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 Freezone and increased its stocking facility
for Aluminium and Glassfibre 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
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
