When I returned from Stanford back in 1957 to create a spin-off from our traditional family business in textiles and venture into industry, I had a dream of aligning business success with societal development. My vision was to develop businesses that create sustainable employment opportunities in a region with a rapidly growing population. A nationalization; two civil wars; several regime changes and revolutions; countless currency devaluations; and 60 years later this dream still fuels our entrepreneurial ambitions.

For our Group, the polyurethane industry remains a major vehicle through which we channel our entrepreneurial energy and strive to achieve our dream. By making polyurethane systems and technology locally available to industries in Egypt, the UAE, the Levant and Turkey we have positively contributed to creating more than 50,000 new sustainable jobs during the past 10 years.

Traditionally our business model was based on transferring European technologies into the Middle East and Africa regions. Polyurethanes has given us the unique opportunity to transform the technology flow into a two-way street. After our success in building an unparalleled polyurethane platform in the Middle East and Africa regions, we now aim to replicate that success in other parts of the world. Our first move has been to Europe where we recently acquired a polyurethane system house in Italy.

Our strategy is simple: Remain geographically and strategically close to customers; value relationships before transactions; maintain product, people and approach consistency; and foster responsible entrepreneurship and partnerships. This creates a unique value proposition for customers, suppliers and stakeholders at large and the confidence that they can rely on us as their Polyurethane “Partner for Life”