Khadija Al Jabri

GEMS Education is a pioneering education 55 year old company. Through their schools, consulting practice and charitable foundation they aim to advancing education for all. GEMS work with governments, donor agencies and private clients to improve education systems, and provide vital training for young people in an increasingly competitive world. My role at GEMS is to develop strategic marketing plans for GEMS Schools in order to meet enrolment targets, CRM/ retention; managing existing schools marketing/ branding requirements.

My main responsibilities with GEMS include:

• Enrolment Drives & Brand Awareness of Schools
• Manage Corporate & Individual School Marketing Budgets
• Manage Partner Schools
• Monitor Market Research & Competitor Activity
• Develop & Implement Integrated Marketing Activations
• Manage Agencies & Suppliers
• Implementation & audit of GEMS Touch Points within schools
• Support internal departments
• Manage & build relationships with both Internal and external stakeholders
• Manager & support strategic alliances, projects and initiatives

The Dubai Festivals & Retail Establishment (DFRE), an Agency of the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), was launched in 1996 to revitalize the retail sector of the emirate and add value to its tourism offerings based on the vision of Dubai. My role to support this vision is to strategize, develop and execute creative marketing strategies and plan to promote a portfolio of various festival & retail projects of DFRE.

My responsibilities with DFRE include:
• Develop an annual event marketing plan focused on achieving DEPE’s established targets.
• Focus on achieving value and impact for DEPE’s festivals and events.
• Ensure that the event marketing campaigns and initiatives build brand awareness and communicate all offerings.
• Monitor and maintain the spending for the area based on overall budget approval.
• Lead and mentor team members through the successful delivery of the festival & retail marketing strategy. Monitor the team’s management of all aspects of production of marketing materials - from concept to delivery.
• Work collaboratively with staff on the Festivals and events team and other teams of DEPE to ensure all campaigns and communications are an accurate reflection of content and brand.
• Identify market requirements for initiatives now and in the future through market research and ongoing patron evaluations.
• Facilitate the execution of all event marketing initiatives.
• Develop effective processes and procedures to increase efficiencies based on best practices.
• Lead, inspire motive and manage the marketing team to achieve excellence in all areas.
• Build effective relationships with all external stakeholders (suppliers, event sector, other).
• Work in partnership with the Festivals and Events team and other teams within DEPE to ensure content and execution of all marketing initiatives represent excellence and maintain the brand integrity of all festivals and events.

My experience with Emaar was a very vast one where I had the opportunity to work on different projects on different roles which I have highlighted and broken down in the descriptions below.I started off in the company as a Management Associate and underwent a fast track management program for fresh graduates. Since I joined I had 4 promotions and to move into Senior Brand Manager post. These are the list of the projects I worked on:
• Arabian Ranches
• Polo Homes
• Umm Al Quwain Marin
• Mushrif Heights
• Downtown Burj Dubai
• Jeddah Gate
• Emirates Living
• Dubai Marina
• Emaar Corporate
• Emaar Subsidiaries & Entities
• Emaar Bawadi Joint Venture - set up & launch
• Abraj Al Bait (Makkah) Serviced Apartments
• Emaar USA

With each of the projects listed above, it has resulted in me strategizing, planning and executing to the following:
• Branding Development
• Brand Building including 360 degree brand building campaigns
• Masterplan Launching
• Product Launching Strategizing & Execution
• Sales & Marketing Strategizing
• Marketing Plans
• Product/ Market Evaluation
• Development of Sales Centers/ Customer Journeys/ Customer Experiences
• Innovative Selling Techniques e.g. Auctions
• ATL Brand Development
• BTL Development
• Online Development
• Interactive visuals Developments
• Public Relations & Crisis Management
• Return on Investment Evaluations
• Product education
• Inventory support
• Market Research
• Events Planning & Execution
• Developing e-services systems for customers