Head of Strategic Partnerships, MENA
Amazon - United Arab Emirates
Total years of experience :8 years, 9 Months
Growing Amazons customer portfolio of 5, 000+ businesses in the MENA region through strategic initiatives with strategic partners.
• Leading the GTM strategy and execution across 9 countries in the MENA region by driving strategic initiatives and cross functional engagement with business development, marketing, finance and legal teams, thus creating a new revenue partnership program.
• Managing the new revenue P&L by originating and negotiating partnerships with digital platforms, consulting firms, private equity funds, governments and conglomerates, and developing a $1 Billion opportunity, thus winning strategic ($'000 Million) deals.
• Driving strategic planning to realize the 3 year strategy for Amazon Payment Services by carving differentiation amidst competition, and identifying synergies with our United States and Europe businesses, leading to executive leadership sign off.
• Spearheading brand building initiatives by facilitating roundtable sessions with customer C-suite executives, economic enrichment discussions with rulers and royal family offices, and signing ceremonies with CEOs, opening doors to 3 new market segments.
• Supporting strategic initiatives to enhance profitability by collaborating with finance to analyze transaction economics, and initiating programs for exceptional pricing negotiation and payment facilitation, projecting $'00 Million in annual savings.
• Defining digital transformation and portfolio value creation opportunities with merchants by showcasing Amazon Web Services, Amazon Payment Services, Amazon eCommerce and Amazon Ads, leading to a 30% organic increase in deal value.
Built Western Unions digital payments banking network in the MENA region to expand the global network that processes $300+ Billion.
• Led the GTM strategy and execution by engaging global banks, regional banks and central banks to establish cross-border real-time digital payments for the 1 st time for >200 Million customers in the MENA region.
• Steered regional strategic initiatives by overseeing digital transformation (WU app, WU.com), network development (digital, physical), enterprise sales (branded, white label), and marketing (retail, digital), expanding the MENA footprint from 0 to 10 countries.
• Crafted the global sales strategy (pricing, partnership narrative, product value proposition) by designing sales collateral tailored to regions, and coaching the team on transaction P&L, optimizing sales cycles for a 30-member team by 40%
• Supported global M&A and business development initiatives, resulting in investments of $'00 Million into FinTech startups with Techstars accelerator, and the divestment of WU business solutions to a Private Equity fund for $1 Billion.
Led strategic partnerships with Banks and FinTechs across APAC to launch digital bank products with $100+ Million revenue potential.
• Drove the commercial strategy for Visa APAC by enabling growth initiatives (GTM, M&A, investment) with FinTechs (Revolut, Wise) and banks, and expanding the portfolio (cards, gateways, digital wallets with G Pay / Pay), accelerating QoQ growth by 3%
• Led strategy workshops for Indias top 3 banks by co-creating their digital banking roadmap (portfolio optimization, value proposition), and managing a 10-member cross-functional team to plan execution, achieving partner P&L goals.
• Devised a FinTech strategy for the Worlds #1 Fashion retailer, and liaised with cross-functional teams (marketing, legal, tech) in Dubai, Singapore and Silicon Valley to design the product roadmap, initiating the 1 st ever digital payout product in the region.
• Structured and negotiated deals with strategic pursuits (Vietnams #1 bank, Indonesias #1 eCommerce merchant) by building business cases for a new market segment, pioneering the 1 st ever regional cross-border card with projected revenue of $60 Million.
Advised Sovereign Wealth Funds and Fortune 500 C-suite executives across Southeast Asia on strategy and operations.
• Crafted a digital strategy for a $300 Billion Sovereign Wealth Fund by assessing the portfolio to uncover value creation opportunities by leveraging digital partners, and identifying synergies within the portfolio for digital transformation, resulting in CEO sign off.
• Devised an operating model transformation for a $83 Billion Oil & Gas company by mapping the digital maturity of the value chain, and recommending strategic initiatives to digitally transform legacy operations, leading to CSO sign off.
• Executed an eCommerce strategy for a $21 Billion Insurance firm by defining customer analytics fields to automate dynamic outreach, and benchmarking operations to partner with a new digital sales channel, resulting in CMO sign off.
• Managed a market entry strategy project for a $30B luxury brand by leading a 7-member cross-border cross-functional team (marketing, sales, BI) to conduct feasibility studies, and structuring partnerships (payments, platform, logistics), launching the brand.
• Drafted the GTM strategy for the institutional equities business by analyzing trading volumes, market wrap-ups and expert interviews.