Dwell in the comfort of the nation's rich fabrics

The rise of Safetex Group, one of the leading manufacturers and suppliers of home linen and home textiles in the Middle East, is an interesting tale of Pakistani entrepreneurship that has blossomed in the UAE's business environment.
In just over two decades, the group, headed by M Saleem Ahmed and Farooq Ibrahim Ahmed, has built a multi-million dollar empire and spread its footprint in the entire Middle Eastern region. All along, the company has invested heavily in the economies of the UAE and Pakistan - the two places the owners call home.
Ahmed came to Abu Dhabi in 1983 to work as a banker. As luck would have it, he altered his work life path in three years and set up Safetex to introduce to the UAE the exquisite fabrics of his home country.
Growing at a CAGR of 20 per cent in the last five years, Safetex has become the biggest importer of Pakistani fabrics in the UAE and imports fabric worth $30 million, mainly from Karachi and Faisalabad, every year.
In the UAE, the group employs 200 people. It has set up three manufacturing plants including a polyester fibre plant, the first in the country. The plant has significantly reduced reliance on Far East countries for raw material. The unit now produces 6,000 pillows a day, making Safetex one of the largest manufacturers in the UAE.
"We manufacture top-range quality fabrics for home textiles. Safetex specialises in different types of fabrics such as 100 per cent combed cotton, polycotton, modal, bamboo and microfibre suitable for home textiles. We produce satins, percales, mousselines and various other qualities," says M Saleem Ahmed, Chairman and CEO, Safetex Group.
The company manufactures bed sheets, comforters, duvets, sleeping bags, pillows, cushions, and a range of other products that make its way to the top retail chains in the Middle East. It has a special collection for children that includes Warner Bros and Mattel characters such Barbie, Hot Wheels, Tom & Jerry, Superman, Batman, Tweety Bird, Looney Tunes prints, to name a few.
These products are distributed through 200 clients spread across the Middle East, especially all the major top retailers in the UAE.
Safetex also supplies its products to the airline behemoths such as Qatar and Etihad Airways. In the hospitality sector, around 50 hotels in the Middle East source its products from the company.
Ahmed's sharp business acumen and passion for offering everyone a good night's sleep is the driving force behind the business. "We spend almost a third of our day sleeping; the posture, pillow, bedding, sheets make a lot of difference. At Safetex, we put a lot of research into our product design to ensure that you get good bed rest," he says.
Ahmed recently purchased Gummo, an Italian pillow manufacturer to supplement its offerings in this space. The Italian brand is renowned for its quality and has a wide network of distributorship already in place. "Nothing starts your day better than a good night's sleep," concluded the CEO, making his way into the next meeting to discuss ways to improvise the products.
suneeti@khaleejtimes.com

• Pakistan