For almost 10 years, Hamid Aribi has promoted Kohler across the Middle East and Africa. As part of our Global Power Partner Spotlight series, let’s get to know Hamid better, as a key contributor to Kohler customer success.
Welcome Hamid! For those that don’t know you, can you tell a little about yourself?
Sure! I’m a French citizen, but I left Europe around 20 years ago to work abroad. Since then I’ve lived and worked in Asia, America, and now the Middle East. In my time before joining Kohler I had the privilege of representing large industrial groups in China, Vietnam, Hong Kong, the United States, and even South America. Over the years I’ve collaborated with leading companies in different fields, mostly managing subsidiaries and local teams to bring value to clients in different regions. I’ve been with Kohler in Africa and the Middle East since 2014. Since 2021, I’ve looked after Kohler Data Center clients in the EMEA region as Global Business Development Manager.
Wow! You’ve really been around!
I’m lucky enough to be multilingual, and I’ve been able to adapt quickly into different business and cultural environments. It’s been fun to experience different places!
What kinds of things do you do at Kohler?
A lot of my job involves understanding the needs of our customers to be able to respond effectively with plans that can help, so I spend a lot of time building relationships with people and organizations to understand them better. I meet with clients often to talk about their projects, engage with industry trends, and identify new opportunities to create backup power solutions.
What do you find compelling about working in the data center sphere?
Data centers have become the newest type of critical infrastructure, increasingly essential to our society. Whether it's business-critical information or my favorite Netflix show, everything shared over the internet is on a server and these servers need to be supported by our generators. It’s a challenge to be constantly adapting to technological developments, but it’s a privilege to be able to contribute to such a vital aspect of peoples’ day-to-day lives.
What does it mean to you to be the data center’s global power partner, and how do you support this commitment in your day-to-day operations?
I am particularly proud to be the Kohler brand ambassador in my area, and take the role very seriously. We’re not just a genset supplier, we’re the number one power partner in the world.
In such a demanding market, I aim to be both creative and competitive in our approach. We have to be creative to stay abreast of tech developments and business trends, ensuring we can always be a leader and a difference-maker in the industry–offering solutions that matter, not just equipment. At the same time, we have to be responsive to the market, and offer our customers a fair deal that works for them in their individual situation.
What do you see being the biggest trends, considerations or requirements at play in the data center sphere today? How are these requirements currently being met, and what work still needs to be done?
Data centers are a growing sector, critical for so many aspects of modern life. However, data centers have a significant impact on energy consumption. I read recently that the digital sector swallowed up nearly 12% of global electricity production in 2020, and data centers alone represent between 20 and 30% of this sector. For the really big data centers in the U.S., one facility alone can consume around 100 million watts!
With reliability being the essential factor for success with data centers it’s tricky to pioneer new solutions, but we’re quickly approaching the point where we will have no choice. Sooner or later we’ll have to offer at least partially hybrid products to meet the need of reduced environmental impact.
We need to provide innovative solutions to support customers in their quest to minimize their carbon footprint, which is why we have already started promoting the HVO solutions. In fact, today in our main Europe manufacturing facility, all generator tests are carried out with HVO fuel. This is the way the industry needs to continue heading.
Outside of your Kohler work, what do you like to do?
I’ve had a passion for travel since I was very young. I love discovering the world and meeting local people. I’ve had the chance to explore six different continents over the years, and it has totally changed my worldview.
When I’m traveling, my favorite thing to do is scuba diving. I’ve done dives all over the world and seen so many fantastic things in nature. Preserving our marine ecosystems is important to me, and that plays into my passion for sustainability when it comes to business practices as well.
Kohler is a great place for me to match my personal interests with important corporate goals, and I’m excited to see where the company goes next.
Continue our Global Power Partner Spotlight Series with Alok Kumar here.