We have seen Cosentino’s stunning engineered surfaces featured in beautifully designed projects all around UAE. Now we learn about the amazing team behind these projects and their motivation for the brand that they support.
Why choose Cosentino?
“In a nutshell, I would say that we are one of the very few surface product companies with a direct presence in the market,” says Eddy Abou Khalil, Regional Director Middle East & India at Cosentino.
Cosentino, the brand is known for its incredible engineered surface products. The brand’s mission is to create high-value, innovative surfaces for the world of architecture and design, in a responsible manner. Their regional showroom, based in the Dubai Design District, is able to service their partners and customers with a full and dedicated team to handle all market segments in Middle East and India, and more than 2,000 square yards of stocked warehouse space to cater to any immediate demands.
“Cosentino also invested a lot in the digitisation of the company,” says Miriam Llano, Middle East Marketing Manager at Cosentino. “Proof of this is the platform, We by Cosentino.” The platform was born with the specific purpose of improving client service.
Cosentino’s star products, Silestone and Dekton, are engineered surfaces that feature a unique mix of technology, innovation, sustainability and creative design. “Plus, a variety of applications, large slab formats and varying thicknesses, and different colours and finishes, are incredible properties that make us second to none in this market, and even globally!” says Kinan Khouri, General Manager, Cosentino UAE.
From the left: Eddy Abou Khalil, Regional Director Middle East & India; Miriam Llano, Middle East Marketing Manager; Kinan Khouri, General Manager UAE, Cosentino.
The top successes of 2020 and any challenges going forward
“Our top success of 2020 was being able to take care of our team – keeping them safe, engaged and motivated,” says Eddy. “We really adapted well to the COVID situation last year, managing to stay connected with zero interruption in the business.”
Globally, the brand was able to successfully follow through on their plans of opening three new cities, launching two new products, and adding two more production lines to their core product, Silestone.
The team’s focus for 2020 was to survive and increase their online presence, which also resulted in the birth of their very successful webtalk platform, Cosentino City Live. “What our clients needed during that time was communication and content sharing,” says Miriam. “So while everyone was at home in lockdown, we nevertheless managed to successfully connect with the client through our online activities.”
On the business front, the team reached their sales targets for 2020, and that in itself is quite an achievement considering the year it’s been. “The major highlight was winning our first facade project of 50,000 square meters in Abu Dhabi,” says Kinan.
“The challenge this year would be to follow through the success of the previous year!” says Eddy.
Conduction business in the Middle East region
The Cosentino business model is the same all over the world,” says Eddy. “What changes is the maturity of the market. Ours is an emerging market and it is our responsibility to keep on educating and growing awareness for engineered surfaces.” Furthermore, with the region being so multicultural, Miriam admits that the brand’s greatest challenge in creating content for this market was to adapt to the differing tastes and requirements of the clientele they have here. Something they have clearly managed to accomplish.
Here’s what we can look forward to…
In the region, the brand is focusing on growing its team and presence, mainly in UAE, Saudi and India, while globally, their product development and innovation plans are thriving based on their commitment to expansion. “So, we will always have more cities, and more centres to service our customers all over the world,” says Eddy.
Cosentino will maintain their goal of launching a new annual collection for both Silestone and Dekton. “We will also continue to focus on streamlining our product process, making it more sustainable and more environmentally friendly,” says Kinan.
“Furthermore, you can expect a lot of collaborations, and way more actions in the entire Middle East and India,” says Miriam. “And everything related to sustainability!”
