Sistrade plans take-off of business in MENA

Sistrade plans take-off of business in MENA
Firás Masri (pictured, left), research and business development manager for the Middle East and North Africa markets at Portuguese software company Sistrade, details the company’s growth plans for the region.
 
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is considered one of the key growth markets in the printing and packaging industries; it's estimated that in 2015 the sector will be valued at around US$11 billion dollars.
 
The huge culinary culture that characterizes this zone and the continued population growth, as well as the need to automate processes and drive costs down, promises to increase demand on the printing and packaging industries, even during times of economic turmoil. This situation makes MENA markets one of the most privileged in the world.
 
As a result, MENA is a booming region for printing and packaging. It's continuously developing and evolving, which will lead companies to look more and more, in both the short- and middle-term, to standardize their production process and workflows in order to guarantee efficiency and excellent results.
 
This makes the MENA region a very important and natural market for Sistrade’s MIS/ERP tools. Sistrade provides a fully web-based system that helps companies to fulfill their needs, especially in automation, supervision, efficiency and cost reduction.
 
Although MENA is considered one of the most international-orientated commercial regions, it's very important to be aware of some peculiarities that characterize the zone; apart from local standards and legislations, flexibility and coverage of products are two essential elements that must be taken into consideration in order to guarantee success.
 
Sistrade’s flexible, multi-language and web-oriented MIS/ERP system covers the entire necessities of the printing and packaging sector.
 
Owing to the cultural and territorial proximity between Portugal and the MENA region, the Sistrade solution is one of the few ERP systems that takes into consideration the specific necessities and workflows of the area.
 
Important features include flexibility, coverage and multi-language functionality. As such, the Sistrade system is now available in all MENA market languages, like, Arabic, Turkish and Persian.
 
In addition, the 100 percent web-based system means all functionalities are accessible via a web browser, which permits Sistrade to offer customers a full cloud computing service.
 
MENA offering
Sistrade offers complete MIS/ERP technology for all MENA printing and packaging markets; from flexible and rigid package printing to label printing, as well as for commercial and security printing.
 
Modular units offered include sales, stock, procurement, scheduling, production, human resources, quality control, accounting, equipment maintenance, CRM, JDF and shop floor control. These modules cover all administrative and production processes.
 
Recently, Sistrade took the decision to strengthen its presence in the MENA region; the Turkish market was the first it expanded into, and today the company is working with three of the biggest printing houses in the offset and packaging industries in Istanbul.
 
This has grown to include pre-agreements and negotiations with several prestigious printing houses in different countries, like Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Iran, Lebanon, Tunisia and Morocco.
 
Today, Sistrade has a direct presence and offices in the UAE in Abu Dhabi, and in Istanbul, Turkey. It also has partners in Dubai, Beirut, Tehran, Tunis and Casablanca.
To target further growth, market exploration missions have been directed at the printing and packaging markets in the UAE, Lebanon, Tunisia and Morocco.
 
Overall strategy
Markets in the MENA region, as well as all growing markets where there is a need to standardize and optimize production processes, have an important place in Sistrade’s internationalization strategy.
 
The MENA, Asian and South American markets are seen as essential to the company’s strategy, and direct missions, representative offices, partnerships agreements and exhibitions were realized during 2012.
 
Sistrade is convinced that MENA will be one of the leading and most valuable markets in the future. The necessary economic and technical evidence can be seen.
 
As such, Sistrade has taken the decision to continue focusing our efforts in this region, and to continue developing and reinforcing our presence across MENA markets.
 
The company will participate in several international summits and exhibitions during the final months of 2012, and throughout 2013.
 
We will look to participate in events such as Gulf Print & Pack (taking place in Dubai on April 8-11, 2013), as well as visiting Saudi Food Pack 2012.
 
Sistrade will also continue to directly visit other MENA markets, as well as all potential partners and possible clients.
 
As an example, the company recently visited Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, Algiers in Algeria and Beirut, Lebanon.
 
This feature was first punlished in Package Print Worldwide issue #4, 2012
 
Read more about Sistrade here
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