Dany Safi, Chief Executive Officer of Tabreed – the Middle East’s pioneering district cooling company – has clinched the prestigious ‘Unsung Hero’ award for 2006 from the sector’s leading industry body, becoming its first regional winner.
The Awards committee of the US-based International District Energy Association (IDEA), which works to advance global environmental quality through efficient district energy, nominated Safi for the prestigious honour.
“The Unsung Hero award is given to an IDEA member in recognition of his or her performance above and beyond the call of duty on behalf of the industry and the association, without seeking recognition for the efforts put in,” said Cheryl Gomez , Chair, IDEA.
“Dany has been instrumental in alerting the district energy industry and IDEA to the Middle East’s great potential for district cooling and the importance of IDEA’s involvement and support to promote this concept regionally.
“He has kept the IDEA board informed about industry developments regularly and has called for the establishment of a regional chapter to ensure the quality and consistency of district cooling initiatives.”
Safi is the twentieth winner of IDEA’s Unsung Hero honour. He has also been re-elected to the IDEA board for another three-year term. Safi was first elected to the board in 2003 becoming its first Arab representative – a distinction he holds until today.
“It is a honour to be re-elected to IDEA’s Board of Directors. This confirms the growing importance of the Middle East on the global district cooling map,” said Safi.
Tabreed, headquartered in the UAE, has been at the forefront of the Middle East’s district cooling industry and has joint ventures in Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia.
Tabreed has become the world’s leading district cooling company in a short time span of nine years.
The company’s strong performance and future growth potential is reflected in its recently announced 2006 first quarter results, which saw the company’s revenues up more than 36 per cent from last year.
Tabreed posted gross profit of AED 52.3 million, up from AED 41 million in 2005, while net profit increased to 17.9 million compared to 17.1 million. At the end of March 31, the company's total assets grew to AED 2.7 billion from 2.6 billion on December 31, 2005.
About Tabreed
Tabreed is a UAE public joint stock company established in June 1998 and is now one of the world’s largest district cooling utilities. Tabreed provides district cooling services throughout the GCC countries with offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khaimah, Doha, Manama, Al Khobar and Muscat. The company has been growing at a very rapid pace and won two gold awards by the International District Energy Association in the USA for new customers by the number of buildings it serves and by the cooling load.
Tabreed pioneers energy efficient gas-fired and electric-powered district cooling solutions in the UAE and across the region. The company offers customers the highest quality service through an integrated energy system devised to help them optimize their energy usage and reduce power and maintenance costs. Tabreed is a member of the International District Energy Association (IDEA), Association of Energy Engineers (AEE), International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE), International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR), American Gas Cooling Centre, Inc. (AGCC) and the Dubai Quality Group.
