will open before 2020. The UAE (180 projects) and Saudi Arabia (134 projects) remain the most active hotel construction hotspots in the region.The busiest year for hotel openings leading up to 2020 is forecast to be 2017 with 189 projects and 58,527 rooms. Notable hotel openings scheduled for 2017 include the world’s largest hotel in Makkah, Saudi Arabia with 10,000 rooms; and the world’s first Paramount Hotels & Resorts property; the Paramount Hotel in Dubai.“That is a lot of bedrooms, bathrooms, windows, doors, terraces, restaurants, pools, spas, gyms, and much more to be fit out and equipped over the next five years,” said Gary Williams, Event Director of The Hotel Show Dubai, taking place 17-19 September, 2016 at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC). “This year, the 17th edition of The Hotel Show, the largest hospitality supply event in the region, will run at the same time as Windows, Doors & Façades Event and Intersolar Middle East at the DWTC, as the need for all aspects of hotel construction – including its external or façade design and sustainable footprint - increases.“We are providing the ultimate selection of sourcing, networking and educational forums for professionals interested in hotel construction in the Middle East.”The brand-new Windows, Doors &…
Source the Latest Products at Kuwait’s Largest Construction Exhibition
Running from 25-27 September, 2016 at the Kuwait International Fair, The Big 5 Kuwait is set to be the largest building and construction event in the country. With planned developments worth an estimated US$123.6 billion, and a $68.9 billion Government construction budget for 2016, Kuwait’s construction industry offers massive business opportunities. The Big 5 Kuwait 2016 will provide an easy and essential route into the Kuwaiti construction market for exhibitors, enabling professionals from across the industry to develop their business and network with a wide range of visitors.Alongside the exhibition, the event will offer three days of free-to-attend, CPD-certified workshops delivered by industry specialists on a wide range of hot topics, spanning from project management and BIM to LEED certification. For the first time this year, the show will dedicate an entire day to the theme of sustainability in construction. Successful features that are returning in 2016 include the now extended plant, machinery and vehicle outdoor area and the ‘How to Trade in Kuwait’ seminar.The show, organised by dmg events Middle East, Asia and Africa, will host more than 200 local and international exhibitors across 4,700 square metres of floor space. Visitors at The Big 5 Kuwait 2016 will be able to meet exhibitors from 24 countries including Germany, Italy, Turkey, and Kuwait. “The Big 5 Kuwait 2016 will bring together the largest gathering of product and solution providers in Kuwait, comprising of both locally based and international companies, offering the opportunity to source solutions not yet available in the local market,” Ashley Roberts, Event Director of The…
Intersolar Middle East Opens in Dubai
H.E Saeed Mohammed Ahmed Al Tayer, Dubai Electricity & Water Authority's Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, officially opened Intersolar Middle East in Dubai on 19 September.The region’s largest event for the solar industry is part of the Intersolar World Series, and lasts until 21 September at Dubai World Trade Centre.Thousands of visitors are expected to attend the three-day event, where they will have an opportunity to gain exclusive access to some of the world’s leading minds and emerging technologies in the solar industry.“Microtron Technologies looks forward to Intersolar Middle East as it presents an excellent opportunity to meet business partners, and build relationships with key players accelerating the shift towards sustainable energy,” said Nasir Khattak, Founder and President, Microtrontec. “In many ways, the show has become a benchmark for the industry in terms of trends and the outlook for the future, with investment and business decisions often tied to the insights gained at the many workshops and seminars taking place at the event.” Middle East nations have been at the forefront of global efforts to diversify from oil in recent years, and were well represented at last year’s COP-21 climate talks in Paris. In a similar show of solidarity, energy ministers and international experts from across the region convened at the Global Solar Leaders’ Summit for talks on the solar industry.The Summit was intended to act as a precursor to Intersolar Middle East, and focused on the topic of ‘Powering a Renewable Energy Future’. The UAE was represented by Taher Diab, Senior Director of Strategy &…
Highlighting the Value of Outsourcing IT Infrastructure
Taking place on 20 October, 2016, Datacloud Nordic will assess the energy, scalability, security, architecture and software challenges confronting data centres, as well as the transition to cloud.The one-day industry event will include an impressive line-up of guest speakers from leading Nordic and international players and will feature the latest findings from a special regional report based on BroadGroup research.Philip Low, Managing Director of BroadGroup said: “The Datacloud forum aims to explore the very latest in technologies and markets, offer inspiring insights and thought-provoking points of view for companies seeking a better way of hosting and collocating in the new reality of a data-driven and cloud-connected world.“The event attracts interest not only from Nordic organisations wanting to know how to address the many challenges that confront companies adapting to a cloud environment, but also international enterprises and investors who perceive energy, growth and investment opportunities across the Nordic markets.”The forum highlights the unique value of locating or outsourcing data centre, cloud and IT infrastructure across the important and fast-growing Nordic region. With its wealth of renewable energy, the region is already experiencing significant growth in the deployment of mission critical facilities and offers new business, outsourcing, investment, hosting, collocation and cloud opportunities.It is the only regional forum and appeals to both users and outsourcers, with companies from Iceland to the Baltics in attendance. Targeted at senior executives in the data centre, hosting and cloud industries; enterprise end users; investors; and infrastructure and technology providers; Datacloud Nordic will deliver a rich and innovative programme of keynotes, panel…
Investing in the MENA Region
Ibrahim Masood, AQS MENA Fund Portfolio Manager for Aventicum Capital Management, discusses the current economic landscape and why investors should be turning their attention to this fast-emerging region.
Sheet Metal Working Technology Exhibition : The New Generation
From 25-29 October, 2016, the 24th International Sheet Metal Working Technology Exhibition will open its doors again in Hannover, Germany.
Expo 2020: Living up to Expectations
Dana Salbak, Associate Partner, Research for Knight Frank MENA (Middle East and North Africa), shares her input on the real estate market outlook for the remainder of 2016 and beyond.