Zephyr have had a long established relationship in the gulf starting back in the early 1980's in Oman when Zephyr supplied over 20,000 aluminum poles to the market. These poles can still be seen to this day lining the roads of Oman. Since that time much has changed but not Zephyr's continued commitment to serve the market. Zephyrs reputation for high quality product and service has stood them in good stead over this time and they are well known by many of the major construction companies and government bodies.

Zephyr realised that as the markets grew and developed the drive for faster service needed the input of a UK Sales person, they internally recruited from their Northants team and Ms Karen Brooks was appointed Middle East Export Manager. Ms Brooks entered the market in 2002 and was an immediate success. In her first year she was awarded a contract with the UAE Mod for approx 200k to supply their armed forces with Flags. She quickly identified the areas where improvements needed to be made, so in 2005 Zephyr took a new 250 sq Mtr warehousing unit in the Sharjah Free zone and increased its stocking facility for Aluminium and glass fibre flagstaffs.

The employment of a good warehouse manager was the next vital step and John Cassoni from Dublin was Head Hunted and joined in 2005. Zephyr's aim was that this new facility would allow them to maintain their position as the leading flagpole supplier in the region. 2006 was indeed a bumper year with sales increasing by 40%. Karen believes this was helped by the Asian games held in Qatar, "our agents Saleh Bin Mubarak worked hard and were successful in securing many of the projects connected to this major event. We also increased our business in Jordan, whilst business in other areas like Bahrain and Oman stayed constant."

The UAE market is a very important sector to the company with major development taking place in many of the emirates, in particular, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah, for this reason Zephyr have situated themselves in this location.

Useful Links:

Zephyr-UAE
P.O. Box 9218
Sharjah Free Zone
Sharjah
United Arab Emirates
Contact: Karen Cassoni
Tel: 00971 504625688
Fax: 0097165570304
email: zephyr@emirates.net.ae

Applied Signs Ltd
Unit 1-3 Willsborough Business Centre
Dublin 17
EIRE
Tel: 0035318712300
Fax: 0035318479045

Web: www.appliedsigns.ie/flags
email: admin@appliedsigns.ie

Saleh Bin Mubarak Al Khulaifi Est
Building Material Division
Salwa Road
P.O.BOX. 5092, Doha - Qatar
Contact: Mr. T K Rajen
Tel: 4680026 / 4680029
Fax (0974) 4680037
Web: www.sbm.com.qa
email: sbm@qatar.net.qa

Khimji Ramdas
P.O. Box 19
Muscat Postal Code 113
Sultanate Of Oman
Tel: 00968 24504306
Fax: 00968 24502639
Web: www.khimji.com
email: krspd@omantel.net.om

Orbis International
P.O. Box 54657
Road 3209, Bld 473
Block 332, Adliya
KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN
Contact: Mr Martin Johnson
Tel: 00973 17822115
Fax: 00973 17721886
Web: www.orbisintl.biz
Email: orbis@batelco.com.bh