Clement Maamarbachi |
AMDS Arabia Ltd is a group of companies that work
in support of business in emerging markets of the
Middle East and Central Asia, providing such things
as computer solutions, networking, cabling, site
preparation, electromechanical systems installation,
and setting up of power and distribution systems.
MDS Holdings Group started in Lebanon in 1967,
the company manages immediately felt at ease conducting
business in Jordan owing to a similar business mentality.
"We believe there is potential in Jordan"
said Clement Maamarbachi president of MDS Arabia
Ltd. "The legal system here gives you a lot
of protection. The freedom of transactions…,
currency transactions, legal status, security and
human rights conditions are just right for conducting
business in a secure manner and to expand your business."
Maamarbachi who has lived in numerous countries
around the world, says that Jordan knows how to
make people and businesses alike feel secure and
safe. "If this weren’t the case, we never
would have expanded into three operations in Jordan".
Says Maamarbachi, whose home was destroyed in an
attack upon the compound in Saudi Arabia several
years back. "I believe that here [in Jordan]
everything is under control".
With 140 Jordanian employees, the company’s
claim to fame its work in IT-installing mainframe
computers, providing data communications, as well
as LAN and WAN. If a new hotel is going to be built
somewhere in countries like Egypt, Iraq, Kazakhstan
or Bulgaria, MDS Holdings will do the site preparation,
install the computer systems, make sure that the
most modern of security systems, access card systems,
backup power generation and fire alarms and protection
systems are in place.
Moving into East Europe shortly after the fall of
communism, MDS Holding Group geographical spread
triangulates from the savamah of Africa, the steppes
of Asia, to the forests of the Baltic. "We
believe in stability by diversity," said Maamarbachi.
Most of the company’s representation is American
companies such as IBM, Hewlett Packard, Liebert,
Sunguard and Apple. MDS Holdings is planning to
expand its operations, as 2005, to use the words
of Frank Sinatra, was a very good year. Over that
period the MDS Holding Group of companies generated
some $650 million, with expectations for 2006 in
the range of $850 million, and the billion dollar
threshold thereafter. Such expansion is expected
to come via acquiring more representation, most
likely with American companies.
As president of one of the five sub-holdings making
up MDS Arabia Ltd., Maamarbachi’s territory
covers, in addition to Jordan, the Arabian Peninsula,
to Iraq, as well as Palestine and Central Asia.
An electromechanical engineer by academic training,
Maamarbahci knows well the intricacies of the kinds
of systems with which MDS deals. In his capacity
as president of one of the holding, be somehow manages
to stay atop new developments in technology, citing
a French term called "New Wave," in which
one trend comes to the fore peaks, then falls off
while another technology comes along, at which time
he jumps from wave to wave. "This is the way
the MDS group is following," says Maamarbachi.
"I encourage a lot of American companies to
look more closely and make more analysis in terms
of conducting more business in this region,"
says Maamarbachi, who sees the huge potential in
this region, but thinks companies should devote
more time doing their due diligence rather than
rely solely upon what is seen in the media.
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Jordan 
