Author: hany

• Medhat Khalil: The transition of ownership to  proficient investors  aims to maintain the company’s annual growth rates of 20%
• Ahmed Khalil: Exiting  the PET recycling industry came as part of Raya Holding’s strategy to achieve the highest possible value for our shareholders
• Hossam Hussein: We are completing all the necessary procedures  to ensure a smooth transfer of shares

Raya Holding for Financial Investments announced that it has signed the business sale agreement of its subsidiary, BariQ for Advanced Manufacturing, with Intro for Waste Management, a subsidiary of Intro Group. The sale includes 98.76% of BariQ shares owned directly by Raya Holding, in addition to 1.24% of shares owned indirectly by Raya’s subsidiaries, with a total number of shares amounting to 6.5 million shares.

BariQ’s BoD has authorized the head of the board to take the necessary actions in order to close the deal valued at 490,750,000 EGP (four hundred ninety million seven hundred fifty thousand Egyptian pounds only) – the cash consideration for the sale of shares. Both sides shall work to fulfill a number of conditions stipulated in the contract of sale before completing the transfer of the shares in question.

Medhat Khalil, Chairman of Raya Holding for Financial Investments, has expressed his pleasure with the deal and the cooperation with Intro Group to continue the growth trajectory of BariQ, in light of the national plans to invest in waste recycling and rely on clean energy. 

“BariQ achieves an annual growth rate of up to 20%. The transition of ownership to an investor with a wide experience in the field was aimed at moving forward while maintaining growth rates. Also, the principal goal of Raya, since its establishment, is to contribute to achieving sustainable development and promote crucial fields of businesses”, added Medhat Khalil. 

Ahmed Khalil, CEO of Raya Holding added that exiting the  recycling industry came as part of Raya Holding’s investment strategy  to achieve the highest possible value for  its shareholders through the establishment of ventures that Raya can utilize its experience for and maintain its leading position in the market.

Ahmed has also expressed his sincere thanks to BariQ employees, who have contributed  in positioning the company on the map of international corporates in the field of recycling.

 On his part, Hossam Hussein, CFO of Raya Holding, said that Raya Holding is a direct investment enterprise and has always been entering new fields of business and exiting others, like all investment companies. 

“BariQ has achieved the desired growth rate, with which we can exit, paving the way for a new investor to continue the journey of success, given their extended experience in the field.”, added Hussein.

He stressed that BariQ is working to complete all needed procedures for the transfer of shares. He also noted that the nominal value of the company’s stock within the deal is 75.5 EGP per share. 

Raya Holding participates through Raya Trade by availing collection points at selected Raya Electronics Stores and encouraging customers to drop off their e-waste and getting 5% discount coupons on Rayashop.com

As part of its efforts to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Egypt’ Vision 2030 by promoting environmental awareness and recycling, Raya Holding for Financial Investments has participated through Raya Trade in the initiative launched by the Ministry of Environment (MOE) to manage e-waste.

The initiative is implemented by the Medical and Electronic Waste Management Unit of MOE, in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

In light of the initiative, Raya participates in increasing individuals and corporates’ awareness about the importance of recycling e-waste. Raya avails collections points for e-waste through Raya stores selected branches in Cairo and Giza. These branches serve thousands of customers who can download E-Tadweer app and use it to upload their old electronics and e-devices, then to be dropped-off at the nearest branch to receive a 5% off discount coupon for Rayashop website.

Her Excellency Dr. Yasmine Fouad, Egyptian Minister of Environment, said that as a strong supporter of these initiatives, they require the involvement of youth and the participation of the private sector. She stressed on the importance of raising public awareness about addressing environmental issues. She added that this is a national initiative aiming to collect and recycle e-waste reflecting the Egyptian political leadership’s awareness and commitment about addressing environmental issues

Commenting on the initiative, Medhat Khalil, the chairman of Raya Holding for Financial Investments expressed his delight with the participation of Raya Holding and its subsidiary Raya Trade in this initiative. He stressed that Raya’s efforts represent our societal responsibility to guarantee a safe disposal of electronic waste.

 “This initiative embodies the crucial role that the private sector can play, in cooperation with the government, to achieve the SDGs, given the political leadership’s interest in addressing the environmental issues as an integral part of development, in order to limit ecosystem degradation and conserve our natural resources for future generations.”, he  said.

Raya’s efforts are also part of its social responsibility as a leading company in the Egyptian Market, since it aims at yielding tangible results regarding the safe disposal of electronic wastes, minimizing the harm caused by e-waste, and job creation, said Medhat Khalil.

 “We are pleased to participate in such initiative with the Ministry of Environment in this regard, to raise stakeholder and public awareness on disposing and recycling e-waste properly.”, he continued.

The private sector is the largest source of electronic waste, followed by individuals and households, and then the governmental sector, said the director of the Medical and Electronic Waste Project at the Environment Ministry, Dr. Tarek al-Araby.

He also noted that large institutions need to adopt and enforce appropriate policies and regulations to dispose of e-waste and according to the laws, large entities can only dispose of their waste through formal recycling factories for E-Waste.

In the past, collecting e-waste from homes was a monumental challenge that hindered e-waste disposal, as the informal sector used to collect waste, which was not managed properly. In addition, the e-waste hazardous part were typically disposed of as municipal wastes, ending up in landfills or remaining at homes.

Therefore, this project is aiming to create a sustainable mechanism to collect e-waste from individuals and provide them with an economic incentive. Our primary goal is to prevent e-waste from ending up in the informal sector, that does not follow any environmental standards in dealing with such waste, leading to serious negative impacts on the health and environment.”, Al-Araby said.

In its sixth edition, the “Egypt for the Best” summit acknowledged both Raya Holding for Financial Investments and Raya Contact Center among top companies in the Egyptian Market 2020. Held under the auspices of H.E Prime Minister, Dr Mostafa Madbouly, the summit aimed to honour the top prominent figures and companies that positively impacted the Egyptian economy in 2020. 

The summit, held by Amwal Al-Ghad magazine and Excellent Communications, was attended by several ministers and businessmen, including Minister of Trade and Industry Mrs Neveen Gamea – on behalf of H.E Prime Minister Dr Madbouly, Minister of Immigration and Egyptian Expatriates Affairs Ambassador Dr Nabila Makram, Minister of Planning and Economic Development Dr Hala El-Said, Minister of International Cooperation Dr Rania A. Al-Mashat, Minister of Environment Dr Yasmine Fouad, Ministry of Social Solidarity Dr Nevine Al-Kabbaj, Minister of Public Business Sector Mr Hesham Tawfik, the President of Egypt’s National Council for Women (NCW) Dr Maya Morsi, and about 300 executives of influential institutions and companies in the Egyptian market.

Raya Holding for Financial Investments was chosen as one of the top-performing Egyptian companies during the past year. Despite the circumstances of the pandemic, the company managed to overcome such a critical time while maintaining its growth and workload. Also, the summit awarded Raya Contact Center’s CEO Ahmed Refky for the company’s progress over the past months and for its creative solutions to enhance communication between customers and businesses.

Regarding the awards, Ahmed Khalil, CEO of Raya Holding for Financial Investments, expressed his delight that the awards crown the company’s achievements throughout its history, stressing that Raya continues investing in Egypt and diversifying its investment portfolio to keep pace with market needs, in view of the economic reforms pursued by the state and Egypt vision 2030. 

Refky, for his part, underlined that Raya Contact Center is one of the first companies operating in the field and it has proven successful in light of the policy pursued by the company and thanks to its skilled and highly trained human cadres, which led it today to this recognition. 

The ceremony’s award categories this year included “Top 100 Listed Companies” in terms of performance, “Top 50 Most Influential Women in Egyptian Economy”, “Distinguished Entrepreneurs”, “Innovators with Special Needs”, and “Best Performing Institutions in the Field of Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development”.

Egypt for the Best is one of the major annual events celebrating high achievers in all economic and social fields. It was first launched in 2015 and is held annually under the auspices of the H.E Prime Minister.

RAYA Contact Center is standing in line with global CX leaders and professionals as a finalist for three of the most competitive Gulf Customer Experience Awards (GCXA) ‘21. Brought by Awards International, the GCXA™ celebrates the incredible work of CX professionals across the Gulf – and gives them a chance for recognition. As a CX professional looking to celebrate its achievements and expand its knowledge, RAYA Contact Center, one of RAYA Holding’s subsidiaries, is proud of its significant contribution and seizing these unmissable globally- recognized opportunities!

Even though the two CX-focused categories that RAYA Contact Center is participating in are extremely competitive, we are proud to announce winning the Gold Award for CX in Times of Crisis and Silver Award in CX Team of the Year.

Following this huge success, Ahmed Refky, RAYA Contact Center’s CEO, has expressed being happy about receiving these two awards saying: “We’re proud of the announcements that crown our hard work with these two awards from one of the most influential CX-evaluation boards for CX professionals all over the globe. Our joy lies in the fact that we have taken into consideration all the possible scenarios when dealing with the pandemic outbreak. From the very beginning, we have foreseen the importance of having a well-established plan to compact COVID-19. The process had various stages, and the most important one was defining a collective framework that ensures the continuity of operations. Frequent reviews of the framework were conducted to maintain flexibility when needing to alter the methods applied.”

The company has shown huge flexibility and adaptability in difficult times when ensuring that its employees are safe and business continuity is sustained when the COVID-19 outbreak started. The company has been a finalist in the Employees at the Heart of Everything category. Excelling at each and every category impresses not only the GCC region, the GCXA ‘21 participants, but also the company’s employees who are jubilant to be part of the company’s global success.

“It is an honor to be awarded the Gold Award for CX in Times of Crisis, recognizing our hard work during COVID-19. It is a foundational cornerstone for our CX transformation journey. I give wholehearted thanks to my team, and the judges, of course.” Ahmed Refky – CEO

This region’s premier celebration of CX excellence is held in Dubai on 15th and 16th February 2021, giving Ahmed Refky, RAYA Contact Center’s CEO, Hossam Fouad, GCC General Manager, and Mina Habib, the Head of Marketing, the chance to celebrate its success with the team and learn more about the rapid progress in Customer Experience (CX) over the last year, and anticipate its progression for years to come. RAYA Contact Center contribution is so much more than attending an Awards ceremony – it’s the most significant celebration of CX in the Gulf and beyond.

In accordance with Egypt’s vision for 2030, and aiming at implementing the foundations of a circular economy and achieving sustainable development goals, a strategic partnership was announced today in Cairo to open the largest plastic waste sorting facility between BariQ, a subsidiary company of Raya Holding Group for Financial Investments, which was established in 2010 and is considered as the biggest plastic waste recycling company in the Middle East and Africa and the Coca-Cola International Company.

This occurred in the presence of many senior officials of the Ministries of Environment, International Cooperation, Industry, Trade and Finance, and the Food Safety Authority, in addition to representatives of international companies, namely: Unilever, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble and many leaders of international donors.

This collaboration reflects the support for Egypt’s plans and efforts in the field of waste recycling through implementing and operating the sorting facility and the commitment to apply all international standards and specifications in the field of waste recycling in order to preserve the environment and produce eco-friendly materials which shall contribute to reducing harmful emissions, maintaining natural resources and minimizing the environmental impact of plastic waste.

Medhat Khalil, Chairman of Raya Holding for Financial Investments, expressed his pleasure of the collaboration and partnership with Coca-Cola and considered it as the culmination of BariQ’s efforts to present a successful model for the circular economy in Egypt over the past ten years, stating that this partnership will enhance the trust between Coca-Cola and BariQ, which will result in an increase in the recycling rate and the use of BariQ’s products made of recycled plastic, which are suitable to use for food with complete safety, in accordance with the requirements of the Organization For the Egyptian Food Safety Authority and Standardization & Quality.

Commenting on this partnership, Mr. Ahmed Rady, General Manager of Coca-Cola Egypt – Atlantic Industries, confirmed that choosing BariQ as a key partner to achieve the goals of Coca-Cola’s initiative “World Without Waste” in Egypt came as a result of BariQ’s efforts in the pioneering waste recycling sector in the Middle East and Africa. He also called on all the operating companies in Egypt to follow Coca-Cola’s policy towards the community while supporting the Ministry of Environment’s plan to recycle waste, particularly in light of the environmental, social and economic returns that can be achieved.

Rady added: “Coca-Cola considers itself as a strategic partner in all markets and communities in which it operates, and we always work together to support all activities and initiatives that would contribute to reducing the environmental risks. This project is a new step through which we confirm our commitment to society, and it will be followed by more steps so that we can achieve all the goals of Coca-Cola’s initiative “World Without Waste” in Egypt.”

On the other hand, Engineer Usama Zaki, the Chairman and CEO of BariQ, expressed his happiness for entering into this strategic partnership, which will lead to achieving the goals of Coca-Cola in creating a world without waste. This is considered a continuation of BariQ’s efforts to promote the recycling industry in Egypt, the Middle East and Africa. Ten years ago, we succeeded in bringing the recycling industry to Egypt with the latest European technologies, which are compatible with all international requirements, aiming at producing an internationally competitive Egyptian product that can be 100% exported  to the European and American markets. The impact of our partnership with Coca-Cola will be reflected in increasing the rates of collecting and recycling of plastic waste in Egypt in order to achieve the goals of Coca-Cola’s initiative “World Without Waste” to collect and recycle every bottle produced and sold by Coca-Cola in the Egyptian market, in addition to the production of new bottles of recycled materials by up to 50% by 2025, and by up to 100% by 2030, which shall achieve the goals of the circular economy and reduce the adverse environmental impacts.

Zaki added that the new sorting facility is based on the latest German technology to automatically separate the plastic waste bottles with high accuracy, which is the first time such technology is exported outside the European Union countries, noting that the facility is able to operate at a rate of up to 10 tons per hour, which is the highest production capacity efficiency in the world.

In continuation in the preventive and precautionary measures taken by Raya Contact Center, one of the subsidiaries of Raya Holding For Financial Investments, to confront the emerging coronavirus (COVID-19), the company affirmed that its human troops are the real wealth of the company, which must be preserved and provide all means of comfort and safe work for all.

Commenting on these measures, Ahmed Refky, CEO of Raya Contact Center, confirmed that since the spread of the coronavirus, the company has begun to formulate new work scenarios to ensure the continuity of work in an efficient manner while providing a safe and healthy work environment for all employees of the company. These measures have helped in the workflow due to the speed in taking the necessary preventive measures and following the safety standards. Through this, Raya has been a haven for its customers and the focus of more companies’ interest to become their customers in the future to ensure the continuation of their business.

Refky added, we have developed all scenarios for the spread of the coronavirus and its consequences from the start and have included most of the events and their repercussions in our risk management plan. Our plan included several points that were keen to achieve in parallel, the most important of which was defining a comprehensive framework to ensure the continuity of operations, with a permanent review of the plan and its challenges with care and resilience to deal with the wide range of potential impacts that could result from the pandemic.

The safety of the team was the only way to sustain and move forward with expansion plans, he continued. Therefore, the company sought to spread awareness and knowledge about the potential risk of the coronavirus pandemic among its employees, by providing the necessary information about the definition and how to prevent and deal with the potential danger. Since the beginning of the crisis, it has sought to preserve the safety of its employees and spare them any potential danger by gathering information about the travel of its employees inside or outside the country, and the returnees from the epicenters of the virus have been put under observation until they prove their safety.

On the other hand, Raya Contact Center has taken many proactive measures in accordance with the guidelines approved by the World Health Organization and the Egyptian government in all its locations, including: sterilization and disinfection of all communication service centers with the knowledge of specialized companies periodically, and encouraging their employees to work from home for those whose work does not require attendance on a daily basis, and the distances between the employees’ sitting places have been restructured with a minimum of one square meter. In addition, taking measures to clean and sterilize the call center speakers on a continuous basis, especially before and after each work shift, and measuring the temperature of the employees upon entry. Any employee suspected of having symptoms of the disease is examined directly by the attending physician at the company’s headquarters and denied entry to the workplace.

On the other hand, the company has reduced operations at its headquarters by providing its services remotely, and has also transformed all recruitment and training procedures into remote, in order to reduce mixing.

The company also launched a dedicated human resources platform that enables all employees to communicate with all management personnel to answer and discuss questions and inquiries remotely. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the company has taken several bold measures such as disbursing salaries for the month of March ahead of schedule, and has also disbursed the annual benefits increase to its employees with the April salaries with retroactive effect from January 2020. In addition, providing a cash allowance for Internet packages to support remote workers, and the heroes working on the sites have also not been overlooked by sharing free daily meals or cash allowances during curfew periods. Raya announced that it would not allow any harm or complacency with any person that might cause the spread of infection or harm to any member of their family and community, as such, the company stressed the need for all its employees to wear protective masks.

Raya IT, the leading Company in the field of information technology, won the prize of “The Banking Best Performance Partner of the Year for MEA Region” provided by Wincor Nixdorf, during its annual conference held recently in Cape Town, South Africa, after a competition with 85 institutions of Wincor Nixdorf partners belonging to 72 countries worldwide.
Raya IT was awarded this distinguished prize for its continuous efforts in terms of the notable expansion in the Egyptian market, where the sales volume exceeded 256% compared to the planned work volume during this year. Furthermore, Raya IT provided a number of technical solutions specialized in ATM Services, Self-Services Solutions, and Value Added Multi-Vendor Applications, which enable customers of the banking sector to make financial transactions and to-Person Person–Cash transfer, through the sophisticated ATM machines that have proven to be superior to those of its competitors.

Raya IT is a partner of Wincor Nixdorf in the framework of the partnership relationship that spans more than 20 years of cooperation in the Egyptian market.

On this occasion, Mr. Hisham Abdul Rasoul, the Chief Executive Officer of Raya IT, said: “We are elighted to have won this award, for all efforts exerted by the company’s work team, which is the main engine of any and all successes achieved in the past years. The partnership between Raya IT and Wincor Nixdorf started more than twenty years ago. During these years, we experienced many challenges until we were able to reach the leading position.”

Mr. Hisham Abdul Rasoul added: “Our company has many experts with advanced level of knowledge and skills in terms of providing various specialized solutions connected with the solutions of financial services, e.g. Forex and Cash Wallets, Money Remittance solutions, in addition to PROVIEW, which is the first and most widespread solution worldwide thanks to its unique features in the field of Management and Monitoring Solution besides that are unavailable in competitive solutions in this field. Besides, Raya IT implements technological solutions for the development and automation of branches, using different smart solutions. We exert continuous efforts to develop ourselves to catch up with the continuous progress in the field of technical solutions of financial and banking services, in alignment with our approach to expand in the banking market to serve more customers”.

He added: “Raya IT adopts the State’s initiative to apply the financial inclusion and e-payment in order to achieve the financial stability and economic growth. Within this framework, Raya IT offers its expertise to the banking sector to implement the latest solutions and technical services to help the sector implement this initiative, including 24/7 Onboarding Services that aim to facilitate the opening of bank accounts to new bank customers through the Multifunction Kiosks in an easy and fast way not taking more than 7 minutes per user. This application helps different banks provide the service 7 days a week, through the use of ATM machines and without having to go to bank branches. This application will contribute to attract a large base of new customers to the beneficiary banks, in addition to saving the cost of opening new branches.”

He said: “I’m fully convinced that the Egyptian banking sector will witness many changes in the field of ATM machines and technical banking services in the coming period, due to the merger of Diebold Inc. and Wincor Nixdorf. This merger has led to a number of integrated banking solutions and services capable of overwhelming competitors based on the large spread Diebold/Wincor in a large scale of financial institutions in the Egyptian market and the dominant market share of Diebold/Wincor which is 10% more than its nearest competitor in this sector.”

Raya integration has awarded a 350 square meter two Giant LED outdoor Billboard Digital Signage project with one of leading banking firms furnishing a turnkey solution at two of its strategic locations. As imaging is revolutionizing the world, accurate processing and display of visual information is business critical for many professionals worldwide. The firm decided benefiting this technology to meet one of their business needs. Raya Integration have provided an all-in-one solution to the Bank, with simple and intuitive scheduling software to enable them to easily create their own content and create playlists facilitating them showing Powerful and attractive messages even in demanding conditions through LED signage configured for the needs of business Raya Integration – Enterprise Computing team successfully implement the new Oracle engineered solution at one of the leading Banks in the Egyptian market , which led to enhancing the bank performance dramatically, cost effectiveness, and availability for Oracle databases.

This solution features a modern cloud-based architecture with scale-out high performance database servers and storages at lower costs than other platforms. The solution was an ideal case for private database cloud platform with a simple and fast migration plans.

This achievement of the highest level of Vmware partnership is awarded for acquiring an extended range of technical expertise in addition to maintaining a high sales performance. By achieving this level, Vmware positions Raya IT as a strategic partner, which distinguishes Raya in the market. Raya Integration was awarded Diebold Nixdorf’s Best Performance Banking Partner of the Year 2016 for MEA region. The award was announced at Diebold Nixdorf MEA Partner Summit -2017 in Cape Town, South Africa from 09-12 May, 2017.

The MEA Partner Summit is an annual event where Diebold Nixdorf celebrates and recognizes the top performing partners in the MEA region. The Summit brought 85 of Diebold Nixdorf’s partners across 72 countries. Diebold Nixdorf is a world leader in enabling connected commerce for millions of consumers each day. As an innovation partner for top financial institutions and retailers, Diebold Nixdorf delivers unparalleled solutions that are essential to evolve in an ‘always on’ and changing consumer landscape. Raya IT, a Diebold Nixdorf Platinum Partner maintains an extended partnership with Diebold for over 20 years. Raya IT’s activities have been acknowledged in the “Special Achievement Banking 2016” for its acquisition of a larger market share of ATMs and its value added Multi- Vendor applications (Forex & Wallet). In the frame of this award, Diebold Nixdorf recognizes Raya for surpassing its annual target by 256%.

In 2016, Egyptian Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Eng. Yasser El Kady, and Raya Holding Chairman and CEO, Mr. Medhat Khalil, and Red Sea Governor General Ahmed Abdullah along with the management team of Raya Contact Center, inaugurated Raya Contact Center’s new delivery site in Hurghada, Red Sea governorate. The new delivery site is located in Hurghada’s downtown district. Raya has strategically decided to expand its Operations in Egypt to a Tier 2 City. Hurghada is the Capital of the Egyptian Riviera on the Red Sea, one of the major tourist destinations in Egypt, and is 4-5 hours away from Cairo. The site is located in downtown Hurghada with access to all modes of public transportation. It is a 4 floor building with a total capacity of 600 seats.

The building is equipped with the latest infrastructure and technology, video conferencing facilities and wireless network access. The building encompasses high state-of-the-art security features including digital, fire-fighting, access control and 24-hour manned security to ensure the safety and security of all employees, company assets and business resources. The location will be offering Arabic and English support for the Middle East and GCC markets in addition to other European languages including German and Russian to support the European market. Raya’s focused processes from the Hurghada site will include Customer Support, Order Management, and Technical Support services for the telecom, fast food, white goods, travel and the public sector.

In today’s competitive market, the travel and transport industries acknowledge the need to minimize operational costs and retain availability in order to maintain a competitive edge. This requires making every customer interaction count. To achieve this, delivering excellent customer experience is required to keep customers brand loyal and leverage repeated business. Raya brings in-depth experience in delivering exceptional Travel Business Process outsourcing services for clients across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Our newly introduced BOP solutions have helped travel, airlines, and transport companies and service providers to increase cost savings, customer satisfaction and operational inefficiencies. The many services in this sector Raya supports cover processes like:

• Reservations and ticketing.
• Package customization.
• Cross selling and renewals.
• Membership and loyalty programs.
• Complaints management.
• Web, chat and email support.
• Claims processing.

Our travel industry solutions are geared towards airlines, online travel agencies, hotel chains and transportation service providers. At Raya, we pride ourselves on our tailored solutions geared towards helping our clients achieve better return from each customer interaction, while ensuring the highest quality standards and customer satisfaction for our clients’ brands.

With an aggressive five-year growth plan, Raya Contact Center has successfully continued its location expansion strategy roll out to focus on new key markets in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In line with such a challenging objective, Raya Contact Center has recently launched in 2016 its new contact center delivery sites in Warsaw, the talent rich and industrial heart of Eastern Europe, as well as ramped up its capacity in Dubai, the Middle East’s business hub, and Hurghada, Raya’s newest delivery site in Egypt’s Red Sea Capital, launched in 2015. The move strengthens Raya Contact Center’s position ahead of its competitors, and promises even more footprint expansions in the next few years. Raya Contact Center is always keen on choosing strategic locations for its contact centers to help maintain its position as the leading cost-efficient multilingual business process outsourcing and contact center service provider in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Raya Contact Center has identified the below goals for its 5 Year Strategy.

• Become a distinctive Multi-regional and Multilingual BPO player within EMEA.
• Build a sustainable leadership position as a “Champion” in the GCC region.
• Extend leadership by becoming a “Challenger” in the European market.
• Aspire to pursue a “Global Challenger” path.

Always keen on providing valuable benefits to employees, Raya Holding and Raya Trade launched an installment program for Raya employees with decreased interest rates.

Raya launched two new outlets in the North Coast to achieve a wider coverage and to meet an increasing demand for home appliances and electronic devices in the area.

In 2016, BariQ expanded its operations and product portfolio by adding the recycling of HDPE and PP containers into resin suitable for various non-food applications such as paints, outdoor furniture, crates, pallets, pipes and insulation sheets. As part of a commitment to sustain the adopted state-of-the-art and cutting edge green technology, and being up-to-date with the worldwide best practices BariQ successfully added new upgrades to the SSP production line, in collaboration with BariQ’s business partner and top-notch Austrian machinery supplier Star Linger.

The upgrades will increase the pellet particle size, which in turn will improve the final product quality in terms of product color values and the mixing percentage with virgin PET as well as the energy efficiency of the process, providing the most updated products and services. Additionally, an Energy Recovery Kit (ERK) was installed, which recovers some of the heat generated in the process and allows it to be reused in the early production stages, saving energy and money.