Profile
Mohammed Ajmal Basha is the Chief Executive Officer at Voltamp Energy SAOG.
He has been spearheading the business transformation with a vision of bringing the latest technology of Electrical products to Oman with a commitment to ensuring the Localization and Internal Security of Key Electrical products for the GCC region.
He has been associated with Voltamp since 2019 in various capacities as General Manager and Chief Operating Officer and Acting CEO.
Prior to Voltamp, he was in a leadership position and accomplished strategic drives including establishing a transformer factory in Saudi Arabia, expansions in various global locations, and turnarounds.
He has been associated with companies like MEMF Electrical Industries, ABB, CG Global in leadership roles and transformed business, and brought efficiency and sustainability to the organization.
Voltamp has over thirty-five years of experience and a significant presence in the MENA region. What role does Voltamp play in enhancing the power grid stability and resilience in MENA?
Mohammed Ajmal Basha: As a product provider, we prioritize incorporating the latest technology into our offerings. Our products are not only known for quality but also undergo a rigorous sequence of validation to ensure unquestionable reliability. We have dedicated considerable time to this, producing a range of products that were previously unavailable in the Oman, GCC, and MENA markets. Examples include our 400 kV, 500 MVA power transformers, Solar inverted duty transformers, and the likes. These products, previously absent in the country and in the region, were typically imported from the Far East and European region.
In times when global supply chain challenges arise, it becomes crucial for our customers and clients to meet their commitments, as a local manufacturer our responsibility is to ensure we bridge this gap and work in a direction to promptly supply customers with readily available solutions.
Our products are not only known for quality but also undergo a rigorous sequence of validation to ensure unquestionable reliability
Mohammed Ajmal Basha
Moreover, we have developed an engineering service that operates 24/7. This service can promptly respond to customer needs, ensuring that any issues with the products in the system are addressed without causing outages. Our commitment is to provide reliability to our product, and this is what we consistently strive to uphold.
What benefits does Voltamp offer to its customers?
Mohammed Ajmal Basha: The primary advantage, as I mentioned earlier, is our unique product portfolio and strong service support. We emphasize that for any transformer in this region, we take full ownership. Additionally, we assure our customers that they don’t need to worry about the product, whether it is our own or another company’s transformer or switchgear. We extend our services to cover them all and respond to them.
The recent accomplishment of manufacturing the first 400kV, 500 MVA power transformer in Sohar, Oman, is a remarkable feat. What does this achievement mean for Voltamp and the broader industry, and how does it align with Oman’s 2040 vision?
Mohammed Ajmal Basha: The Oman Vision 2040, focusing on localization and internal safety, is a pillar of Vision 2040. This product is instrumental in realizing these objectives for Oman. It ensures that Oman can be self-reliant and not be dependent on external sources. This is significant not only for Oman but also for the entire region, as we can now produce these products locally, which were previously scarce. Our products go into the electricity grid where the data security and the flexibility to respond to calls quickly have significant importance and this is where this product comes as a solid support.
The transformer market is undergoing substantial changes to meet global requirements, and there are currently supply challenges. However, we can still provide such large transformers to our customers within a timeframe of 10 to 12 months, such large transformer handling is specialized, and providing such product in the region by road and to the plinth of the site, enhances the customer delight, and brings the safety of the product and quick deliverability.
Voltamp signed an MoU earlier this year with GCC Electrical Testing Laboratories to collaborate on a range of services. How do you envision this collaboration supporting the development of the power sector in Saudi Arabia and Oman, and what are the expected outcomes?
Mohammed Ajmal Basha: This is one of the strategic initiatives we have undertaken for our plan in GCC. Saudi Arabia is our focus country, it stands as the largest market in the GCC region, nearly ten times the size of Oman or approximately 50% of the entire GCC market for our product. Given Saudi’s substantial growth, we must be an integral part of this vision and put our efforts into this success story.
Voltamp is a company with a vision focused on bringing the latest technology products and services to the region. In this endeavour, GCC lab is a partner in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Our alignment with the GCC lab is primarily focused on addressing a significant service gap for large power transformer repair and services. Currently, there are service opportunities that remain unexplored, and due to the ongoing capital investments, and aging transformers, there is a challenge in repairing transformers locally. The cost of sending them to Europe or the Far East for repair and getting them back amounts to around 70% of the total cost. We, being in close proximity, can provide these services for Saudi Arabia quickly and at competitive prices. We have already started collaborating with several companies, particularly Saudi Aramco, to bring transformers here, repair them, and send them back.
Voltamp is a company with a vision focused on bringing the latest technology products and services to the region
Mohammed Ajmal Basha
However, the increasing demand indicates a need for a more dedicated approach within Saudi Arabia. Hence, the GCC lab serves as our strategy to localize repair in Saudi Arabia, aiming to develop local content and enhance our reach to customers.
How does Voltamp stay ahead of the curve in terms of adapting to market trends and addressing challenges in the power and technology industry?
Mohammed Ajmal Basha: Let me emphasize this point – the product we deal with is a capital product. Our large transformers, for instance, cost around 3 to 4 million USD, making them significant capital investments apart from being critical to the power system. Given the nature of this product, its reliability is paramount. Since it is not a product purchased regularly, we prioritize providing customers with a reliable transformer that has a long lifetime of more than 30 to 35 years. This ensures customer satisfaction and distinguishes between a good and a bad product.
In terms of product development and reliability, which is our primary focus, we invest heavily in research and development (R&D), localization, and ensuring a high level of local content. For instance, our large transformers had this envisioned and we had key team members who were young Omanis who have demonstrated their skills and commitment. We take pride in the fact that a considerable amount of local talent and effort goes into ensuring the quality of our products. Apart from our commitment to developing these products, we also make sure they are produced on time and meet high-quality standards at a competitive price.
Our commitment is to provide reliability to our product, and this is what we consistently strive to uphold
Mohammed Ajmal Basha
We follow certain key parameters to measure our success, including timely product development and achieving a high-quality first-time pass. In terms of technology, we have evolved from being a distribution transformer manufacturer to a large power transformer manufacturer, we have specialized products for Renewable solar power stations and products for the Oil & Gas sector which are rarely or not available in the region other than us. Our R&D team is equipped to adapt to technological changes, such as incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) into our transformers. We have integrated components into our transformers that provide advanced information and can be accessed through mobile devices. This technological aspect is a significant focus of our ongoing efforts and innovations.