Lecico is one of the oldest and largest manufacturers of sanitary ware, brassware, and tiles in the Middle East, with over 60 years of history behind it, but remains at the cutting edge of its market. Building on that history, Lecico now produces over 4 million pieces of sanitary ware, 22 million square meters of tiles and 200,000 pieces of brassware a year, generating a revenue of $150 million and employing 6,000 people across Lebanon, Egypt, England, Poland, and Germany, placing the firm as a leader in its industry.
“Our history has given us a mix of corporate and family values,” says Taher Gargour, Managing Director, and CEO of Lecico Egypt. “We are a family business with a market listing and the majority of our shares held independently. So, we are accountable to shareholders and reviewed by the investor community at the same time as to the family.”
It means that Lecico is engaged in an ongoing process of constant improvement and efficiency optimisation, as you would expect from any modern corporation. Yet at the same time, the family company character of the business means it plans for the next generation not only the immediate returns. The company remains fiercely independent in a way few businesses of size in Lecico’s sector can claim, even as it is manufacturing for leading brands in the industry.
The company prides itself on investing in locally sourced management and workers, and is the largest provider to the Egyptian market, yet the majority of its sales goes to its export market in Europe.
It is this ability to get the best benefits of its conflicting attributes, family yet corporate, international yet local, large yet agile, that has defined Lecico Egypt’s success.
“As a family we have always been very strict about only allowing family members into the company who have a clear and focused job role,” Gargour insists. “I am currently the only family member in the company, and I am the third generation within the family to take up the reins at Lecico. What the family ownership of the company contributes is the principles by which we approach our work and treat all our stakeholders. We think of the next generation and plan for the decades ahead not only the quarterly results. Our organisational DNA sees all our functions being handled by a corporate structure with devolved responsibilities and empowered management. We treat our stakeholders like family and often have two or three generations of the same family working with us. That history and longevity give us something unique in a company with our size and profile.”
Lecico Egypt combines the competitive cost base that comes with working in Egypt, combined with the kind of quality, regularity standards and service you might expect from a European manufacturer.
“It means we can provide some of the best value anywhere in Europe,” says Gargour. “We are not the cheapest, but for customers looking for quality, good design and high levels of service we can talk about real value for money. We offer comprehensive solutions, with quality and value at the centre of our business.”
Keeping a Cool Head
But while Lecico occupies a competitive position in the European market, it remains a proudly Egyptian company. Being based in Egypt has meant Lecico has had to navigate the issues facing the region.
“As a Middle Eastern business, dealing with crises and external shocks is part of our DNA,” Gargour says. “The business started in the late 1950s, in Lebanon. That is where our name comes from. We did not stop production for one day during the 20-year Lebanon civil war. Since then, we have weathered Covid and the Egyptian Revolution, always with seamless service to our customers. We have lived with massive inflation, currency shocks, security risks and regional disruptions. You get used to being very flexible in a way you maybe don’t have to in a more developed market.”
When asked how Lecico is able to keep functioning under circumstances ranging from economic stability to all-out war, Gargour is pragmatic.
“That is what a significant proportion of the world has to do,” he says. “You do it by keeping a cool head and focusing on the core of business. You maintain safe stock levels without overleveraging yourself and building up mountains of working capital. We just keep our head down and focus on delivering whatever the shocks and this has always worked for us.”
With the key role that a locally sourced workforce plays in Lecico’s fortunes, naturally the firm invests heavily in recruiting and retaining that workforce.
“The skills and the mindset needed for manufacturing at an international standard are significantly different from those needed for Middle Eastern markets, so we have to train our staff and make them think in a way that’s a bit unusual for the market and culture they were raised in and live in,” Gargour explains. “We prefer to recruit younger staff and train them in-house. This is the basis of our business model. We retain that staff by giving them security and opportunity.”
Bringing the Business Home
Once again, this comes down to the fine line Lecico Egypt walks between being a family business, and a publicly traded corporation.
“We pride ourselves on being an employer that gives our staff the protections of a modern corporation. You know what’s coming, you feel secure and that your rights are protected,” Gargour says. “We try to combine that with the care and flexibility of a family-run business. We have a loan program for people who are in financial trouble, and a charity program for when workers or their families are sick. For senior staff we have a more tailored program to support them during a family crisis.”
That safety net is combined with a culture grounded in equal opportunities. Gargour takes pride in Lecico’s collegiate atmosphere that encourages people to bring their ideas to the table. This is not just about retaining talent; it is also about fuelling the company’s transition away from expatriate management to a home-grown leadership team.
“We are training the next generation and transitioning from an expatriate-led senior management to a young Egyptian team raised within the company,” Gargour emphasises. “Our quality department, exports department and sales department, and all of our factories in Egypt have now gone from being run by expats to local staff over the past decade. We are continuing to build depth and localize more in the years ahead. We are a company that has room for ambitious and successful management to grow with us.”
Looking at where that growth will take them, it is clear Gargour is excited. But even as the company grows, the twin-sided nature of Lecico as a company will remain in place.
“We are leaning into our business model, built on this two-sided business. We are family and corporate, an exporter and an Egyptian company serving the Egyptian market. We are international but we are local,” Gargour says. “We are going to keep leaning into this model and our elevator pitch of value and quality. Our growth will take us into the US and Southern European markets in the coming years, alongside expanding our offer and growing market share in our core markets in England, Germany, France and Egypt. In Egypt, we are seeing a lot of optimism and promise for growth in the years ahead as we emerge from a difficult past few years for the local economy.”
“We are also investing in improving our capabilities and technology with a look to expanding our higher-end market offering both in terms of products and design, while looking to improve overall efficiency and keep our costs low. All is designed to keep our focus on offering European levels of quality at better value due to our advantageous cost base in Egypt.”
