Based in Al Ain, the company gave Dubai’s Arabian Ranches its natural buff shade, and won exclusive contracts in projects across the Emirates, such as Dubai Silicon Oasis, the Abu Dhabi Heritage Park, and Al Ain Mall. Construction giants Al Dar, Izama and Nakheel are among the company’s customers.
Gulf Paints’ General Manager Hisham Al Gussain is confident that his company will play a large part in Abu Dhabi’s architectural future. He states that in his four-year tenure, the company has grown 100 percent, which he attributes to their ongoing commitment to improving the quality of their product.
A team of laboratory staff, including chemists and technicians, continuously experiment with innovative solutions to improve paint quality, and each formula and exterior finish is moreover designed to withstand the extreme weather conditions of the UAE. This hardiness is beneficial in other countries to which Gulf Paints exports, such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and now Afghanistan.
Al Gussain proudly leads a tour of his brand-new paint factory, scheduled to go into production in Autumn 2006. “The facility is fully automated and will require only 12 employees to produce the barrels of paint that sit on-site awaiting shipment to all parts of the GCC. It is incredible that this building can produce the numerous finishes and colours that Gulf Paints offers,” he explains. The actual mixing is done with a sophisticated colour-matching computer in a later process.
In effect, any colour a designer can dream up can be custom-mixed to personalised satisfaction. The most popular shades are those that compliment that UAE’s desert landscape, such as the peaches and terracotta’s of many villa compounds, and the textured finish reminiscent of plastering.
Shortly, Gulf Paints will become one of the few UAE companies that export to the UK, an expansion into the heavy-duty exterior tiling that already graces the parking lot of Spinney’s for instance. The tough rubber of which it is made can support wear and tear from heavy traffic, and is less expensive and simpler to replace than asphalt or concrete. In extreme weather conditions, these more rigid materials can expand or contract, causing cracks to appear in the surface and necessitating heavy equipment and crews that will block traffic access.
Further in the future, Gulf Paints looks to the construction of a calcium silicate factory and expansion into manufacturing complimentary products such as solvents and equipment.
To keep up with the pace of growth and increased administrative Best of Abu Dhabi 114 needs, plans are underway for a sophisticated glass office right on the current site, nestled at the bottom of Al Ain’s Hafeet Mountain. Gulf Paints is a fully integrated company, with a comprehensive IT set-up that connects its administrative systems to branches all over the UAE. Its new state of the art offices will be equipped with the latest in IT technology and able to accommodate the company as it grows, as it no doubt will for the foreseeable future.
When asked about the challenges his company faces ahead, Hisham Al Gussain shrugs nonchalantly. “The fact that the paints are designed here and that the company is 100% locally owned is attractive to prospective clients in the region,” he explains, “and accounts for the number of exclusive contracts it has already obtained.” The company has been growing since 1982, received ISO certification in 1995, and has received awards such as the H.H. Sheikh Khalifa Awards to Industry in 1999, 2000 and 2001. In short, although the real estate boom will no doubt introduce numerous competitors for his company, he is confident that with a strong commitment to environmental protection and an eye to investing in local and international growth, he is miles ahead of the pack.