Ahmed Al-Barwani

What have been the most recent highlights across your portfolio?

We had to move with the market and rethink how we do things. We have been investing in technologies used in Europe and other parts of the world and brought it to Oman in order for the industry to move to the next step. We are focusing on specialized application based projects where our clients and partners trust our technologies and quality of service. We are working closely with our suppliers and partners and provide customized solutions that clients are looking for in order to tackle the new challenges they have reducing their capital and increasing their asset life. We successfully managed to increase on export sales in 2020 and target to double the value of exports in 2021. Things are slightly slow in Oman, but we have been selling in Egypt, Qatar, the UAE, Bahrain, and Kuwait and much more for the last four to five years and have the ambition to sell everywhere in the world.

What are some of the projects that you are currently working on?

We are involved in every major project in Oman in one way or another. We supplied and supported clients in prestigious projects in the UAE and Oman and were recently awarded a project that allows us to utilize our technology in gas applications. As a manufacturer, we work with everyone, oil and gas, infrastructure projects, irrigation, landscaping, and telecommunications.

What is your current market share, and what competitive advantage do you have?

Overall, we are at approximately 40% market share. Our competitive edge comes with our capability to deliver on time with the right quality. Also, providing engineered solutions delivered with quality products and assurances to our clients is what we believe gives us the edge.

What is your strategy for growing outside of Oman, and what is your focus?

We can provide custom solutions to our customers, and that is where we succeeded. Now, we look at each market in order to understand where we can add value. We did that in the UAE and we expanded our presence there, so now we are doing the same for other parts of the world.

What innovative technologies are you employing, and how can these move the whole industry further?

End users are looking at how they use plastics in their applications. Sometimes we compete against other technologies that have been in the market first. We are working closely with oil and gas companies to provide them out of the box solutions that can be applied in their fields, as they can also save them large sums of money. We are also providing solutions for telecommunications industries that are lighter, more durable, safer, cheaper, and really quick to install. The final application that we have is drainage and stormwater applications, and we apply our solutions with the highest international standards. The maintenance is less demanding, and these products can last up to 50 years, compared to other materials that need to be maintained or replaced in five to 10 years.

What are your short-term objectives for the next 12 months?

Our main goal is to return to our pre-pandemic 2018 levels. The second focus is expanding the exports. The third focus is to grow our market share and rebound in the markets that were reduced if any due to volatility we saw in the market in 2020.