The Egyptian subsidiary of the Marbach is celebrating its 25th anniversary. In 1995, Marbach started a joint venture in Egypt.
At the beginning of the 1990s, Markus Stirnimann, then Subsidiary Manager of the Marbach’s Swiss office, met Mohamed Shaheen, now Managing Director of Marbach Egypt, at a sports event. They casually got to talking about work. Shaheen was interested in Marbach products and initially offered to be a representative importing cutting-dies into Egypt. As the Marbach tools became more and more popular in Egypt, the question arose whether to invest in a local production site.
After the necessary capital had been raised and all formalities completed, the Marbach Joint Venture in Egypt was able to begin operations in June 1995 and started supplying customers in North Africa with cutting tools made by Marbach. A location was quickly selected: in the then new industrial area Second Industrial Zone, outside Alexandria, in a desert area. In 2004, the company moved to a second location in the free-trade zone of Alexandria.
Mohamed Shaheen, Managing Director of Marbach Egypt, has been involved from the very beginning. “We started back then with a single 400 watt laser machine and a total of five employees. At the beginning our customers were almost all from Egypt. In the course of time word got around about the exceptional quality of our tools. We currently supply tools to all North African countries.”
So 25 years later and now with 75 employees, Marbach Egypt’s production area and market area has been increased considerably.
