Emdad is actively seeking to add to its 120 existing agency and principal relationships and is looking for partnerships and joint ventures to take advantage of the opportunities that the exceptional business climate in the UAE and the region presents.

The company's regional expansion is well underway with new offices established in Egypt, Syria, Qatar and Yemen with further expansion planned into Algeria, Libya, Sudan, Iran and Iraq.

"At present the market in natural resources and utilities projects in the UAE is better than it has been for more than twenty years," says Hassan Ali Darwish, vice chairman of Emdad.

The company is the first and only institution owned by UAE nationals servicing the natural resources and utilities operating and contracting companies in the region, says Darwish.

Emdad LLC was formed by transforming the establishment previously known as Albawardi Enterprises from a proprietorship into an institution.

This was achieved by inviting eleven carefully-selected UAE nationals to collectively take up a 50 per cent stake in the new entity.

According to Darwish, there are many benefits to this bold move.

Firstly it has allowed UAE nationals to invest in a well established, well managed and profitable UAE Company. Secondly it has established a precedent as to how a company can progress from being family run proprietorship into a true institution and ultimately, perhaps, to an initial public offering on the equity markets.

The careful selection of investors has brought a great deal of expertise and experience to the company particularly on the customer and client relationship side.

There are now an additional four directors on Emdad's board drawn from the new investors who are working very closely with the original owners.

It has also provided the capital resources to finance Emdad's ambitious growth plans.

This all came about at the time of the 20th anniversary of Albawardi Enterprises in 2000.

At that time the senior management undertook a series of strategic reviews and planning sessions.

In so doing they examined in detail the achievements of the company of the past 20 years; its strengths and weaknesses and the opportunities and threats it faced whilst analysing the changes that had taken place in the regional marketplace.

This process helped to define what needed to be done to continue the growth and success of the company.

The result was the statement of a number of objectives which would result in two clear outcomes; the first would be to successfully grow the company to be an attractive size for flotation on the equity markets and it would secondly transform the management style of the business to that of an institution.

The company's mission was "to provide the natural resources and utilities operating and contracting companies in the region with the latest, most cost-effective products and solutions."

This translated into a number of key objectives for the company:

Emdad's activities across the Middle East and North Africa would be expanded with a regional strategy to secure business by creating new and lasting relationships.

It would complement its products and solutions by bringing state-of-the-art products and services to its customers and keeping abreast of the latest changes in the industry.

It would aim to be the vital source for its customers to supply equipment and spare parts.

Partners would be provided with total procurement services.

As Darwish sums up Emdad's ambitions, "we want to be the leading private equity player in the oil, gas and utilities industries in the region."

Emdad's three main business divisions include drilling and workover, projects and services and engineering products.