Services firm handling top events and fashion houses targets UAE, Saudi and Egypt
Mishal Kanoo, the chairman of Dubai-based family business The Kanoo Group, has signed a joint venture with international services company Armonia, helping the French firm to expand its coverage to the Middle East market.
The joint venture will look to provide services to the events, hospitality and luxury brands sector, the partners said at a press conference in Dubai on Monday.
Armonia is a Paris-based company which was founded by its chairman, Patrick Thélot, in 1974. Thélot began his career as a 23 year-old providing dress stitching services to haute couture brands during fashion week shows.
The company still has 800 'petites mains' - people responsible for stitching and producing dresses for the fashion houses - but it has since diversified into a hospitality services business that handles events such as the Roland Garros French Open tennis tournament, Le Mans 24 and guest experiences at the Palace of Versailles, among others.
Thélot told journalists his company employs 25,000 staff and last year had earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) of €50 million ($62 million) on its €850 million of sales.
He said that he expects revenue to top €1 billion this year, adding that about 35 percent already comes from its international business, with operations across Europe, Canada, the United States and Morocco.
Speaking via a translator, Thélot responded to a question regarding the size of investment required by stating it was "difficult to give an exact number".
"I am a real entrepreneur, and I'm not in finance, coming to Dubai just to make money. So we invest as long as we need to do with Mishal so that we reach success here in Dubai," he said.
"I have started and created 80 companies in my life. I know it takes time to build trust. In general, it requires two to three years for a start-up to be profitable."
Hassan Karimi, an advisor to Kanoo and the co-founder of Dubai-based financial advisory firm KHK & Partners, will sit on the board and run Armonia Middle East until a permanent CEO is recruited.
He said that a "sizeable investment that has been made between the partners and there is a commitment to invest as much as is necessary to get the business where we want".
He explained that, as a services business, it isn't too capital-intensive.
Kanoo said the maturity of the United Arab Emirates business market meant finding new businesses to bring to the region was not always easy.
"Every once in a while, if you look deep enough, if you take the time, and you're willing to look outside the norm, you will come across a gem," he said.
He argued that the region's focus on events, fashion and museums meant that this joint venture was a good fit, adding that it would target contracts in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
"If you've ever taken a diamond in the raw, you can't tell that there's really a sparkle in it. The ability to have a brilliant sparkle relies on two things. First, the recognition of that. The second part is having the right polisher," Kanoo said.
"Patrick is the polisher, the raw diamond is these industry here."
Mishal Kanoo is the chairman of the Kanoo Group, which is a fourth-generation family-owned business with a diverse range of investments in the travel, shipping, energy, industrial and engineering businesses, among others. The group operates several joint ventures with overseas partners including French insurer Axa, Dutch coatings giant AkzoNobel and German chemicals company BASF.
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