Abdullah Taha

Eexecutive Vice President at McKinsey & Company

• Saudi Arabia - Jeddah
• My current job since April 2017

Senior Partner at Elixir Management Consultancy

• Saudi Arabia - Jeddah
• August 2014 to April 2017

Strategic Planning, Transformation Leadership, Change Management, Delivery and Implementation Acceleration, Performance Improvement.

Finance and Healthcare practices.

Public and Private sectors.

chief executive officer at Balsam United

• Saudi Arabia - Jeddah
• June 2010 to July 2014

ICT & Media Sector Development Director at Economic Cities Authority

• Saudi Arabia - Jeddah
• May 2010 to October 2010

Key Responsibilities:
• Promoted the business to potential customers, by the identification of and attendance at relevant networking events, created and maintained an effective sales lead pipeline process including the provision of accurate management reporting.
• Managed and drove the development of the ICT & Media sector, built and executed on a strategic plan that delivers on key business opportunities as well as managed the internal customer relationship.
• Worked closely with internal departments and Emaar counter executives to promote overlay ECA strategy, liaising with ICT System Integrators to keep abreast of products/services and meeting clients to discuss high-value complex solutions that meet current Economic Cities initiatives.

Investment Development Director – ICT Sector at Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority -SAGIA

• Saudi Arabia - Riyadh
• January 2008 to May 2010

Highlights:
• Bestowed with Outstanding Achievement Team Award - SAGIA 2008.
• Launched and set-up a new community to foster entrepreneurship and VCs across Saudi Arabia and supported ICT start-ups (www.saudistartup.org).
• Engaged in Saudi Arabia wide market hub development, oversaw opportunity capture and development as well as client engagement for ICT in Saudi Arabia and the Economic Cities.
• Served as member of National Industrial Development Program planning team -lead by Ministry of Commerce and as member of ICT Council to drive ICT product interest, action, and purchase across Saudi Arabia.

Key Responsibilities:
• Drove and managed Business Development team to deliver an ICT sector wide investment strategy and measure value and recommended additional growth areas to board for consideration based on research and market scanning.
• Planed and managed external engagements between SAGIA/EEC and top multinational ICT companies like: Microsoft, Motorola, UbiSoft, IBM, Axciom, Dell, and Ericsson to ensure best return on investment.
• Assimilated requirements and potential opportunities in new sectors by liaising with STC, Mobily, Zain, CITC, Ministry of Telecom & IT, Yesser, KACST, and other Private Equity firms.

Senior Brand Manager at SADAFCO

• Saudi Arabia - Jeddah
• August 2006 to December 2007

Highlights:
• Expanded the company's foot print in the market by introducing 2 brands and capturing 6% and 11% in year one to be ranked among the top 3 competing brands in their markets.
• Aligned New Product Development process with company objectives and integrated them with product development, production, marketing and sales in the company to win new business.

Key Responsibilities:
• Managed all operations of the enterprise including market analysis, strategic business planning, product pricing, target segmentation, demand-generation, strategies, product launches, internal/external communication, and sales and channel readiness.
• Developed and implemented strategies to increase revenue, market share and share of wallet encompassing the marketing division.
• Maintained constant oversight of the sales funnel, developed forecasts, prepared and presented all relevant management reports to facilitate strategic interpretation.
• Developed standardized sales presentations, proposals, and demonstration scripts, analyzed sales wins and losses and enabled sales with competitive depositioning.
• Reviewed performance, provided incentives, recognition and promoted a team-oriented sense of camaraderie that led to better performance and cohesiveness among team members.
• Provided comprehensive training for sales staff on product features and benefits, product life cycles, market and customer awareness and respective competitive advantages.
• Tracked customer care, dashboard, metrics, consumer feedback, customer satisfaction to measure performance and employment of existing and new functionalities and features.
• Kept close pace on market dynamics and potential opportunities, identified primary thrust areas of business, streamlined procedures to meet all yearly business.

Account Manager - West at Oracle Systems

• Saudi Arabia - Jeddah
• January 2006 to July 2006

Key Responsibilities:
• Developed business plans and strategies, managed key client projects and provided both pre-and post-sales technical client support across different divisions.
• Established sales and product distribution opportunities by exploring relationships with resellers, distributors, dealers, retailers, systems integrators, franchisers, and licensees.

Assistant Brand Manager at Procter & Gamble

• Saudi Arabia - Jeddah
• November 2003 to January 2006

Highlights;
Received 2 Recognition Awards in Organization development in 2005 and managed a portfolio of leading brands, resulting in revenue increase by 45% in Health and Beauty Care.

Key Responsibilities;
• Drove business, brand vision and architecture initiatives, ensured sustained growth, through enhanced brand visibility, position and strategies.
• Developed promotional strategies to drive business and establish future brand management objectives. Launched several company brands to build a strong market share for the company including white space launches.
• Impacted overall business profitability by initiating change, mobilized resources, generated and synthesized ideas, set plans into motion - bringing them to closure.
• Scrutinized brand performance periodically to ensure that the brand was performing within business parameters. Identified new and creative ways of increasing the brand sales and provided appropriate recommendations to exceed targets.
• Directed, developed and implemented marketing plans, budgets and long term financial plans to achieve established volume, profit and spending objectives.
• Identified risk and opportunity, managed multinational projects and coordinated with global teams and cross continent supply chains in addition to P&G creative agencies world wide like Grey, Publices, S&S, and Leo Burnett.

Field Manager at Saudi Business Machines

• Saudi Arabia - Eastern Province
• June 2000 to October 2003

Highlights:
• Assigned as a Top Performer” for ITS Business Unit - SBM/IBM 2003, and included in 100% Achievers Club - SBM/IBM 2002 and 100% Achievers Club - SBM/IBM 2001.
• Deployed IBM first 36TB file system in the world in 2001 and was ranked # 24 globally in 2002.
• Contributed 18 million and 22 million USD to the company top line in 2002 and 2003 by driving growth for key accounts in the Eastern Province and High End platforms in the whole Saudi Arabia.
• Won the biggest outsourcing contract for Saudi East Electrical Company at the time for a value of 6.5 Million SAR in 2003.

Key Responsibilities:
• Prioritized key initiatives, developed marketing strategies/ business-building opportunities, and increased overall mass market accounts by establishing professional relations with high net worth clients.
• Explored potential business opportunities, expanded current accounts, established revenue-generating relationships with potential clients for enhancing market share growth.
• Developed strong business relations with key accounts and delivered company products/services to the utmost satisfaction of the client by appraising customer needs and providing product information.
• Kept IT strategy aligned with the changing business needs, and prioritizing technology initiatives in alignment with business/user requirements.