Lebanon’s leading events design group is making a definitive move to Nicosia.

A few weeks ago, Elias Krim finalised the process of moving his company which specialises in outdoor and indoor decorations for special events, from Beirut to Nicosia, driven by the untenable conditions in Lebanon today.

From the quiet shores of Larnaca’s Finikoudes, CEO and co-founder of Hadel group Elias Krim told the Cyprus Mail why he chose Cyprus as a final destination.

“Since its establishment, our group succeeded in the elaboration of many high-scale indoor and outdoor projects. We partnered with major municipalities in Lebanon. And we executed special Christmas and Easter decoration designs for the main malls and shopping centers in Beirut. But today amidst Lebanon’s economic meltdown our business is a commodity not everyone can afford anymore” he elaborated.

“Our main plan for Cyprus is to upgrade this field and market on the island and create new needs and trends in the field during seasonal and special outdoor and indoor events, and therefore we are now targeting malls, venues, event planners, wedding planners, events, wedding contractors and municipalities including governmental projects” he explains.

Krim had looked at Greece, Ukraine and Georgia. “Greece would have been much more complicated; moving to Cyprus was easier,” he noted.

“We chose Cyprus because of its proximity and because it is also a safe country. But first and foremost, we chose it for the incentives offered. Taxes on corporations are very low (12.5 per cent), the procedure of setting up a company is actually very simple and fast and the workforce is well trained and educated. It also offers a strong network of legal professionals” Krim explains.

“For now I am going back and forth between Beirut and Nicosia because we have partly move but I am surely considering a full move in the near future. We are in the process of building a strong network on the island,” he said.

Krim was surprised at how quickly it was possible to make the move.

“We started the move to Cyprus in June 2020. We have worked with a well-known professional Cypriot legal entity. They took care of the entire process, so that incorporation and the issuance of legal certifications was swift. It took a few months to set up the bank account and we were fully ready to operate by the end of 2020.”

Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, we had to postpone the launch until a few weeks ago,” he says.

“For now we have established our HQ in Nicosia since it is the capital. But we plan to expand and open a small factory and a warehouse in Larnaca because it’s a midway city between the main cities of the island” he explained.

“In Lebanon, our group is a merged venture of two sister companies MDHR and Belenista. Both companies joined forces in 2011.

Today we employ around 38 people in Lebanon and are looking forward to recruit Cypriot talent on the island,” Krim points out.

“We can work in residential areas, hotels, markets, shops, schools, supermarkets, airports stadiums and public areas including bridges, roads and highways.

We have previously decorated many kilometres of streets and highways in Lebanon during festive seasons” he elaborates.

However, all our products and artifacts are hand crafted by our modest and talented crew.

We excel at executing designs that fill and fit the spaces that they were designed for.

And because our designs are often displayed outdoors, we ensure they are 100 per cent waterproof and well-isolated to protect them from fires and external factors” he adds.

“We are betting on bringing our 40-year-old legacy to Cyprus to make a difference and we will make a difference. After all our main job is to make dreams come true” Krim concludes.