With a distinctive ethos that nurtures employees as well as natural resources, Dubai-based Kimoha aims to lead the Gulf’s packaging sector towards a more sustainable approach in business and technology, reports Piers Evans.
At the start of 2013, Kimoha can look back over an outstanding year in its swift evolution as a company.
Over the last year, the leading printer-converter of paper, self-adhesive labels and flexibles passed a series of professional milestones.
“This year has seen the chairman get a president award, the SME award, the green building award,” said Vinesh K. Bhimani, managing director of Kimoha Entrepreneurs Ltd.
“So it is a lot of good news coming out. If you do good, good things come back. That’s what I see.”
Characteristically, the tally of last year’s successes features commercial successes along with official awards, reflecting how the firm has integrated social responsibility into its push for growth.
In fact, for Chairman Kiran Asher, as global firms flock to the UAE, the firm’s commercial and ethical excellences combine.
“When you are the first, you’ll be preferred and in that we have an advantage over our market segment,” he told Packaging MEA.
“The region is central in terms of infrastructure. The multinationals are coming in, and their basic requirement is ‘who is supporting what’.”
In print technology, Kimoha set the pace for the Gulf region by investing at Drupa 2012 in a Xeikon 3300 with inline DCoat 330 finishing unit, aimed at speeding up turnaround times for short-run jobs.
The order is considered the first digital label press to be installed in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, Kimoha’s commercial dynamism has garnered national and international recognition. In January 2012, Kiran Asher was presented by Indian President Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil with the Pravasi Bharatiya award, an honour for expatriate Indians who have made an exceptional contribution to their chosen field.
Then, in February 2012, the company was placed highly among Dubai’s 73,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) at Dubai SME 100, which ranked the firm 38th overall, third in the category of innovation and tenth for International Orientation.
Environmental commitment
August 2012 brought further kudos with the award of a ‘Gold’ LEED certification to Kimoha in recognition of the environmental performance of the firm’s new 18,000 sq m headquarters in Dubai’s Jebel Ali Freezone.
Officially inaugurated in November 2011, the new base not only boosts the firm’s production capacity by 25% but also incorporates a host of features such as natural lighting, environmentally responsible air conditioning and motion sensors to slash its environmental footprint.
As Vinesh K. Bhimani acknowledges, the financial cost is not insignificant – “the air conditioning and its attachments cost about a million [dirhams] more than we would normally spend” – but fits with the firm’s wider ethos.
“If we are picking up that additional investment in environment, you never can work out a return on investment like that from buying a high-speed machine,” he said.
“But we believe in the long term we will have a return on investment through saving energy. With insulation, we cannot cover that cost in one year or two years, but we see on the longer run.”
A family ethos
Concern for the longer term is also clear in the new headquarters’ design as a working environment. Since its foundation in 1988, Kimoha’s payroll has grown from three to about 245, yet the firm continues to treat staff as members of a close-knit team.
In tune with that approach, employees operate in a spacious, bright environment. Colourful posters on the walls in offices and warehouse areas deliver reminders of Kimoha’s goal to be its customers’ first choice.
For both workers and management, the working week is punctuated by meals and meetings that reinforce the firm’s ethos, said Bhimani.
“We treat every employee as family,” he said.
“We start each day with a non-denominational prayer in the morning, everybody together. We have some positive thoughts and then somebody will speak. Sometimes we do a laughing exercise. Sometimes we do yoga.”
What’s more, along with encouragement and birthday treats, employees gain substantial material benefits from their firm’s commitment to its staff.
“My workers here get an educational allowance,” he said.
“My driver’s daughter is studying chartered accountancy. My forklift driver’s daughter is studying medicine.”