SALAH J Elkadiki, vice president of operations and business development of Saudi Arabian Development Company Ltd, (SADC) is in confident mood as he discusses the company’s strategy for growth and diversification in Saudi Arabia and the wider region from the SADC Eastern Province Office in the Fluor building in Al Khobar.

Strategically, Elkadiki is now looking to broaden the company’s overall capabilities by developing local manufacturing at the joint venture level through selective partnerships and investing in new facilities and product and Services capabilities to meet increasing customer demand across the region.

“SADC has built its specialist reputation in the supply of products, technologies and services over three decades. Naturally, we are looking to offer more solutions and more services and widen our portfolio and capabilities to our customers. The role of an agent with the traditional vendor relationship is changing and SADC is looking to provide more specialist services including the establishment of more joint ventures and also enhance our manufacturing and systems integration capabilities. Currently, we are in the process of establishing a new electrical division and will be investing in purpose-built industrial facilities in Dammam, to meet growing demand in this category” says Elkadiki.

Elkadiki is drawing from his extensive international experience in the energy sector in supplying high-level industrial engineering, services and products to the petroleum industry, major industrials, utilities and process industries to take SADC to the next level.

As Elkadiki emphasised, SADC has built its quality reputation as a selective valued-added reseller (VAR) dealing with end-users, EPC companies and engineering partners drawing from its formidable technology portfolio of original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partners. In this, SADC has more than 35 years of experience in supplying top quality industrial products, technologies and services to the petroleum, petrochemicals, power generation and water sectors in Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East.

During this period SADC has been involved in major engineering and contracting projects and developed strong relations with the industrial sector from pre-sales, procurement, supply of OEM technologies and equipment, on-site technical support, maintenance and spare parts provision.

SADC’s high reputation has been built by developing exclusive niche partnerships with leading global technology companies, engineering service partners and manufacturers to provide specialist solutions to its clients that include Saudi Aramco, Sabic affiliates, Ma’aden, SEC, SWCC and other major industrials and EPC companies.

These global partners have in turn been supported by a track record of world-class procurement, supply and commissioning further underpinned by technical expertise and specialist value-added services. SADC continues to enhance these specialist partnerships and consultancy capabilities for its increasing customer base by increasing the range of specialist services with far greater emphasis on local manufacturing and services capabilities.

According to Elkadiki, SADC’s operational principle is to always focus on the end-user in providing a range of global technologies with technical support which is why local manufacturing and industrial services are being developed.

“SADC has developed strategic partnerships with leading international industrial technology and engineering services partners to meet local and regional demands. SADC covers the whole of Saudi Arabia with the industrial needs of the Eastern Province the primary market where we will be building new facilities. This will involve valve automation, assembly and repair workshops, metering systems calibration and integration, essentially, value-added support to meet the increasing demands from end users such as Sadara, Satorp, petrochemicals plants such as Ibn Zahr where we are upgrading tank gauging and associated control systems as well as Saudi Aramco.

“SADC is actively involved in many oil and gas projects including Sadara, Ibn Zahr, Marafiq, Jizan Refinery, Ma’aden, SWCC and others. Many projects slowed down in 2009/10 but we are now seeing steady growth with our forecast for 2013 looking positive,” he adds.

SADC has several joint ventures and partnerships in the region including Technip Saudi Arabia, a joint venture (JV) between SADC, Shoaibi Group and Technip. SADC also has a joint venture with Hamon D’Hondt Middle East in Jubail. According to Elkadiki, this JV which manufactures air-cooled heat exchangers and is doing well and supplying its products and services to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Today, SADC has offices in Riyadh, Al Khobar and Jeddah with subsidiary offices in the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon and the UK. SADC is also actively working in Iraq through a JV subsidiary named Taqa Industrial and Petroleum Services Co, with offices in Basra and Baghdad and developing its distributorships and staffing up to develop engineering support capabilities to meet the strong demand.

Elkadiki is also in the process of launching a new corporate identity for SADC with a dynamic flowing logo as part of its wider marketing strategy. This identity seeks to reflect the increasing focus placed by SADC on providing a broader range of value-added solutions, increased specialist services, targeted investment in new industrial facilities and the development of local manufacturing. Elkadiki was born in Libya and although he has taken Canadian citizenship is confident that the petroleum sector in his home country will be a great market in the future.

SADC is adopting a cautious step-by-step approach to business development in the wider region other than the GCC. SADC established Well Trade, a direct subsidiary in Lebanon, providing logistical services and supply with aim to expand into the future oil, gas and petrochemical sectors. SADC’s management are very much pioneers having established the facilities on the basis of recent discoveries in the Levantine basin but until the production sharing agreements are secure anticipates delays in business activities there.

Mena eSolutions is a specialist IT subsidiary focusing on delivering integrated business solutions operating from Dubai Internet City and offices in Bahrain and Doha with a staff of more than 40 employees. Key accounts include major players in the regional telecom and financials sector.