58 July 2014 www.bahrainthismonth.com interview Being scalded in the shower is a common experience for most people living in the Middle East, especially during the summer months. As a Bahraini, Tariq Al Murbati has faced this issue since childhood and, when he finally worked his way around the problem, the GPIC engineer launched his first venture last year, JM Cooling (JMC). Once hot water has travelled through air, Tariq points out, the temperature drops significantly. The JM water cooler is shaped like a tower with an inbuilt fan which causes evaporation of water particles. This cooling system brings down water temperature by over 10 degrees even if the outside temperature hovers at 45 degrees. “The JM cooler uses about 110 watts of electricity, the same as a light bulb; a standard chilling system powered by an electrical motor would consume 3,000 watts,” he points out. Tariq developed the system over 18 months before he launched the cooler commercially in Bahrain. Following the response from companies and households here, he soon began supplying to the UAE, Oman, and Qatar. In Saudi Arabia, JMC coolers are being commercially manufactured in a joint venture with a local partner. “The idea was to combine the efficiency of an airconditioning system with the low power consumption of a fan. As believers of clean energy, we’ve also launched a solar powered cooler with a 10-year warranty. Even though it doesn’t make commercial sense in the GCC, I wanted to prove that it could be done,” he says. When fully charged, the solar cooler works for three days. Tariq has installed a solar unit outside his office at the BDB-run business incubator in Hidd to demonstrate its capabilities. Manufacturing edge Since the cooling system market is largely seasonal, the 45-year-old also manufactures products such as steel wire hangers and iron nails at his Hidd workshop. So popular is the demand for his products that the cooling system now accounts for only half his revenue. “Bahrain could easily be a manufacturing base as it’s much more cost-effective to produce things here. After all, power is around 19 times cheaper compared to Asian countries,” he notes. But the average Bahraini mindset is not conducive to the growth of the sector, he thinks. “Young people like to work in clean, air-conditioned offices with easy working hours. But businesses cannot rely on imported merchandise forever. In order to support our economy, we have to broadening our manufacturing base,” he notes. The mechatronics engineer from AMA University finds it easy to build prototypes for machines once he has the dimensions and calculations in place. Next, he’s planning to build a factory lab for prototypes using a multipurpose robot that’ll work on wood, plastic, steel and aluminium. “Bahraini youngsters have good ideas, but they don’t know how to try them out or execute them. I’d like to help students and inventors in building mechanical projects,” he says. Home-grown Innovation Tariq Al Murbati SIMI KAMBOJ For a country so heavily reliant on foreign-made merchandise, entrepreneurs such as Tariq Al Murbati offer a pathway to manufacturing success.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy Mjk0MTkxMQ==