< Previous POWER 50 www.fm-middleeast.com20 December 2020 Since the beginning of 2020, Khidmah has won several contracts with major ones including The Bridges, Al Muneera, Al Zeina, Al Gurm, Abu Dhabi Sports Aviation Club, Aldar Academies, ADNOC Schools, Emirates National schools, and King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture. The next 12 month also appears busy. Maher Al-Aghbar, executive director, says: “We have signed contracts with several reputable clients. The scope of these contracts varies in line with Khidmah’s customised customer centric approach to FM delivery and excellence.” Some notable contracts include developments in Al Reem Island and Al Raha Beach Area, Emirates National Schools and Higher Colleges of Technology, and Dubai Municipality. Khidmah was realigned in 2019 by Aldar properties with the mandate of providing total FM services. Al-Aghbar adds: “We have realigned our resources and put together an emergency response team to fill the gap and meet the rising demand for sterilisation and disinfection.” Khansaheb FM is forecasting a revenue of AED110m for 2020 which takes into consideration the resulting impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and pressure from existing/new customers to reduce their operating cost. The firm is targeting to grow by 20% in 2021. Oliver Sawle, general manager, says: “We believe that there is a heightened focus and greater recognition of the importance of facilities management across all sectors following the Covid-19 pandemic and slowdown in development. We think that the FM market will mature and more longer-term integrated FM opportunities will come to market in future years. This will enable us to develop longer time partnerships with trusted clients and encourage the introduction of innovation and continuous improvement.” The biggest challenge facing the business over the next 12 months are the increasing competitiveness of market and new players entering the market. In addition, there is continued pressure to reduce costs in the short term due to the current state of the global economy, says Sawle. Part of the Khansaheb Group, Khansaheb Facilities Management is of one the fastest growing facilities management and support services companies delivering international best practice solutions to a wide range of clients throughout the UAE. Al Shirawi FM, part of the Al Shirawi Group of Companies, is an Integrated Facilities Management Service Provider in the UAE, with over 332 contracts and a workforce of over 1,300 people. The firm’s turnover in the UAE for the financial year 2019-2020 was AED198m with a 5% growth over last year. Over the next 12 months, Al Shirawi FM will be responsible for providing MEP maintenance for all RTA tunnels, MEP maintenance for Al Tayer portfolio, MEP and housekeeping for Al Mashraf bank portfolio and electrical maintenance for all Dubai Municipality Parks. Talking about the firm’s future focus in the Middle East region, Pramodh Idicheria, COO, says: “Our key focus remains in the UAE, but we also see potential in the Saudi market worth an estimated $20.3bn.” He added: “Since Dubai Expo 2021 is right around the corner, we will not only retain and grow our existing portfolio, but also play a critical and vital role for the successful completion of the Expo.” MAHER AL-AGHBAR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OLIVER SAWLE GENERAL MANAGER PRAMODH IDICHERIA CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER • Number of years in his role: 6 months • Total number of years in the company: 6 months • Number of years in the Middle East: 6 KHIDMAH KHANSAHEB FM AL SHIRAWI FMPOWER 50 www.fm-middleeast.comDecember 2020 21 Between January and October 2020, Tafawuq Facilities Management provided comprehensive FM services to various properties and assets of prominent organisations located in the MENA region. Tafawuq during the period was involved in numerous large-scale projects spread across UAE’s emirates, Oman and Egypt. Mohammed Alsharaf, senior executive vice president, says: “Our client portfolio reflects that we are one of the most trusted and reliable FM partners of leading businesses in the UAE and the region. “In the next 12 months, we will deliver total facilities solutions to several prominent projects across the UAE and the region. We are taking charge of the facilities management services for high- profile projects in key MENA markets. We continue to win high-value contracts covering leading assets and mega projects, many of which are considered vital to the growth path of the countries where these developments are located.” Talking about the opportunity over the next 12 months, Alsharaf says: “We have started investing in our target asset management markets such as Egypt as part of our planned expansion program. It is our key to increase revenue by an additional AED600m in the next 12 months. “Our parent company, Eltizam’s strategic merger-and-acquisition (M&A) approach in the region is also vital to our expansion to enable us to meet our 2025 target revenue of AED2bn.” Enova was created in 2002 as a joint venture between Majid Al Futtaim and Veolia. Majid Al Futtaim is the leading shopping malls, communities, retail and leisure pioneer across the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Veolia is a global leader in optimized resource management, designing and providing water, waste, and energy management solutions that contribute to the sustainable development of communities and industries. Enova recently completed the installation of the first grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) plant on the rooftop of City Centre Fujairah in the UAE. The 2880 photovoltaic panels are set to generate 1.43 GWh of ‘clean’ energy, reducing the mall’s annual carbon footprint by 960 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions, equivalent to taking 215 cars off the road. The installation is set to save up to AED580,000 on energy costs every year. Keeping the shopping mall fully operational and avoiding any disruptions to the shoppers, the project was completed in only 8 weeks. In addition, Enova was awarded a new retail project with Kinan Malls in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Starting February 2020, Enova will handle all MEP services for the 10 malls distributed across the country for three years. Talking about the single biggest opportunity for the business over the next 12 months, Renaud Capris, CEO, says: “Rolling out additional value add services to our projects, raising the bar within the energy and FM market to strengthen our pioneering role in the MENA region [will be our focus].” MOHAMMED ALSHARAF SENIOR EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT RENAUD CAPRIS CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER • Number of years in his role: 4 • Total number of years in the company: 4 • Number of years in the Middle East: 25 • Number of years in his role: 1-2 • Total number of years in the company: 20 • Number of years in the Middle East: 1-2 TAFAWUQ FACILITIES MANAGEMENT ENOVA POWER 50 www.fm-middleeast.com22 December 2020 AG Facilities Solutions has an operational span across all the emirates in UAE. The firm provides an entire spectrum of FM solutions, both hard and soft, including projects and interior fit-out. Mohamed Adil Haneef, COO, says: “This enables us to provide our clients with better control and a single- window for all their FM and Project- related requirements.” The successful integration of MBM, one of the UAE’s largest and highly experienced soft services company, directly resulted in a strong job order book. Haneef adds: “Our order book has grown considerably with a sizeable year on year increase and is spread over a large group of clients like ADNOC, Ministry of Education, Musanada, Dubai Municipality, MAF, Landmark, MOH, ADIB, Dubai Police to name a few. In addition, we have a renewal rate of over 94%, which itself is a testament to our customer centric service delivery. We have also been recently awarded with the ISO 29990 certification in internal and external trainings of AGFS. “Our biggest assets are our 12,000- plus employees supported by a strong management team comprising of highly experienced specialists. Our Employee Training and Development Centre, customised IT solutions and the exclusive Customer Happiness Centre provides the necessary support to the site operations team. 2020 was a challenging year and managing such a large work force during the initial phase of Covid-19 without any major escalations was possible with the tireless efforts of all teams working in tandem, implementing social distancing and sanitisation across all vehicles, offices, and camps; running information campaigns on the spread and means to limit Covid-19 via posters, emails, toolbox talks. We also initiated online training to adapt to the changing times while maintaining our operational standards.” MOHAMED ADIL HANEEF CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Number of years in his role: 4 • Number of years in the Middle East: 32 AG FACILITIES SOLUTIONS EMPLOYEES: 12,650 OPERATORS AND ENGINEERS: 550 FEMALE STAFF: 1,500POWER 50 www.fm-middleeast.comDecember 2020 23 During the year 2020, Concordia has been able to grow its portfolio management model, which it has introduced to the market and pioneered in 2019. Multiple residential, commercial and hotel skyscrapers have been added to Concordia’s managed portfolio. Sanjay Bhatia, general manager, says: “We also take pride in maintaining our 97% plus retention rates YoY. This outcome was achieved due to excessive hard work, detailed focus on our clients needs and the high level of flexibility we offered our clients due to the current pandemic affected market environment. As all stakeholders were affected, Concordia worked closely with each of them to tide us through.” Concordia is currently planning its mobilisation for multiple projects that should give it an edge for the next 12 months. Bhatia says: “We are working closely with key developers and OAMs in the emirates on possible opportunities that will have a significant contribution to grow our footprint in 2021. Our order books are robust with many high probable closures for new business.” Grako acquired Total Solutions Middle East (TSME) in September 2020 making it the largest high-level specialist in the Middle East and presumably in the world, claims Alain El Tawil, Grako’s CEO and founder. He says: “Grako is the only high-level specialist with such an impressive client base – with the longest contract continuity and highest KPI performance in comparison to other high-level suppliers. In fact Grako ranks very high on its HSE standards in Dubai Airports, Burj Khalifa, Etihad Towers and DWTC.” The firm was one of the first high-level cleaning companies to achieve international operator certification from IRATA & IPAF. In addition to that Grako staffs the most experienced operations managers and administrators, project managers, site coordinators and supervisors with zero turn-over of staff for the past 7 years while labour turnover is as low as 2% a year, El Tawil adds. In October 2020 Averda announced its entry into the burgeoning Indian waste management market, starting in Amritsar. Averda has started to develop a fully integrated waste management solution for the city, with the goal of improving sanitary conditions for residents and creating as much value from waste as possible. Averda’s responsibilities include door-to-door waste collection, processing and treatment, and the creation of energy from waste, in accordance with recent Indian legislation. It is the first time that Amritsar will benefit from an end-to-end municipal solid waste management programme. Talking about the opportunities in the next 12 months, Malek Sukkar, CEO, says: “We see great opportunities for Averda to develop in the burgeoning waste management market. Amritsar is just the start. More generally, we have the opportunity to really develop our role in creating a more circular economy, growing our recycling, composting and waste-to-energy activities across all the markets where we work. There were several challenges facing the waste management sector; however, with the current Covid-19 outbreak, there are several more obstacles to overcome. Gavin McQuillan, commercial director – environmental solutions at Dulsco, in an earlier interview in June 2020, said that prior to the current pandemic, the main challenge in the waste management sector was to promote recycling and get the public to segregate their waste in the best way possible to help achieve maximum diversion from landfill and align with the government vision of diverting more than 75% of the waste from landfill by 2021. As a trusted partner of Dubai Municipality for over eight years, Dulsco deployed its assets and expertise in the support of the government’s efforts to contain the spread of Covid-19. Later in 2020, Dulsco also moved to appoint John Grainger as chief operating officer of environmental solutions. As COO, Grainger will take on responsibility for overseeing all Dulsco environmental solutions operations, including Expo 2020 waste management strategic planning and operations. ALAIN EL TAWIL CEO AND FOUNDER SANJAY BHATIA GENERAL MANAGER MALEK SUKKAR CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER GRAKO CONCORDIA AVERDADULSCO POWER 50 www.fm-middleeast.com24 December 2020 With more than 40 years of experience in the region and a specialised workforce of over 5,500 employees, ServeU is one of the UAE’s Integrated Facilities Management providers. From government to hospitality, to banking, residential and retail, ServeU provides services that optimise resources for maximum efficiency to deliver seamless, efficient, safe and personalised FM services to clients across multiple industries. In line with the Smart Dubai 2021 plan, ServeU is implementing its digital roadmap to enhancing operational performances by integrating smart technologies and applications. In addition to implementing WhatsApp Business, which enables customers to contact the company’s 24/7 Helpdesk accessibly and conveniently, the company upgraded its systems in efforts to become one of the first FM service providers to utilise IoT, GIS, and BIM- enabled CAFM. Throughout the past year, ServeU continued to enhance its service standards by upgrading CAFM FSI Concept Evolution and Microsoft ERP systems, successfully launching the company’s fully equipped in-house technical training centre, reinforcing commitment to quality with the ISO 41001:2018 and the upgrading of the Health and Safety standard from OSHAS 18001 to ISO 45001, all of which contributed to the tangible expansion of the company’s client portfolio, especially within new industries. Gary Reader, general manager, says that it is important to manage the challenges that the impact of the pandemic has had on the FM industry. He says: “We need to meet clients’ expectations in regards to safety precautions and cost- efficiencies.” He adds: “We are launching a fully automated mobile application focusing on digitising the customer service and eliminating human interaction for both B2C & B2B customers; the application will ensure current operations are fully automated – from start to end with zero human intervention.” GARY READER GENERAL MANAGER Number of years in his role: 3 • Total number of years with the company: 3 • Number of years in the Middle East: 14 SERVEU EMPLOYEES: 5,500+ OPERATORS AND ENGINEERS: 100 FEMALE STAFF: 400POWER 50 www.fm-middleeast.comDecember 2020 25 The year 2020 has not been good for the FM Industry at large and Berkeley Services is no exception to other organisations affected by the pandemic. “We had to revise our budgets to match the prevailing market conditions,” says Ralf Zerenner, managing director. The organisation has witnessed both a steady and organic growth over the years and will continue to grow in a similar fashion. Zerenner says: “We believe in analysing our strengths and pick up projects where we can deliver to the standards accepted by our clients. Berkeley has had several renewals of major contracts renewed in the year and the renewal period varies from minimum of 2 years to 5 years. The major contracts renewed include Fly Dubai, Al Zahra Hospital, Deyaar Properties (multiple commercial and residential towers in Business Bay), Burj Khalifa, and Emirates Airlines with over AED200m in value. Berkeley Services is currently providing services only in the UAE but is looking into exploring opportunities in other GCC locations. Though it has commenced operation in one of the GCC countries (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) in October 2018 through its partners, it is yet to decide on the entering the market on a full scale. Zerenner says: “We are exploring the opportunity and reviewing the geopolitical situation within the region. Besides Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman are also being looked into in the future. “I feel the best opportunity provided to the FM industry is in the other emerging markets in the GCC. We are seeing several strategic changes being done in some of the GCC countries and the economy seems to be diversifying to other sectors and reducing their dependence from a traditionally oil-based economy. The entire region looks to be opening up to receive more FDIs into their identified key growth sectors. GCC is a sector we are considering favourable for our future expansion of the Klueh Group over the next five years.” RALF ZERENNER MANAGING DIRECTOR Number of years in his role: 28 • Total number of years in the company: 13 • Number of years in the Middle East: 17 EMPLOYEES: 7,000+ OPERATORS AND ENGINEERS: 390 FEMALE STAFF: 490 BERKELEY SERVICES POWER 50 www.fm-middleeast.com26 December 2020 Despite the challenging market conditions being witnessed this year, Deyaar Facilities Management (DFM) reported a significant growth of 26% in its revenue. DFM expanded its portfolio, by signing 22 new contracts, consisting of 12 customers ranging from governmental, educational, industrial, banking, hospitality, residential and commercial sectors. The CEO of DFM, Mohamad Abou Laban and his team has successfully executed a transformational strategy to meet the highest international standards and best practices, which positioned the company as one of the UAE’s leading FM service providers known for delivering high quality services and cost-effective tailored solutions. Mohamad Abou Laban, CEO says: “By focusing on the customers’ pain and tailoring solutions to overcome it, Deyaar Facilities Management has been selected as a business partner for more than a dozen new customers in 2020. This demonstrates our passion to enhance the customer experience through our well-trained staff, state of the art technology and efficient processes.” Talking about the opportunities, Laban says: “We are looking at expanding through acquisition as we have a good financial position and we are ambitious to grow. Currently we are in discussion to acquire a company, this should be concluded in Q4 2020.” On the challenges, Laban adds: “Till date we didn’t make anyone redundant during this period nor that we reduced any salaries for anyone. This was a result of keeping our cash flow positive through good consistent collections. Therefore, our challenge will be to continue achieving collection and retaining our talented team.” Deyaar FM has grown over the decade to become one of the leading service provider of integrated facilities management solutions for real estate, commercial and retail developments in the UAE. The firm currently operates in all seven emirates in more than 800 location and various sectors. MOHAMAD ABOU LABAN CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Number of years in his role: 2 • Total number of years with the company: 2 • Number of years in the Middle East: 20 DEYAAR FACILITIES MANAGEMENT EMPLOYEES: 850 QUALIFIED OPERATORS/ENGINEERS: 68 FEMALE STAFF: 30POWER 50 www.fm-middleeast.comDecember 2020 27 World Security has been providing security solutions since 1975, as part of the Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation. Its association with Jebel Ali began in 2004 under the banner of Dubai Security Services, and rebranded as Word Security in 2009 as its portfolio expanded to include other major national assets. Five years later, it became part of the DP World family, continuing to provide solutions to the entire range of DP World, UAE Region assets and to other entities in the UAE. As an integral part of the DP World family, World Security strictly adheres to the pandemic containment guidelines recommended by the Dubai Health Authority and the UAE Government. Ayoub Al Mulla, chief operating officer, World Security, says: “Today, our job of providing security solutions to the entire range of DP World, UAE region assets as well as to other leading entities in the UAE has assumed new dimensions.” The firm also expanded into the FM world by introducing cleaning and disinfection services that was the need of the hour during the pandemic. Al Mulla adds: “All companies irrespective of their sizes are highly focused on cleaning and disinfection activities of their relevant premises amidst Covid-19 pandemic and we have till date covered over 13 million sq.meter successfully. “We have accelerated initiatives to optimise our inherently resilient operations to adapt to complex new challenges. One of the most innovative tools now in use is the new Smart Helmet that is helping our security members to work in crowds and at entry and exit points, making contactless Adeeb Group has seen tremendous growth in terms of customer relation and service enhancements which has led the organisation to carve a leading niche in the FM industry. As far as the achievements are concerned, the firm has successfully attained OSHAD Certification from Abu Dhabi Municipality, ISO 41001 (first Company to receive the certification in Abu Dhabi), and WHO certifications for Covid-19 protection measures, among others. Eng. Ansari, CEO, says: “To support growth, we have obtained the highest grade Civil Defence A+, Classification license 3rd grade from the government, ICV Certification Rev-3 by ADNOC, BICSc from UK, and also have achieved various work licenses from private bodies. With our successful consultancy of our continued services, we have been awarded by Abu Dhabi Government’s Sector Regulatory Authority for our service sector with 94% of scoring and ultimately obtained the OSHAD certificate from Sector Regulatory Authority. Besides, we won the Silver Grade of SKEA award for the Service Sector which will best demonstrate and add value to our consultancy. Adeeb has recently won various FM projects along with the consultancy; the projects won require the most innovative knowledge as the buildings are brand-new with high standards of living and usually tall towers such as Nation Tower, Al Ain Tower, Sama tower, Bateen Tower, and Lagoon tower.” The firm’s ongoing projects include 242 residential buildings and 198 commercial buildings & establishments. AYOUB AL MULLA CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER ENG. ANSARI CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER • Number of years in his role: 14 • Total number of years in the company: 14 • Number of years in the Middle East: 27 WORLD SECURITY ADEEB GROUP tracking of people potentially infected with Covid-19. World Security is the first security services provider in the UAE to adopt and use the KC N901 Smart Helmet. “We also recently accelerated the deployment of our fully autonomous surveillance boat to meet the demands of the uncertainties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The boat introduces a new dimension to the firm’s portfolio of solutions with its remote control capabilities and advanced robotics.” POWER 50 www.fm-middleeast.com28 December 2020 Approximately AED20m worth of contracts is awarded to Al Bonian FM in 2020 and it is estimated that by the year end it will reach up to AED25.8m. Tony Martin, chief executive officer, is modest to admit that Al Bonian FM is “by no means one of the big players”. He says: “We are not the smallest nor the largest. We are consistent and are continually improving year on year, especially in the hard FM delivery. Al Bonian FM do not have the investment, infrastructure, massive BD debts, marketing debts, substantial resources or the financial clout of our competitors, although we are still there challenging them on every FM tender.” Martin says that the opportunity is now to fill the gaps that have been left behind with the closure of many single service providers, and also to cover the services the larger FM companies can no longer deliver due to reduced manpower resources. He says: “Based on the events this year and consumer’s demand that the FM industry will be focused on the specific cleaning and disinfection services due to Covid-19, as we move into and beyond 2021. Al Bonian FM shall take this opportunity, once the market settles and prices stabilise, to establish a reliable and dependable soft services team that shall be able to provide the highest level of services within the UAE. The management team has already been identified and a delivery strategy has been laid out in conjunction with the demand of the consumer.” TONY MARTIN CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Number of years in his role: 2.6 • Total number of years with the company: 2.6 • Number of years in the Middle East: 13 AL BONIAN FM EMPLOYEES: 458 QUALIFIED OPERATORS/ENGINEERS: 50 FEMALE STAFF: 18POWER 50 www.fm-middleeast.comDecember 2020 29 Universal Voltas had a number of contracts between January 2020 and October 2020; the contacts included oil & gas and non-oil & gas clients, industrial & non-industrial, and several new customers. Prabhakar Kesavan, regional general manager, says: “Our scope extends to minor civil and all MEP maintenance, refurbishments and retrofits. Our projects division does small (up to AED50m) MEP and waste water treatment projects as well.” Universal Voltas operates across the UAE and also offers services for UAE- based customers for its facilities outside the UAE. Talking about the single biggest opportunity for the business over the next 12 months, Kesavan says: “The continuing investment in new, expansion and upgrade of facilities by oil & gas companies offers us exciting opportunities. Similarly, we are seeing exciting prospects in the area of sustainability driven retrofits and refurbishments. We also see customers in power generation and distribution. As also for our wastewater treatment solutions.” The problem of price undercutting by short-term-focused service providers where all parties involved suffer in the medium to long term is a big challenge, says Kesavan. The other challenge, he says: “We are also watchful of the risk of delayed payments and defaults in payments.” Universal Voltas was established in 1980 as a joint venture between the local Universal Group (the Al Dhaheri family from Al Ain) and Voltas Ltd (a TATA Enterprise). The company is headquartered in Abu Dhabi with branches in Dubai and Sharjah. The company offers MEP and minor civil maintenance services; retrofits and refurbishments; MEP project installations and waste water treatment solutions across the country. PRABHAKAR KESAVAN REGIONAL GENERAL MANAGER Number of years in his role: 5 • Total number of years in the company: 14 • Number of years in the Middle East: 27 EMPLOYEES: 1,100 OPERATORS AND ENGINEERS: 900 FEMALE STAFF: 25 UNIVERSAL VOLTASNext >