Ahmed Kotb

Designation Chronology:
• January 2014 - Present: Director of the Department of Budget and Project Control
• August 2009 - December 2013: Outside Plant (OSP) Planning and Control


• Commanding the Budget and Project Control department, directing preparation of budgets, monitoring sales and revenues and reporting for all 4 main sectors - telecom, electricity, operation & maintenance and building construction across 14 branches in Saudi Arabia.
• Successfully led planning, budgeting and monitoring of projects executed for esteemed clients including Saudi Telecom Company, Etihad Etisalat (Mobily), Alcatel, Huawei, Honeywell, Saudi Electricity Company, Saudi Aramco, King Abdullah Petroleum Studies & Research Centre (KAPSRAC), Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Social Affairs, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Ministry of Agriculture, Water & Environment & the Directorate of Health Affairs, Secretariat General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Salam, TLS, Rafal, Riyadh.
• Instrumental in building Center of Excellence which consistently provides best practice developing & Project/Cost Control functions.

• Telecom projects - External Networks Cumulative value: Over SAR 500 million
• Telecom projects - Maintenance Cumulative value: Over SAR 200 million
• Electricity projects - Unified Contract Cumulative value: Over SAR 180 million
• Operation and Maintenance projects Cumulative value: Over SAR 300 million
• Construction projects Cumulative value: Over SAR 79 million
• Water Projects, Cumulative value: Over SAR 200 million


• Establishing and implementing policies, procedures and models/ forms required for preparation of budget estimates for the company’s operations. Shouldering onus to achieve all strategic performance indicators for the organizational unit in accordance with the specific goals.
• Played a key role in re-structuring the department, establishing an action plan, and designing reports that achieve its objectives.
• Establishing policies, procedures and models related to revenue including revenue recognition, verification, billing and follow-up mechanism enabling achievement of revenue targets of the company.
• Managing all stages of budgeting including preparation of sub-budgets, consolidation of sub-budgets to prepare the overall budget, presentation of the budget to the Board of Directors and clarifying queries to obtain approval.
• Owning pioneering vision, shaping the project controls culture at ASOC, embedding these in the behavior and day to day activities of the organization’s operations. Ownership of explanation of planning and control role of budgets for all sectors/divisions of the company.
• Delivering vision and value at Board level, through the provision of insightful financial analysis and action-oriented reporting to drive greater revenues and shareholder value.
• Enforcing implementation of principles of budget preparation - comprehensiveness, distribution, time, realism, etc.
• Ownership for the integrity and validity of financial analysis reports issued by the management, achieving the qualitative characteristics of the financial data (understanding, appropriateness, reliability, impartiality).
• Re-engineering and designing full budgeting process and approval cycle thereby ensuring an efficient cost control system for sectors and divisions. Following up on the integrity & correctness of procedures for disbursement of budget items.
• Providing insights into OPEX spend analytics and projections. Generating daily performance progress report VS target & monthly trend dashboards.
• Reviewing revenues, ensuring their validity, and approving them as a neutral entity in accordance with revenue recognition standards.
• Leading the company’s cost reduction program, identifying opportunities for saving in expenditures, strategic contracting and procurement to deliver/ register savings in expenses.

Highlights:
• Checked and approved revenue of all telecom OSP and FTTH projects executed by the company in Riyadh, Qassim, Hail, Jouf and Arar mainly for the client Saudi Telecom Company (STC).
Completed Projects
• Fibre to the Home (FTTH) project, 2013 Client: STC Value: SAR 45 million
• FTTH projects 2012 and 2013 Client: Mobily Value: SAR 80 million
• Outside Plant (OSP) Expansion project, 2013 Client: STC Value: SAR 6.2 million
• FTTH project 2012 Client: STC Value: SAR 56.3 million
• OSP Expansion project 2011 Client: STC Value: SAR 30 million
• OSP Expansion project 2010 Client: STC Value: SAR 27 million
• OSP Expansion project 2009 Client: STC Value: SAR 38 million

Key Responsibilities:
• Administered all contracts related to outside plant (OSP) projects assuring compliance with all scope and time requirements enabling on time successful completion of projects.
• Reviewed all project progress reports and quantity survey reports of the projects and checked and verified revenue recognition, invoicing and collection.
• Formulated project execution plans, budgets and cash flow plans, monitored implementation, identified variances and executed corrective action plans.
• Administered contracts of subcontractors engaged by the company and monitored performance to achieve schedule, cost and time objectives.
• Attended periodic project progress and other interface meetings and contributed to the resolution of project planning and scheduling issues.
• Performed project performance analysis and produced weekly and monthly reports with recommended action plans for management information and action.
• Monitored and ensured compliance with all applicable corporate policies and procedures as well as project-specific procedures.

• OSP Expansion project 2008 Value: SAR 8 Million
• OSP Expansion project 2007 Value: SAR 4.5 Million
• OSP Expansion project 2006 Value: SAR 3 Million
• OSP Expansion project 2005 Value: SAR 4 Million

• Significantly contributed to the successful completion of annual OSP expansion projects for STC in the Qassim area of KSA
• Assisted the Project Manager in all aspects of project monitoring and control for execution of OSP expansion contracts awarded by STC.
• Supervised materials management activities including assessing requirements, planning, coordinating procurement, storage issue & control of stock holdings of all project related materials.
• Offered statistical inputs for preparation of preliminary reports on annual performance of the branch including profit and achievements