Emdad is the first and only institution owned by UAE nationals servicing the natural resources and utilities operating and contracting companies in the region, says Hassan Ali Darwish, vice chairman of Emdad.

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

This was achieved by inviting 11 well-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 vibrant, 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, to an initial public offering on the equity markets.

In so doing it has also ensured the continuity of the business for the future.

The careful selection of the 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 to drive the company forward.

And last but by no means least it has provided the capital resources to finance Emdad's ambitious growth plans.

This all came about as a result of the 20th anniversary of Albawardi 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 and analysed the changes that had taken place in the marketplace and the region.

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 secondly to transform the management style of the business to that of an institution.

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

This translates into a number of key objectives for the company.

It sets off to ''expand Emdad's activities across the Middle East and North Africa, opening offices across the region and embarking on a successful regional strategy to secure business in the area and create new and lasting relationships.

''Complement our products and solutions offering, bringing state-of-the-art products and services to its customers and keeping abreast of the latest changes in the industry.

''Provide our partners with total procurement services, becoming a turnkey solutions provider, leveraging our global network and strategic alliances to extend total service and procurement solutions to our customers by offering them a complete package to fulfil their requirements."

Emdad has three main business divisions: Drilling and Workover, Projects and Services and Engineering Products.

The Drilling and Workover division was the foundation of Emdad when it was formed 22 years ago and remains an integral part of company's activities to date.

The division's success has been built on long term relationships with major oil service companies delivering upstream drilling and production equipment and services to the national and international oil companies.

In the future, the UAE will remain a key market for the division, but it sees greater potential regionally for its products and services.

As drilling costs have fallen due to the introduction of new technology to drilling and workover processes, Emdad sees the future in such areas as smaller rigs, expandable tubulars, mono bore wells, under-balanced drilling, enhanced oil recovery through improved reservoir management, smart well and environmental technologies.

The Projects and Services division has transformed itself from internal service division into fully-fledged profit centre in its own right. Its strong base in projects in the oil, gas and utilities sectors has led it into the league of EPC and EPCM contracting.

The Engineering Products division has introduced another leading edge technology in the shape of multi-phase pumps which have a tremendous future in extending the life of declining and marginal fields.