Tamimi Group

Sulaiman Al-Rumaih, vice president of the Energy and Industrial division of the Tamimi Group, talks about the dynamic expansion of the business within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and beyond. Jayne Alverca reports.

The Tamimi Group is one of Saudi Arabia’s largest and most diverse industrial groups. Headquartered in Damam with regional offices in all the major cities of Saudi Arabia, as well as in Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, the group has played a key role in the economic transformation of the region. Tamimi was founded in 1953 by Sheikh Ali A Tamimi to carry out pipeline and general construction works. But over the past half century, it has evolved beyond recognition to extend its reach into a score of commercial, manufacturing and industrial activities.

Today, the construction industry still lies at the heart of the group, but it has expanded to take on business enterprises as diverse as laundry operations and hotel management through to real estate, food retailing and a number of distinct manufacturing operations. Facilities dedicated to the production of tape, chemicals, power generation equipment, insulation materials and safety control systems have all found a way into the portfolio. In total, Tamimi can now point to 30 companies or divisions.

Sulaiman Al-Rumaihis vice president of the Energy and Industrial division of the group which, taken alone, employs 5,000 staff and spans 15 distinct business entities. “Since this company was founded, there has been a constant drive to diversify,” he declares.

“The rationale that informs this strategy is the understanding that each product, service and sector has its own unique lifecycle. If services are in low demand, for example, another sector like food retailing or manufacturing may be enjoying a high point. As one business area lags behind, activity in another will accelerate and in this way we can achieve consistent balanced growth across the group.”

Another advantage of this level of diversity is the increased capacity to offer one-stop comprehensive solutions. “Competition is very tough so we need to find new ways of adding value,” he continues, explaining that the very wide range of services offered under the Tamimi umbrella is an important competitive advantage. “For example, we don’t just offer a spare parts service, rather we offer a service that can include all back-up services, maintenance and implementation. The sheer breadth of our activities means we can offer our clients a complete solution from a single source.”

The Energy and Industrial division over which Al-Rumaih presides is now one of the most vibrant areas of activity within the group. One of several recent highlights is the construction of a new manufacturing facility to produce high pressure valves. Commissioning is due next year at a total investment of $50 million.

He has also been the driving force behind a landmark joint venture with General Electric, one of several global partners with which Tamimi is working. Earlier this year the General Electric Energy Manufacturing Technology Center was unveiled. Extending over 10,000 square metres and at an investment of $100 million, it is the largest and most sophisticated General Electric facility of its kind in the world. It is one of seven joint ventures with General Electric which all have an energy or engineering focus and deal with power generation, oil and gas, heat exchange, water and control systems.

However, while partnerships with foreign multinationals—Tamimi also has representation agreements with Halliburton Engineering Services, Firestone Tyres, Red Wing International, Exide Batteries, Chesterton International and Silvertech—enable the company to leverage important benefits, Al-Rumaih’seye is firmly set on the contribution Tamimi can make to nurturing home-grown capacity and talent.

He believes that training Saudi nationals is fundamental to the group’s future. “All ex-pats who come to work here have a shared mission which is to execute their tasks, complete their contracts and then return home. If we want a long-term sustainable business we must look more towards the Saudi workforce who are here with us forever. We are convinced our future lies in the investment we make now in training, education and up-skilling,” he states.

“The nationals we do employ have proved their worth very clearly and we know that clients prefer to deal with people of the same culture, who speak the same language and who share a common background. We take it a step further in that we prefer to employ people from the south of the kingdom for our operations in that part of the country; if we have operations in the centre of the country, we will actively seek to hire staff from that region and so forth.”

Another priority for Al-Rumaihis fostering green business to conserve domestic resources. “Although we are probably the world’s foremost producer of oil, the onus is on preserving these resources for the next generation. There is a lot of importance attached to utilising the resources we have in the kingdom in the most efficient way.

“From my perspective, we have much to gain from examining the potential of solar energy,” he continues. “Here, the sunlight is very intense and present throughout the year and we should be looking much more closely at renewable technologies that harness this force. I am in the process of organising a trip to California to see what we can learn about international best practice with a view to transferring that knowledge here.”

Looking further into the future, he also sees great potential to increase Tamimi’s geographical footprint. Although Saudi Arabia will always be a key market, he is looking towards India, Pakistan and Afghanistan and in particular at new opportunities which are arising in North Africa as a result of regime change, especially in Libya.  

“We see huge potential in Libya over the next 10 years. Development in that country has been on hold for the last two decades, but it is one of the richest countries in the world in terms of its resources. Now it has the opportunity to re-build its economy and create a new infrastructure. This is a process that will take at least 10 years to implement and will give rise to many opportunities for companies such as ours which can provide integrated end-to-end solutions across a range of sectors,” he concludes. www.al-tamimi.com