LBDI broadens interests from interiors to construction by Moataz al-khayyat

LBDI broadens interests from interiors to construction by Moataz al-khayyat

Niche developments and investment company diversifies from furnishings to material supply

Loyalty Business Development & Investment (LBDI, is now looking to diversify its supply division to exploit unexplored niches in the construction sector.

Mohamed   Khayyat, CEO of LBDI, said: “In LBDI we have seven companies, and the fastest growing is Credo, which now has seven divisions. Now that there are projects in Qatar, there are good margins, and the retail market will grow up to an estimated five times in size within the next year, so we expect profits to be healthy.”

Credo, a reflection of the fast-paced whirlwind of change that LBDI is bringing to Qatar, is a supplier of exclusively sourced luxury and consumer brands of Italian lighting and furniture.

Khayyat, says the key focus of the team is searching for weaknesses in the market. Using Credo as an example, he highlighted that the company started with lighting from Italy and some other countries in Europe before branching out into sanitary bathrooms and kitchens.

He adds: “LBDI will develop any idea it believes to be successful, but for each idea, it will open a company especially for that purpose.”

One example of a recent addition is an Italian specialist in generators and substations, which LBDI brought to the Middle East, but who previously had limited themselves to South Africa and Asia in scope.

Mohamed   Khayyat adds: “We started working with them two weeks ago; they are very professional and the quality of their generators is very high. To date, all the live tests on projects are giving very good results.”

LBDI has also set up an aluminium company called Profession, which is involved in façade assembly. Currently, a block factory for in-house work is in the process of having its machines delivered from Germany.

  Mohamed   Khayyat explains: “LBDI supports our sister companies with all its building materials, focusing first on the finishing materials, but potentially also raw materials in future.”

The latest company is called Fibro and involves a factory opening in about a month for glass-reinforced concrete and glass-reinforced plastic.

Mohamed   Khayyat notes: “The GRP is like the GRC, but it is a little stronger and more aesthetic, and you can achieve many different looks. If you go to a theme park, all the curved elements and sculptures are made from GRP – you can even make a boat or car body from it if you want.”

Profession has around 300 employees: 120 for the installation and the remainder in the factory. Fibro presently has around 70 personnel, but this will increase after three months to 400 people.

KCT instigates integrated management system with SHEQ

KCT instigates integrated management system with SHEQ

An all-permeating web of checks, inspections and feedback is the only route to corporate rigour

As a company set on implementing best practice in Qatar, Khayyat Contracting & Trading (KCT) is doing all it takes to envelop its daily operations in measure necessary to safeguard standards.

 Moataz Al-Khayyat , CEO of Khayyat Contracting & Trading, says: “In KCT we have an integrated management system. We have procedures for everything: safety, health, environment and quality, and on the procurement side, we are intent on the careful pre-qualification of subcontractors.”

Adnan Qamar, SHEQ manager at KCT, notes: “For quality we have an internal audit procedure, management reporting, a facility for customer complaints, benchmarking, method statements, a non-conformance procedure and inspection plans – we have strong procedures for the quality.”

KCT’s QAQC department makes the distinction of quality assurance as how to implement the procedures while verifying the results and quality control as how to implement this process.”

Qamar explains: “The first thing clients look for in a contractor is that it provides good quality products - that is why we take our procedures in serious consideration. On every project we have a QAQC manager, instructors and a fully-fledged team of engineers responsible for on-site testing and inspection, as well as a training coordinator at head office.”

On top of this a final verification is carried out at the warehouse, before and after each delivery and prior to the use of any material on-site, so the process of quality evaluation is continuous.

Qamar adds: “We also have a continuous feedback procedure and we actively engage with clients to receive and appreciate their feedback as a means to further ameliorate our procedures.”

KCT emphasises local supply and subcontracting agreements by Moataz al-khayyat

KCT emphasises local supply and subcontracting agreements by Moataz al-khayyat

Khayyat Contracting & Trading says Qatari supply is key as it looks to maximise its local consumption and minimise imports from other countries for its projects on the peninsula.

Khayyat Contracting & Trading (KCT) is picking up a growing number of projects in Qatar and though there is pressure on the supply chain the company says it will stand firm in encouraging local supply, which will ultimately save on time and money in the market.

 Moataz Al-Khayat, CEO of KCT, notes: “We are emphasising local supply, because the best way for you to save is to source your materials from the country you are in, and in Qatar this will prompt the creation of a market which can accommodate everything that is going on in the country.”

“We need to move at the same pace as the vision for Qatar, and as the market has not yet shown the strength and cohesion to provide all the commodities and trades for construction, we need to support it to ensure that local business doesn’t get left behind.”

KCT is also setting up both warehouses to enable the purchase and storage of local materials in bulk, and is also considering fixed period supply agreements with certain local companies.

Issam Atef, procurement director at KCT, details: “We have opened warehouses for all the materials that we are going to be using on a regular basis in order to streamline our supply chain. When it’s needed, it’s there, and it’s bought at a price that beats the market given its quality.”

The only caveat comes when the order is so huge that it simply cannot be bought locally, “but otherwise we are looking for the future to verify certain proven companies to work with us that,” adds Atef, noting: “We are now making limited one-year agreements.”

The contractor in particular hopes that with time it will be able to identify the reliable suppliers in the market, and to eliminate any non-effective parties employing opportunistic tactics.

“We are very pleased with the achievement of putting the procurement department on the track, and to be moving away from short-term agreements. The procurement department is not there just to pass papers,” nods Khayyat.

“We do not want a bureaucratic kind of dealing – it is supposed to be effective in controlling cost, and in ensuring the supply of materials, the timeliness of supply and that the payment is there.”

A final point is to ensure that the internal procedures of local projects do not make correct procurement a secondary matter in order to accommodate the pace, so KCT is focusing its efforts on streamlining its processes to confine costs while accommodating all of its sites.