Farnek Voice July 2015

FARNEK VOICE JULY 2015

FM AwardS FARNEK Wins Big

EMPLOYEE PROFILE FARNEK's RISING STAR EMPLOYEE RECOGNITION AWARDS VISIT MY HOMETOWN

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Farnek Voice

CONTENTS

Newsletter Committee Markus Oberlin CEO Jennifer Peltenburg DIRECTOR OF BD & MARKETING

Featured 3 CEO’s Message Nazrul Islam gives a glimpse of his journey here at Farnek

4 FM Awards: Farnek wins Big! Farnek wins five awards at the FM Awards 2015 including the prestigious Overall FM Company of the Year 2015

6 Employee Profile

Nazrul Islam gives insights into his journey at Farnek

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Farnek’s Rising Star Shujahat Dar is a hardworking office boy by day and a talented signer by night

Farnek Lifeguards Save Lives Lifeguards Pemachandra and Franklyn save lives of two Dubai residents

Biogas Plants in Nepal

9 Farnek sponsors Biogas Plants for employees in Nepal

Come, Visit my Hometown

12 Corazon Sibarani, Administrator, Cleaning- Abu Dhabi, takes us through a journey to her hometown- Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia

Employee Recognition Awards 14 Farnek recognises the accomplishments of its staff at Employee Recognition Awards

Sandrine Le Biavant DIRECTOR OF CONSULTING Ishita Joshi MARKETING EXECUTIVE Vivek Sanglodkar AREA MANAGER- CLEANING COMMERCIAL Sajeev Bhavanandan SECURITY CONTROLLER Andrea Mendonca WASTE PERFORMANCE EXECUTIVE Deepak Prakash OPERATIONS ENGINEER- MAINTENANCE Trevor Bundus SENIOR BD MANAGER Uzair Bhamji HR EXECUTIVE CONTRIBUTORS Nazrul Islam, Shujahat Dar, Corazon Sibarani ART & DESIGN Ishita Joshi PHOTO EDITING Vivek Sanglodkar

July , 2015

CEO’s Message

Dear Colleagues, 2015 is already a year to remember for FARNEK. We indeed proudly celebrate our 35th anniversary. We had a great ceremony of the retirement of loyal employees, one of them, Mr. Sreenivasan Prasannan, having been with us since the beginning. We could not look at our past without securing the future and we ensured to keep culminating with our renewed Burj Khalifa maintenance contract and other significant contracts, including mobilising the Airport Terminal 2 and Central Park with success, reaching now 2,500 employees. We also signed a 5-year partnership with Urbanise, an IT company, to provide online services to our customers will also support the future development of new service solutions and innovations.

On the social front, I am extremely proud that we successfully launched a pilot project for biogas plants in Nepal, providing the chance for some of our employees’ families to replace wood or LPG with renewable energy while improving their health and wealth. We clearly plan to have other employees benefiting from this program next year. Meanwhile, we hope you appreciate the increasing number of activities organised in the camps and will make great use of the MTN computer / recreation room installed in Camp 1 to connect with your families.

As a continuation of our environmental quest, we took the responsible decision to lead the way in waste management. Since the 4th January, our head office is binless, reaching close to 24% diversion ratio and recycling each month more than 1 ton of waste of all types. We are now making a step towards managing the hazardous waste and you will see some training and communication from the Waste Consultancy team to instruct you as it is critical that these harmful substances are correctly disposed of.

During the waste to art competition, I was truly amazed by the talent of our colleagues who participated, to a level we made everyone a winner! FARNEK is indeed an incubator of people’s talents, skills and passion and we welcome all positive initiatives and ideas to belong to today and tomorrow’s inspiring leading companies.

We want to give to the FM industry the respect and the consideration it deserves, as Facilities Management is about people. It is about ensuring the comfort of residents, office workers and visitors, maintaining at every minute, a mint and safe environment, free of chemicals, pollutants and germs, allowing peace of mind and healthy living.

Facilities Management therefore embraces a high level of technical skills gathered from years of experience, passion and care from our employees and management.

We believe that one individual can make

a difference providing he or she has the right knowledge to create the right impact. I would like to encourage our current and future colleagues to take confidence in their instincts, to think out of the box, work and share with their managers the positive change that they feel could add value to our services and brand.

We have developed the Training Academy for you to grow and progress in your learning and skills and we believe that it is also a fantastic facility for learning service excellence, sharing knowledge, communicating success stories and team building.

We owe our ‘Overall Company of the year’ Award to you all. FARNEK is one team even though we are spread over so many sites. We will continue leading the way as one winning and responsible team.

Markus Oberlin CEO

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Farnek Wins Big AT FM AWARDS 2015 Farnek bags five awards, including the most prestigious Overall FM Company of the Year FM Awards 2015 were held on June 3, 2015 at the Intercontinental, Festival City.

It was a splendid night for the Farnek team as we clinched 5 awards during the evening.

Farnek received accolades for ‘Green FM Company of the Year’, for the second year in a row, ‘CSR Initiative of the Year’ and the ultimate award, ‘Overall FM Company of the Year’.

Speaking at the awards ceremony, which was being held at the Inter-Continental Hotel in Dubai Festival City, Markus Oberlin, CEO of Farnek said: “We are honoured to be awarded overall FM company of the year; we are very strong in sustainability, but we were also able to show the judges that we are a leading company in quality services delivery.

That makes us very proud.”

“We now have contracts in major buildings around Dubai and Abu Dhabi, including the Burj Khalifa, Dubai Mall, Dubai International Airport and Abu Dhabi International

Airport. It is true Farnek has come a long way, but we will not rest on our laurels. We will continue to lead by example and our commitment and dedication remain undiminished.”

OVERALL FM COMPANY OF THE YEAR Farnek won the most prestigious award of the industry, the Overall FM Company of the Year Award 2015. Farnek, with its key contract wins, strategic partnerships, focus on innovation in FM technology and strategies for operational and service excellence proved itself to be the strongest contender in this category.

Farnek’s overall vision is to raise the level of FM through three fundamental areas: Innovation; Partnerships and Sustainability. These have been critical to winning a variety of flagship projects over the past year, and providing service excellence to our high profile clients.

Farnek has had the opportunity to influ-

ence peers and clients through the use of innovative ideas and technology in order to create transparency to build partnerships. We have managed to solidify our technology partners, Urbanise, for our RMS software and 36s for an online procurement solution which several companies are now looking to adopt into their business. Further, Farnek and H&G is the Exclusive Partner with Better Homes, one of the largest estate agencies in the UAE by working with them on 60+ managed buildings and over 15,000 leased villas per year. Partnering with top organisations gives Farnek the advantage to take the supplier/client relationship to the next level.

By utilising best practices on an international level, including utilising Six Sigma for all service lines, Farnek is raising the level of performance in terms of knowledge and expertise.

Starting from technicians to senior management Farnek has invested in Six Sigma and RCM programmes to enable its staff and operatives to perform at a world class level.

CSR INITIATIVE OF THE YEAR FARNEK has given a new impulse focus this year to social engagement, with the objective to contribute back to our workers as majority of them come from developing countries and have to look after their families. While supporting carbon offsetting (785t CO2e) to fight against climate change and support other communities, in one year, the following initiatives took place at FARNEK: • FARNEK purchased and implemented 2 biogas plants for some of our workers in Nepal; the idea came during a visit to myclimate foundation in September-14.

• Following the disastrous earthquake in Nepal, a minute of silence was organized in the head office staff accommodation and around AED 22,000 was collected

July , 2015

CEO Markus Oberlin, Director of Consultancy, Sandrine Le Biavant and Director of BD & Marketing, Jennifer Peltenburg with the award trophies from FARNEK colleagues and the doubling initiative of FARNEK, all distributed among the 35 affected employees.

• We participated in 2 Volunteering projects Syria Storm Clothes collection and Dubai Cares ‘rebuild Palestine, it starts with Education’.

• FARNEK Academy was launched for Cleaning, MEP, Supervisors and Head Office employees.

• A Sports Tournament was organized in December 2014, workers’ party and staff parties happened.

• FARNEK purchased 1,000t CO2e in Windmill farm in Turkey used to offset buses and events on sustainability theme; we also increased our offsets by 410t CO2e (+137%) reaching 710 t CO2e.

• Meanwhile, we also reduced our CO2e impact at head office by 9.62% (Co2e per employee).

• We launched for TI’ME Hotels a concept of Carbon Offset Hotel Stay which has generated 355t CO2e offsets by 1,300 hotels customers, into 2 projects: efficient Stoves and clear water in displaced camps in Sudan and Solar lighting in Ethiopia ensuring a better health for families and more reading time for children. (*) Corporate Social Responsibility GREEN FM COMPANY OF THE YEAR FARNEK bagged for the third time the Green FM Company Award. The credit to the big success in this area goes to the “Value your Waste” drive, which proved

to be an innovation that had an impact for our own activities but also for the customers associated with strict methodology and smart technology.

Indeed, in just 9 months, FARNEK, thanks to the new in-house waste specialists Trish Boyle and Andrea Mendonca: • Coordinated 10 waste audits (3 FARNEK owned facilities, 2 FM customers sites and 5 hotels in UAE) • Increased the Waste Diversion ratio from 2.4% to 21.8% between Apr-14 to Mar-15 i.e. a 812% increase.

• Increased the quantity of waste recycled Jan-Mar ’15 vs Jan-Mar ’14 by 680% • Trained more than 350 employees on better waste practices (Head Office, Cleaning Teams and Supervisors Maintenance) • Implemented a Binless office.

• Recycled 280 kgs of uniforms, 5,450 kgs of archive papers and recovered 4,150 kgs of wood • Upgraded the Hotel Optimizer software with a waste module that tracks waste diversion and types of items segregated per month with graphs and comparison to other properties.

• Managed to reach more than 4,000t waste reduction from the hospitality clients.

FARNEK’s “Value your Waste” drive conveyed the message to FM partners that although waste is the less glamorous aspect of a building management, when managed efficiently it is a true sign of excellence.

CEO Markus Oberlin with the Overall FM Company of the Year Award

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Employee Profile Nazrul Islam Suman Assistant Manager – Cleaning - Domestic

“Show the world that you can do something.Show them that you have it in you & you are no less than anyone”.

Favourites Movie : “ Oh my God!” Song : Na seekha maine jeena by Atif Aslam Cuisine: Indian Sport: Cricket Color: White Places to visit in UAE: Jumeira and other beaches.

On his Farnek journey, bollywood songs and beaches

How long have you worked with Farnek?

I joined Farnek in 2009. Since then, I am with Farnek till date.

Describe your typical work-day The day starts very early for me with the calls from my staff in the morning. Then I freshen up, get ready & come to office. At office, I work on costing, if any, next day’s work schedules & arrangements of vehicles, etc. I also need to visit sites for inspections & site estimation surveys. I meet clients for any complaints & follow ups.

Take us through your career journey at Farnek

is unique & has different service expectations from us. Fulfilling those expectations while being under the company umbrella is the most favorite part of my job.

I joined Farnek as a driver cum supervisor & have worked at multiple sites. In 2012, with Allah’s grace, while working at Emirates International Hospital at Al Ain, I was promoted as a Senior Supervisor. This promotion transformed me and aspired me to work better every day. In 2014, I was promoted again as a Junior Assistant Manager – Soft Services.

What’s the most challenging thing about your job?

Who is your biggest inspiration?

Show the world that you can do something. Show them that you have it in you & you are no lesser than anyone!

Ms. Serah Ngunya & Mr. Julian Khalil.

Tell us something about yourself that will surprise us?

What’s your favorite thing about your job?

I find it very interesting to meet clients who are from different nationalities, countries, races & religion. Every one of them

Frankly, it’s handling calls that start from 4.30 am!!

Favorite quote/Mantra

(Blushingly) I got married at a very early age. My daughter, the apple of my eye, is 7 years old and many a time people don’t believe that I have a daughter that old.

July , 2015

Farnek’s Rising Star

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ierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais said “Nowadays what isn’t worth saying is sung.”

Not everyone can sing though, but a good singer can come and rise from anywhere!! So is the case with one of our colleagues working with Cleaning Commercial – Shujahat Dar! If you happen to be on the camp floors and you hear the cords of a guitar and a melody being sung to it, it’s bound to be none other than Shuja.

You must hear him once before you agree with me.

Born in Rawalpindi - Pakistan, Shuja is 25 years old and has had a passion for singing since he was a toddler. He used to sing in his school concerts & religious functions in the mosques. Shujahat joined Farnek as an office boy in 2014 and his voice started echoing in the camp premises in the evenings. Presently in his portfolio, he owns two beautifully recorded songs.

His personal favourites genres are Rock and Pop & he follows Bryan Adams, Katie Perry & Akon! When I asked him to sing a piece for me, he gladly grabbed his guitar and struck the cords of “Woh Lamhe” by Atif Aslam which is Shujahat’s favorite song. During the discussion, Shuja mentioned that Mohit Chauhan & A. R. Rahman are his idols. Presently, after the work hours and on weekends, Shuja is busy shooting for the videos of his recorded songs which he aspires & hopes to go viral on Youtube. In the future, Shujahat aspires to become a playback singer.

Farnek wishes Shujahat all the best & wishes to see him behind the mike in the recording studios soon!

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FA R N E K

L I F EG UA R D S

SAVE LIVES

Lifeguards Pemachandra and Franklyn save lives of two Dubai residents

His vigilance and quick action is much appreciated and was instrumental in averting what could have been a serious incident.

Axis 2 resident, Quintin Hunte on Premachandra’s quick action that saved his son’s life

Pemachandra recieving employee of the month award for saving the life of a child in Silicon Oasis, Dubai

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emachadra is a lifeguard working at Gulf Engineering for last six months. On 18th April 2015, while on duty at Axis 2 in Silicon Oasis, he noticed a young boy in the pool struggling to swim and almost drowning. Pemachandra quickly jumped into the pool and took the boy out of the pool safely. The parents of the boy were overwhelmed with emotions and thanked Pemachandra for saving their son’s life. In recognition of his professionalism, Farnek Services awarded him employee of the month in April 2015. Axis 2 resident Quintin Hunte, who is the father of the child that was safely pulled out of the pool

by Pemachandra, said “. His vigilance and quick action is much appreciated and was instrumental in averting what could have been a serious incident.Please pass on mine and my family’s thanks to him again for his prompt action and professionalism. Lifeguards play such an important role and it is good to know that they are alert to danger and willing to act immediately.

Buma Franklyn recieving employee of the month award for saving the life of woman in Dubai

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n 7th April 2015, at around 08:45pm, one of the tenants living in Apartment 307 in Silicon Oasis, came to the roof top swimming pool area and tried to jump off from the building. Seeing this Mr. Buma Franklyn, the lifeguard on duty at the swimming pool area, caught hold of her.

Once questioned, she confessed that she had an argument with her husband, subsequently tried to commit suicide. The lifeguard then reported the incident to Dubai Police and the building manager. Police arrived at the site in ten minutes and after investigation, they appreciated the lifeguard for saving her life. In recognition of his remarkable job, Farnek Services awarded him employee of the month in April 2015.

July , 2015

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ecause they have worked for FARNEK for more than 3 years, because their families manage a small farm, and because they registered to the program together with 9 other employees and finally won at the Raffle draw, Chitra Bahadur Nepali and Chan Bahadur Ale, both working in security team, are the first employees to benefit from FARNEK’s investment in their own biogas plant.

FARNEK connected with myclimate, our climate protection partner, to create a project benefitting to its own employees directly.

Biogas plants provide a mainstream clean renewable energy solution in rural Nepal, allowing families to produce their own cooking gas by fermenting animal waste and connecting pipes to the kitchen, instead of using wood or expensive LPG. The dung produced by two or three cows per day is sufficient for five hours of cooking, replacing 20kg of wood per day Each biogas Plant saves 5t CO2e per year for up to 30 years contributing to reducing the impact of fossil fuel.

them to purchase another kettle, which will produce additional milk that they would be able to sell. Chan Bahadur could also sell more cinnamon. In the future they will also benefit from the natural fertilizers generated from the process.

Biogas Plants in Nepal

Our 2 Nepalese colleagues were clearly pleased to have implemented the project with their families and to provide them better living conditions (no more smoke in the house, have to no longer walk long distances to collect wood or purchase LPG – a 4 hours walk in the mountains) and better financial outcome while being proud of protecting the planet.

Markus Oberlin commented that this was such a great success that the project will be re-conducted around December 2015.

A judge at the FM Awards said he was particularly impressed with Farnek’s biogas project in Nepal and praised it “a very inspiring initiative and one that the FM community should take note of.”

Both families mentioned that they will save time and money allowing Chan family Cooking in the kitchen

Chitra Bhadur Ale in Dang district and his family in front of the Biogas Plant finalised.

Chan Bahadur is mixing the inlet that will then go into the biodigester

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SETTING STANDARDS FOR ACHIEVEMENTS Technician Prajith Cholayil , with his own design saved AED 60,000 in costs

Prajith Vasu Cholayil of the Maintenance Commercial Division, by his own design implemented works saved the company AED 60,000 in costs which would have been additionally incurred had he not intervened.

Prajith who works as AC technician for Emirates Project (DTC) took initiative to resolve and set back four Air handling units operational which required major overhauling works wherein a specialist subcontractor had quoted AED 60,000 for the same work.

For this zeal and professionalism that Prajith showed, he was awarded a special award at the Employee recognition awards ceremony held on 26 May 2015.

Prajith Cholayil, receiving his award from Markus Oberlin at the Employee Recognition Awards Ceremony

The AUH QHSE Department is undergoing an upgrade!

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ecently, the AD Government has implement a new system which looks to promote Occupational Health and Safety for safe working places. The program is in co-ordination with the Abu Dhabi Environment Health Safety Management System and provides guidelines for safe and healthy workplaces. The dedicated government authority (OSHAD – Abu Dhabi Occupational Health Center) looks to develop and train practitioners within each office that are continually trained to execute the above OHS goals. The AD Government, through OSHAD, will license and train our Farnek QHSE team under the guidelines and provide continuous support as changes to the guidelines happen. This certification and training will allow Farnek AUH to ensure that our commitment to Quality, Health and Safety are industry leading and in conformance with our ever growing profile of Government Clients.

July , 2015

FARNEK STANDS

WITH NEPAL Farnek Staff at the “Minute of Silence” vigil organised by the Welfare commitee on May 5 2015

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n 25th April 2015 a devastating earthquake, rated 7.9 on the Richter scale, tore across Nepal reaping a death toll of over 8,000 and injuring more than 17,000.

Without any delay, Farnek rose to support its Nepalese community.

All relief activities were based around the “We Stand with Nepal Campaign” launched by the welfare committee of Farnek. The first stage was to assess the damage done to the families of our staff members. Lists were put up so that effected people could register and be identified as in need of aid.

One of the Senior Staff members, Bhumi, who was in Nepal during the Earthquake then proceeded to visit as many effected homes as he could otherwise maintaining telephonic contact with all the others.

The second activity entailed a charity drive where funds were collected from the Farnek Staff.A total of AED 11,000 was collected. This amount was then generously doubled by the Farnek Office.Based on the extent of damage done to each hold, aid packages were given to all 42 effected employees. In addition the finance team persuaded Belhasa Exchange to allow the

relief money to be transferred free of cost from the labourers here to their families.

Furthermore on 5th May, the Welfare committee organised a “Minute of Silence” with a candle light vigil and a special prayer for all those departed and effected. The event was attended by the entire workforce as well as senior members of staff in a great show of solidarity for the Nepalese community.

The human cost and the damage to people’s lives is not easily repaired, but Farnek with great enthusiasm and zeal has begun helping the employees build a better brighter future. In such light, further steps are being taken to begin financial advisory for the workers so they can manage their funds better during this process.

A man stands in front of a house destroyed by the earthquake. Image courtesy: Bhumidutta Agasti

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NEW FEATURE!!

COME, VISIT MY HOMETOWN Corazon Sibarani, Administrator, Cleaning- Abu Dhabi, takes us through a journey to her hometown in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia

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n this new feature, we catch up with Corazon Sibarani, Administrator, Cleaning- Abu Dhabi and discuss her days growing up in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia

Where are you from?

I am from Medan, the capital of the North Sumatra province of Indonesia.

Tell us a little bit about your hometown?

North Sumatra is a beautiful city with breathtaking landscapes comprising of gorgeous mountains, serene lakes and large rice fields.

Tell us something about the Indonesian people I would describe Indonesian people as

tolerant, friendly and the most hospitable people on earth!

Kenawa Island – Flores Island

Tell us a little bit about the Indonesian culture?

In one sentence I would say “Unity in Diversity”. Indonesia has a large diversity in ethnic groups, languages and delicious diversity in food! There are around 300 distinct native ethnic groups in Indonesia, and 742 different languages and dialects.

What’s your favorite memory growing up in Indonesia?

As a kid, I would never want to stop playing outside with my friends! We loved to be outside. My most fond memories would be of swimming at the beaches and taking small trek tours to the mountains

There are around 300 distinct native ethnic groups in Indonesia, and 742 different languages and dialects.

July , 2015

Corazon at Mt. Rinjani, Lombok island – West Nusa Tenggara Flores Island, East Nusa Tenggara – Indonesia. One of the best spots in the world for diving and snorkeling

What places would you recommend visiting while in Indonesia?

Bali island, Flores island, Komodo islandwhich is particularly notable as the habitat of the Komodo dragon, the largest lizard on Earth., Mt. Rinjani, Mt. Tambora, Lake Toba in Sumatra, Sumba (East Nusa Tenggara), Tana Toraja in Sulawesi and Raja Ampat in Papua.

Living in UAE, what is the one thing you miss the most about Indonesia.

Trekking in the mountains!

In what way in UAE similar to Indonesia?

People are friendly and North Sumatra too is on the race to building lots of high rise towers.

Why I love Indonesia?

Beautiful sunset at Mt. Rinjani Lombok

Indonesia is my home and hence very dear to my heart of course. Also it is very rich in scenic beauty with beautiful landscape

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Farnek Voice

Employee Recognition Awards The Employee Recognition Awards were held on 26th May 2015 during which employees with outstanding achievements as well as consistent performances during the past calendar year were recognised

From left to right: Nikhil Verghese, Prakash Kalakkattu,Maintenance Commercial receiving their letters of appreciation from Emirates Management

Sahriq Nazmi, H&G

Shaukath Maseh, Logistics

Razel Divino and Kazi Tohidul Alam, Cleaning Commercial

Amer Sohel, Maintenance

Sufian Ahmed, Maintenance

July , 2015

H&G Online Store Hitches and Glitches introduces “H&G Online Store” an innovative way to order home maintenance services online

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n May 2015, H&G launched a new online application that allows customers to order home maintenance services completely online.

This innovative platform, termed ‘H&G Online Store’ is a new and one of its kind service in the UAE. On the H&G Online Store, customers can log in browse through H&G’s wide range of maintenance, cleaning and renovation services and order these services for their homes with the click of a few buttons. Customers can also opt for one of H&G’s annual maintenance packages - “standard”, “executive” and premium or customize a package to fit their needs.

With this new platform, ordering home maintenance services for homes and villas has never been easier!

Check out the Online Store on :www.hitchesandglitches.com

Comic Corner

Your Feedback is Important!

Please write to us at social.marketing@farnek.com with your ideas and comments about the newsletter. We would love to hear from you!

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P.O. Box 5423 | Dubai, UAE 800 FARNEK | info@farnek.com | www.farnek.com