SYDNEY, Australia -- Two Sydney entrepreneurs who run a waterless carwash business have picked the perfect place to start overseas- - the Saudi Arabian desert.
Former race drivers Jim Cornish and Stewart Nicholls launched Ecowash Mobile in Australia in 2004 and currently have 30 franchises across the country. And now their enterprise is up and running in Saudi Arabia, with four outlets at Damman in the kingdom's eastern province.
Cornish and Nicholls claim to have already saved more than 21.5 million litres of water, thanks to a polymer compound that attracts dirt and only needs a soft cloth to be wiped from a car. The pair realized the business potential in Saudi Arabia, which relies mainly on desalination plants for its water supply, when they were approached by somebody who had lived and worked there.
Cornish said there was plenty of time to expand in Saudi Arabia under a 25-year project plan, while the company's Middle East operations were expected to extend into Bahrain in November.
"Saudi Arabians have a high level of integrity and they are great people to deal with,'' Cornish said.
Ecowash's Middle East director Mohammed Hamdan said local government departments already had expressed an interest in supporting the company's Saudi Arabian franchisees. Cornish and Nicholls now have their sights set on other parts of the globe, with a joint venture agreement for Ecowash Mobile Europe in France expected to launch in October.
Source: The Daily Telegraph