“Better than I could have imagined” – the Middle East Coatings Show in Cairo

PPCJ spoke to the CEO of Indian company Chemfilt, Keyur Amin, about the company’s participation at the Middle East Coatings Show.

How is the Middle East Coatings Show going for you?

I could not have imagined this in my dreams. It’s better than I could have imagined. Far better.

What are you promoting at the show?

We supply equipment and turn-key plants for resin plants, inks plants, paints, pigments, minerals and we are promoting this.

Is Egypt an important market for you?

Egypt is a small market for us but we are here to create a small brand for us here. The local requirement is very small compared to the business we have had from the surrounding countries, like Saudi Arabia and other middle east countries. The region is important.

Though Egypt is a very small market for us, we have been surprised to see people from Saudi Arabia, UAE, countries like Ethiopia… they are all coming here for their requirements. I even had visitors from Asia, from Sri Lanka – you don’t expect them to come to Egypt for that.

Do you think everything is back to normal now, post-COVID or are you still noticing interruptions to business?

Interruptions is not the right word – I would say there’s still a lot of problems, especially in countries like Egypt and Bangladesh, as these countries are facing the dollar issue. They don’t have the foreign currency. They want to do business but they don’t have the money to give it to companies like ours. That needs to be sorted out.

How important do you think face-to-face meetings are?

Without face to face meetings it’s really very difficult to get business. Once the person sees you, then it builds up the confidence in you and your company. I believe that without face-to-face meetings the chances of getting business are only 10%, compared to say 80/90% after the face-to-face meetings.

For more information about the show, visit www.middleeastcoatingsshow.com