Commercial Director GCC
Cigalah Al Naghi Group
Total years of experience :27 years, 5 Months
Cigalah is part of Mohamed Yousuf Naghi group, an 8.5 billions USD turnover in 2018 & thousands of employees across the GCC.
July 2019 I have rejoined my previous employer for a Commercial Director role to develop the Tobacco alternatives category in terms of distribution across the GCC.
Project was run in partnership with a main Tobacco supplier we represent in Saudi market.
January 2020 I moved to Cigalah consumer division, managing the sales, operation and marketing of total portfolio of a number of international brands like Rainbow Milk, Foster Clarks, Mentos gum, Chupa Chups, Davidoff Coffee, Jergens, Bior, Lesieur, BIC, Purell, Betadine, Cottomed, Safe Gel, MILUPA, BEBELAC and many more, including private label.
We cover directly the Modern Trade, Traditional Trade, Pharmaceutical & food service (partly) channels, across Saudi regions, with 11 depots.
Main responsibilities:
Managing the division P&L
Managing a sizable sales, merchandising, trade marketing & support fleet of 500+ employees
Accountable for business & categories growth
Develop strategy by channel and KA
Expand current distribution in the general trade and convenience channels
Attract new suppliers whom we can partner with to develop best execution, distribution & service for their products.
We are a large group, with solid investment in infrastructure and a strong financial position.
A consultancy role, specialized in sales and marketing, product positioning, brand building, market strategy, new distributors appointment. I covered USA, EU, all AFRICA, IRAN, GCC, Lebanon, Jordan.
Consulted for AL ZAWARE tobacco Jordan (Mazaya molasses)
Consulted for Pan Africa Tobacco, across EAST, WEST and South African markets.
Consulted Al Afrah Tobacco (Khaleej Molasses)
Cigalah is a multi-billions dollars group in FMCG & tobacco manufacturing and distribution, in addition to pharmaceutical and transportations industries.
I managed a sales team of 100+ members, including 6 direct reports. My responsibility included achieving business unit volumes & P&L targets, managing smooth relationship with supplier while developing together the yearly business plans, new launches, investment plans in distribution, as well developing marketing & trade activities calendar to achieve set targets.
“Ralph Imports” was established in 2010, to import & sell a range of Middle Eastern products to the Lebanese community in Melbourne. Range included “Marie France” brand.
Japan tobacco is the third largest tobacco company globally, with international brands like Winston, Camel.
My responsibilities varied from managing distributors to developing existing markets, brands & pricing strategies, volumes and P&L targets achievement, appointing new distributors, expanding business to new territories, products sourcing and profit optimization.
I had a dual role: Sales manager Yemen, as well Trade Marketing Manager GCC for beverages, confectionary and deserts categories.
Yemen market challenge was turned to a great opportunity with the introduction of new packaging formats and smaller size packs, resulting in profit increase and volumes growth, due to better shelf prices and incremental volumes generated from single serve packs
National Sales Manager Kuwait Jan 2003 Sep 2003
Category Sales development manager UAE, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain June 2001 Dec 2002
Trade Marketing Manager - Qatar Feb 2000 May 2001
The responsibility of sales manager role of Kuwait included managing a team of 90 salesmen and merchandisers, supervisors, cash vans, with a turnover that reached over 100 Million USD.
Category sales development manager roles covered at some point all Nestle categories of Confectionery, dairy, culinary, beverages, infant formulas, breakfast range. The role was newly established to align both trade and marketing objectives, activities and communication synergy between Above The Line & Below The Line communication.
As well at Nestle, I have set the yearly calendar plans, Key accounts yearly tailored plans, regional key accounts agreements, acquisition of large distributors & joint ventures.
Al Othman is the fourth largest dairy and juices company in KSA, with a remarkable success story in its fresh juices range, from Al Nada brand to Florida Naturals.
I had a great opportunity to manage an entire sales & merchandising team of 26 members, including 12 trucks, 3 schools salesmen and saleswomen, 10 merchandising teams. We covered all trade channels from Key accounts to groceries, catering, schools, labor camps, institutions & government offices.
The dairy industry is very delicate and challenging in terms of short date expiries and forecast accuracy, expensive distribution and cost of space in stores, investment in refrigerators.
It requires strong discipline in time, outlets regular visits, control of stocks, maintain shelf space and management of expiry dates on shelf.
• Introduced a new range of beverages and imported refrigerated foods in A & B class outlets in the northern region
• Developed the HORECA channel, supported by a bundle of trade marketing activities to induce awareness and trial (events sponsorships, sampling teams, promotions and visibility)
Bachelor degree in Business Marketing