Merlin Jacob

Sales coverage and Brand Campaign management for major countries : Kuwait, Lebanon and Bahrain and secondary coverage on Jordan for the Swarovski Professional B2B business on Swarovski Elements, Corporate Gift Solutions and Jewelry Solutions.
o Responsible for target achievement of €3 million per annum over the assigned Official Distribution Partners and the Ingredient Brand Partners across the region.
o Responsible and Accountable for the country ownership reporting into the Managing Director for Swarovski ME.
o Member of the Middle East Leadership Team driving P&L mix, business strategy, brand strategy, country campaigns, product & pricing strategy and sales planning process.
o Engage partners across all aspects of account development and growth, brand campaign adaptations, event marketing, local media (Print/Pan-Arab publications, OOH & Social Media) planning, online content management, in-store & site trade marketing, market ownership, stock & price management and fulfillment models
o Train and mobilize the distribution in-store team on products, brand marketing, sales skills, channel structuring, order management and marketing mix.
o Support new product development and bespoke solutions for the Designer brands, corporate gift customers and direct manufacturers requirements.
o Drive Account Development & Marketing plans and distribution partners to devise channel programs and deliver organic growth.
o Map the channel market for distribution partner to cover Haute Couture, Pret, Bridal and Mass market designers, Traditional wear segment manufacturers, Jewelry & Accessory manufacturers and corporate clientele.
o Engage the design team to create and drive season launches, new design solutions and product introductions (NPI’s) to the market and harness maximum support from internal creative & in-house designer’s team.
o Optimize partner retail showrooms for plan-o-grams, visual merchandising, branding, consumer behavior analysis and product placements.
o Awarded Asia-South Star of the week for closing 2013 country plans on target.

o Optimize 60% utilization of total marketing budgets in commercial to meet target in line with Product and Channel priorities across the portfolio of Printing & Personal Systems across Middle East.
o Driving investment of 1% - 2% to support incremental revenue targets per quarter.
o Planning & implementing commercial strategies to support individual regions, while driving the central strategy and KPIs.
o Supporting partner led Co Marketing activities through brand assets and HP campaign executions, ensuring that brand guidelines are maintained and resources are channeled through customized ATL/BTL channels (Print, radio, OOH, In-Store Advertising, POS, Online &
Social Media).
o Developing and implementing Lead Generation initiatives across the sub-region to increase marketing funnel contribution, especially focusing on the SBSO, Mid-market and Corporate, Enterprise and Public space.
o Design & plan key campaign Events across Middle East to promote Brand & Channel messaging through HP’s partner channel including contact meetings, trainings, campaign / product launches, interactive and incentive events, including GITEX, DSF, DSS & in-country.
o Liaising with multi-national Agencies and the team for conceptualizing, briefing & execution; to ensure project deliveries on time.
o Working with Central and Local Alliance teams like Intel, Microsoft, AMD, Autodesk, Adobe, etc. to negotiate budgets for collaborative investments and programs region-wide - pulling in more than 50% collaborative investments.
o Engaging with Sales, Category, Finance and Management teams across Printing & Personal Systems groups to ensure seamless executions.
o Responsible for all financial tracking and audit on HP marketing investments, in channel and across the region.
o Ensure marketing communications are compliant to corporate standards and brand messaging guidelines and sharing best practices on marketing programs with the team members and MEMA/EMEA regions.
o Awarded HP Q3’12 Champion of the Quarter for my performance and contribution.

o Headed Key Retail in UAE as single point of contact for Power Retail.
o Achieved over 100% consistently on Revenue and GPM with platform and product split incorporated. Business revenue achieved is $40m+ per fiscal half.
o Managed partner business to achieve HP retailer quotas and objectives, deploying partner rebates and marketing funds: planning, communicating, monitoring and achievement quarterly.
o Preparing Account Business plans on a quarterly basis and communicating growth strategies to management.
o Coordinated with Distribution partners, Retail buyers, Store managers and sales staff to ensure stock availability and management, listings, attach and weeks of stock.
o Mobilizing and motivating external sales force and promoters assigned to key retail stores to ensure retail plan-o-grams & availability and customer experience.
o Drive and manage efficient and creative sales and value promotions incorporating Retail seasonality and retailer business needs in a compliant manner, using optimal fund allocations.
o Awarded Distree MERA: ‘Retail Account Manager of the Year - 2011’

Headed the planning on multiple Global Key Accounts.
o Responsible for deals/opportunities and value and/or volume portfolio management, and selling HP PSG products and solutions based on regional quotas.
o Implemented margin recovery activities/strategies in full ownership of the account across regions and liaising with the central vision.
o Worked with and leveraged external partners and alliances to deliver value and customer centric solutions across FSI, O&G, Aviation, Manufacturing, etc.
o Collaborated with presales and product specialists and Global Volume account teams to participate in or lead deal pursuit.
o Used Competitive and Industry Marketing forecasts & analysis to create differentiated offers.
o Trained Global Volume Sales and Fulfillment Models to all Key Accounts Management & Purchasing teams on using the B2B
portals.
o Achieved targets of $5 million per quarter on hardware and solution sales to the across 40+ Global Accounts in Middle East.

o Sold technology software products and related services in UAE & Oman.
o Identified, qualified and closed new opportunities.
o Manages accounts including the entire sales process from business development prospecting and specifications through contract negotiations, signing, and post-sales support.
o Map and plan Application and Technology database solutions for specific FSI projects.
o Trained and Certified from Oracle Dublin Office on Sandler Sales methodologies and leveraged this model to maximize revenue growth and increase local market share.
o Over-Achieved annual target of $1 million in database license + support sales within the first 10 months.

o HP Product Management for all Printing category for ordering, forecasting, replenishment, channel sales and Vendor relations and all communications.
o Plan, implement and manage effective sales and marketing programs in order to maximize business in a profitable manner while mitigating risk within Tech Data partner channel and drive market demand.
o Interact regularly with the top corporate customers in each country to track pipeline, forecast information and clarity.
o Devise appropriate pricing strategies for HP IPG products.
o Responsible for planning and achieved optimal stock ordering and product profiling; best record stock levels; best record margins, best record Days of Stock (DOS) and achieved target provision levels (114%) by reducing aging stock levels and improving quality of saleable stocks.
o Implemented various SPIFF’s and channel programs in line with the plans based on Market Development Funds.

o Complete account management of the independent retail store channel and Radio Shack / Source by Circuit City franchises, VAR’s, System Integrators, SMB resellers and Sub Distributors.
o Achieved consistent top sales and rewards in Cyber Acoustics, Saitek & IOGEAR spiffs.
o Achieved and exceeded margin target of $500, 000 gross margin set as a half yearly target on computer peripherals, networking and accessories for the GTA regions.

o Managed the assigned customer accounts. Key / managed accounts database across GCC (Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman & UAE) of 50+
customers.
o Maintained Tech Data and Business Unit specific customer profiles on a daily basis & a daily record of business opportunities (pipeline)
and business won / lost.
o Completed the Product Management Academy successfully with highest scoring to qualify for the Product Management positions.
o Achieved Employee of the month for June 2004 for outstanding consistent performance and teamwork.
o Achieved and exceeded revenue and margin targets and KPI’s as set on a monthly basis - Achieved over US$2 million per month, focusing on 4 vendor lines: HP IPG commercial, IPG consumer, HP Supplies and HP PSG products.

o Sales of I.T. Products and account management. Areas under sales territory are Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Gambia, Malawi, Mozambique and other regions in Africa.
o Responsible for opening up remote markets and sales of I.T hardware and software and worked with resellers on IBM, Compaq, 3COM, APC, U.S.R., Epson, Symantec, Lotus, Network Associates, Computer Associates & Hewlett-Packard among others.
o Contributed to the Aptec University for Resellers (May 2002) and networked strategic partners with vendors to improve Aptec’s
distribution profile in the market and introduce the Value Added Distribution model.
o Sales achievement per quarter in excess of US$ 4 million across all vendors and handled over 100+ new and developing resellers across North & West Africa in the second quarter and continued to maintain growth.