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INSIDE LOOK
20 YEARS OF PROTEC AS PROTEC TURNS 20, PETER IANTORNO VISITS THE COMPANY’S HQ IN DUBAI TO SPEAK TO OWNER AND CEO, STEPHEN LAKIN, ABOUT HIS PERSONAL HIGHLIGHTS OVER THE YEARS.
Dubai Investments Park (DIP) is awash with offices, factories and warehouses belonging to some of the UAE’s biggest and best companies, and from the moment the large steel gates to Protec’s expansive DIP headquarters swung open and we stepped inside, it was clear that this is an operation to rival any of them. A cavernous facility comprising a stylish office space as well as a series of warehouses in which some of the company’s giant stash of equipment is housed. It’s a fitting home for a business that has established itself as a cornerstone of the Middle East’s events industry since it was formed in 1999. Now, 20 years on
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from the company’s inception, Protec’s owner and CEO, Stephen Lakin, has fond memories of how it all began. “I started Protec when I saw an opportunity to work on a huge job; the launch of the Faisaliah Tower – the first skyscraper in Riyadh,” he revealed to TPMEA over a coffee in the company’s plush meeting room. “I’d heard that the Faisaliah Tower job was out to tender, so I got in touch with the Faisal Foundation and they said they would see us the following day for a pitch in Riyadh.” And sure enough, after seeing what Lakin could deliver, the Faisal Foundation was so
impressed that it awarded him the job – and at the full $7.6 million price quoted. With such a huge job needing a lot of equipment, Lakin needed to act fast in order to source everything needed for the project. “We didn’t have any kit at first,” he reminisced. “They wanted to keep the equipment in Riyadh for six weeks so, with shipping and logistics taken into account, it was going to be a 15 or 16-week hire. “We soon realised that on those timescales, it was far more economical for us to buy the kit rather than rent it. After the job finished, we were left with a convoy of 20 40ft lorries full to the roof driving our equipment back into Dubai.
