Nabil Habayeb’s office is a modest set-up. Occupying one corner of an executive floor in General Electric Co (GE)’s headquarters in Dubai Internet City, there’s a few framed family photos on bookshelves and his desk, a three-piece lounge on the other side of the room, a few coffee table books and even an Emirates Airline model plane, presumably in a nod to the two companies’ extensive links. Sitting with the president and CEO of the global manufacturing giant’s Middle East, North Africa and Turkey (MENAT) operations, a particular painting hanging above his head catches my eye. It’s a piece by Bahraini painter Raif Shehab, he says. “It was a gift from my employees when I celebrated 20 years with the company,” he adds, before casually dropping the fact that he is currently celebrating 32 years with GE. Indeed, while his office may be rather modest, his achievements at GE are anything but.
Under his watch, revenue in this region grew by 11 percent last year to $10bn, accounting for 6.85 percent of GE’s $146bn global turnover, while its regional order book has almost doubled that with a 23 percent increase to $12bn in 2013, more than 10 percent of the global total. Since taking on his current role in 2004, the region has grown from a turnover of $1.5bn, with staff numbers increasing almost four-fold from 1,200 to more than 4,200 people. Habayeb says the region now accounts for almost 35 percent of GE’s $181bn industrial backlog globally and while by no means the biggest market (it is the second-smallest after the Americas) it is one of the fastest-growing along with Russia. He expects “double-digit” growth again this year. “In the fourth quarter of last year, this region was bigger than Europe,” he says. “So while you see the numbers in total, this is still the largest region outside the United States after Europe.” Just what is driving sales comes almost entirely down to the Fairfield, Connecticut-based company’s industrial segment — comprising oil and gas, power and water and aviation — in what reflects a marked push away from the company’s finance business and towards its industrial side following the 2008 financial crisis. In early August, GE listed its credit card business, Synchrony Financial, in a move that is tipped to bring its profits from finance down from 45 percent to less than a quarter by 2016. Looking at GE’s second-quarter results, these sectors collectively accounted for $26.2bn in global revenue, up 7 percent quarter on quarter. Overall revenues rose 3 percent to $36.2bn, while operating profits also rose 7 percent to $3.9bn. In MENAT, industrial sales are just as strong, buoyed by recent mega deals such as the record $40bn in commitments GE secured in two days at the Dubai Airshow through primarily Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways and led by the GE9X, the sole-source engine for Boeing’s soon-to-be-developed 777X. Boeing said it achieved 259 orders of this plane from a total $101.5bn in orders at the Dubai event.However, as strong as GE’s aviation division is — it grew at a compound annual growth rate of 8 percent to nearly $22bn in 2013, accounting for 15 percent of GE’s $146bn in global revenue — it is not its single biggest revenue driver in the region, with Habayeb saying it is split fairly evenly among the remaining industrial sectors. The company, which had a $246bn backlog at the end of the second quarter, currently supports the generation of two-thirds of the region’s electricity, and purifies 800 million liters of water daily for drinking, irrigation and municipal uses across the MENA region.
Under his watch, revenue in this region grew by 11 percent last year to $10bn, accounting for 6.85 percent of GE’s $146bn global turnover, while its regional order book has almost doubled that with a 23 percent increase to $12bn in 2013, more than 10 percent of the global total. Since taking on his current role in 2004, the region has grown from a turnover of $1.5bn, with staff numbers increasing almost four-fold from 1,200 to more than 4,200 people. Habayeb says the region now accounts for almost 35 percent of GE’s $181bn industrial backlog globally and while by no means the biggest market (it is the second-smallest after the Americas) it is one of the fastest-growing along with Russia. He expects “double-digit” growth again this year. “In the fourth quarter of last year, this region was bigger than Europe,” he says. “So while you see the numbers in total, this is still the largest region outside the United States after Europe.” Just what is driving sales comes almost entirely down to the Fairfield, Connecticut-based company’s industrial segment — comprising oil and gas, power and water and aviation — in what reflects a marked push away from the company’s finance business and towards its industrial side following the 2008 financial crisis. In early August, GE listed its credit card business, Synchrony Financial, in a move that is tipped to bring its profits from finance down from 45 percent to less than a quarter by 2016. Looking at GE’s second-quarter results, these sectors collectively accounted for $26.2bn in global revenue, up 7 percent quarter on quarter. Overall revenues rose 3 percent to $36.2bn, while operating profits also rose 7 percent to $3.9bn. In MENAT, industrial sales are just as strong, buoyed by recent mega deals such as the record $40bn in commitments GE secured in two days at the Dubai Airshow through primarily Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways and led by the GE9X, the sole-source engine for Boeing’s soon-to-be-developed 777X. Boeing said it achieved 259 orders of this plane from a total $101.5bn in orders at the Dubai event.However, as strong as GE’s aviation division is — it grew at a compound annual growth rate of 8 percent to nearly $22bn in 2013, accounting for 15 percent of GE’s $146bn in global revenue — it is not its single biggest revenue driver in the region, with Habayeb saying it is split fairly evenly among the remaining industrial sectors. The company, which had a $246bn backlog at the end of the second quarter, currently supports the generation of two-thirds of the region’s electricity, and purifies 800 million liters of water daily for drinking, irrigation and municipal uses across the MENA region.
