The CEO of Al-Motawa Trading Company (MTC), member of the Board of Directors of Al-Aahsa Chamber, Naim Jawad Al-Motawa, confirmed that the company targets sales of more than 115 million riyals during the current year, and indicated that the transformation into a shareholding, and spreading across the Kingdom, is part of the company’s strategy, and added that manufacturing electronics In the Kingdom, its scope is limited. Because of its need for support work, as the Nitaqat program was described as good, but its implementation mechanism is not appropriate, stressing in an interview with Al Sharq that the establishment of an industrial city in Salwa will reflect positively on the region’s economy.
Tell us about the beginning of Al-Motawa Company in the world of electronic devices trade?
– The beginning, the father established an institution for the trade of electrical and household appliances, and this coincided with the beginning of the electricity renaissance, and the increase in demand for these devices. Asia, and in 1999 the corporation turned into a limited liability company, and then formed an integrated product line with the name (Winner), and in 2008 major electronics stores were opened in Dammam (Homy), and currently it is in the process of opening the Al-Ahasa branch on an area of three thousand and 500 meters A square, which includes auxiliary activities, including exhibitions with various activities, and offices at a cost of ten million riyals. The company currently owns 12 showrooms in the Eastern Province. The company’s revenues in 2011 are about one hundred million riyals, and we target 115 million riyals during the current year. Kingdom level, by opening branches in Riyadh, Qassim, and the northern regions.
As a family business, how do you see the situation in the future, and is there a tendency to turn into a joint stock company?
– I believe that the market situation in the Kingdom and the world is good, and we always need to diversify sources of income. At the end of 2011, a company specialized in operating and maintaining large air-conditioning systems was established, as the nature of its work is dominated by the engineering and security aspects, and it will start its work next month. The company’s strategy is to convert it into a joint stock company, and we have started in 2009 our first steps in this field, through coordination with some consulting offices.
The company works in the field of electrical appliances. How do you see the competition in light of the abundance of inferior devices in the market?
The competition is fierce, and it will be even more difficult in the coming years. This is because of the renewable technology and its continuous development, survival will be for those who are able to compete, and the presence of poor devices has a significant impact, and the Ministry of Commerce is making great efforts to combat commercial fraud, and the Standards and Metrology Authority issued a list of equipment specifications, and implemented it, as it greatly reduced the phenomenon of fraud, Each device must undergo an energy efficiency measurement test, and this contributed to raising the efficiency of the devices, and each device is labeled with an evaluation of the device.
Do you tend to enter the field of electronics manufacturing in the Kingdom?
The field of electronics manufacturing in the Kingdom is limited, as it needs multiple support works, high technology, and its cost is high, and this is what hinders the implementation of such a project in the Kingdom.
What is your Saudization rate?
– We have two hundred Saudi employees, representing 25% of the company’s employees, and our plan for the current year is to attract sixty Saudi young men and women, and we have plans to qualify and prepare them in line with the company’s programs.
How do you see the Nitaqat program, and how positive is it in the Saudization of private sector jobs?
– The program is good in terms of the features granted to companies within the green zone, but its application mechanism is not good, as it is an electronic program controlled by the Ministry of Labor in Riyadh, and it abolishes the role of labor offices in all regions, and the program is based on linking with social insurance, and until this moment There is a database glitch between them, and each blames the glitch on the other.
Finally, it was decided to establish an industrial city in Salwa on an area of 300 million square meters. How do you see the impact of this on the economy of Al-Ahasa?
– The Chamber played a positive role in terms of coordination with the relevant ministries and administration until the site was allocated, and that project will reflect positively on Al-Ahsa, whether from the investment side or in the field of offering job opportunities, and it will also enhance the economic aspect on the Arabian Gulf.
