The E3 Group, a globally active group specializing in exhibitions, events and environments with ten locations and more than 900 employees worldwide, has appointed Benoit Honnart as a new CEO for its Dubai-based subsidiary Electra Solutions. He succeeds Jean-Charles Durand, who took over the helm of Electra Solutions as CEO in 2002 and was instrumental in the successful growth of the company. Founded in 1992, today Electra is a broad-based provider of solutions in the areas of event production, trade fair construction, interior staging and equipment rental. The company has its own production capacity and employs more than 400 people in the Gulf region. In 2018, the E3 Group acquired all shares in Electra Solutions.

Benoit Honnart previously served as COO of the company. Born in France, he has been part of the Electra Solutions team since 2018 and has more than 16 years of international industry experience as well as extensive expertise in logistics, marketing and retail. Among other things, he worked for almost ten years as Managing Director Asia of the logistics company Group Legendre, based in China, and from there also managed other companies in Vietnam, Hong Kong and Cambodia. In 2016, he moved to Dubai and held various management positions at leading Live Marketing Companies prior to joining Electra Solutions.

Jean-Charles Durand had transformed Electra Solutions from what was once a stand contracting business into a fully integrated solutions provider and production house in the Middle East. The service portfolio includes custom made stands, exhibitions scenography, contracting and management, event décor and set up, semi-permanent museum exhibitions as well as tent and furniture rental. On an in-house production area of around 25,000m2, Electra Solutions realizes around 400 projects annually. The company has been a wholly owned subsidiary and part of the E3 Group since 2018.

In 2021 and 2022, Electra Solutions has several major events scheduled in the Gulf region. At the end of last year, the company already completed the construction of the USA pavilion at Expo 2020 in Dubai (October 1, 2021 - March 31, 2022) and handed it over to the US Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates. Further projects related to the 50th anniversary of the founding of the United Arab Emirates (December 2021) are in planning. Given the excellent growth prospects in the region, Electra Solutions plans to expand its range of services in the near future with a subsidiary in Saudi Arabia and other activities in Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. The company already has a presence in Abu Dhabi with its own branch.

Joern Trierweiler, CEO of E3 Group, said: “In Benoit Honnart, we are very pleased to have found an experienced successor to Jean-Charles Durand. Jean-Charles has provided valuable impetus for the further development of Electra Solutions, which is now one of the most successful companies of the E3 Group. On behalf of the employees and shareholders, I would like to express my sincere thanks for this. He will remain associated with the company as a consultant in the future. The fact that Benoit is very familiar with the company and can thus seamlessly assume operational responsibility is invaluable in these turbulent and challenging times for the entire industry. In light of the upcoming major events and prestigious contracts, our team is looking forward to tackling ambitious projects in the region, and his leadership experience and multicultural competence will be particularly important. And everyone at Electra Solutions is set to benefit as a result – especially its employees from 20 countries and its international customers.”