Prajna Ramagopal

Procurement duties;
• Lead the Procurement process towards smooth operation, excellent customer service experience and constant cost saving approach.
• Revisit all contracts, conduct supplier and subcontractor analysis, evaluate potential new suppliers, and manage the overall supplier qualification process, as required.
• Drive and maintain global contract agreement and constantly optimize toward favorable terms and conditions
• Able to negotiate entity contracts with most favorable terms to benefit the company, ensure all supplies & equipment are purchased at the most competitive price at appropriate quality and delivered on time as agreed.
• Ensure all procurement activities are effectively managed and in accordance the Procurement SOP’s and the annual budget
• Observe and evaluate industry trends, market conditions, and benchmark contract negotiations against industry best practices standards
• Actively manage vendors to ensure best products are available at the best prices.
• Forecast level of demand for materials, equipment & services to meet business needs and maintain constant checks on stock level to maximize business efficiency.
• Administer establishment of annual Agreements/Contracts by liaising with Legal team.
• Monitor the delivery/implementation of the purchased materials and equipment by coordinating.
Leasing duties;
• Scout, negotiate & acquire high street & mall locations/sites in UAE for new retail stores.
• Create detailed reports on viable locations for sites & initiate rate negotiations with property owners/brokers.
• Prepare site feasibility study which includes specific area market research, demographics, competitors, foot traffic etc., for managements review and approval.
• Prepare financial feasibility gathered through market study.
• Negotiate and finalize lease terms in line with prevailing budgets.
• Ensure completion of leasing packages and other documentation required as per the company processes.
• Assist in preparing site budgets and schedules.
• Negotiate subletting of leased property for smaller retail units and kiosks.
• Liaise with Legal & PR dept. with regards to leasing proposal, LOI’s, approvals & inspections from local govt. authorities.

• Interact directly with local & global suppliers to ensure prompt and accurate delivery of materials and resolving any supply issue.
• Planned, reviewed and undertook comparative cost analysis of supplier’s quotations basis available budgets.
• Prepared weekly/monthly reports/analysis on Material Procurement Status, Open Purchase Orders, and Purchase Requests report.
• Formulate SOPs as per ISO standards for the entire procurement team working across all lines.
• Prepare, maintain and review vendor database, existing contracts, reports and price lists.
• Building sourcing strategy and robust reliable supply network across local and international stations across Europe, USA, NA and MENA Region.
• Optimizing sourcing v/s outsourcing.
• Track and report key functional metrics to reduce expenses and improve effectiveness.
• Act as a focal point for procurement of Long Lead Items (LLI).
• Work on procurement orders per offshore projects requiring equipment’s and spares.
• Leading planning and reforming of inventories.
• Maintained inventory of the existing stock in store.
• Keep track of machineries requiring maintenance /calibration /repair and liaise with manufacturers for the same.
• Active participation in company’s ISO 9001-2008 and ISO 29001-2008.
• Responsible for supplier quality management and evaluation.
• Acquired training and certification from DVN for “Internal Quality Management System Auditor”.
• Conducted supplier audits in UAE and Scotland.

• Organize & conduct market research, maintain targets and sales forecasts, organize and administer marketing campaigns.
• Analyzing potential strategic partner relationships for company marketing.
• Control response data of communications, other performances and marketing metrics.
• ATL/BTL marketing planning & implementation
• Give support in making media plans, proofing and moving of creative’s.
• Handling all Social media marketing channels.
• Approve of contractor advertisements in co-ordination with finance and guarantee of appropriate usage of brand guidelines.
• Develop and keep track of a unified storage of presentations, materials on marketing and communications so that internal functional groups can easily access to.
• Prepare marketing budget and forecast.
• Deal with suppliers and distributors for marketing collaterals.
• Maintain stock of select office marketing collateral (including brochures, proposal language, client list and accolades).
• Experiment with a variety of paid acquisition channels - content creation, content curation, pay per click campaigns.
• Deploying successful marketing campaigns and own their implementation from ideation to execution.
• Backend sales support to the team. Prepare quotations, maintain and update supplier list.

• Design, implement & facilitate an effective local & national marketing strategy.
• Carry out effective research & intelligence into competitor products & other trends.
• Develop Pricing strategies, budget setting and control, including measurement and return on investment.
• Develop financial models including forecasting, pricing and margin analysis.
• Coordinate and participate in promotional activities, trade shows and exhibitions working with developers, and market company products and services.
• Confer with legal staff to resolve problems, such as copyright breach, patency, and other legal issues.
• Study the upcoming markets of Qatar, Oman, and Saudi Arabia to set up company presence.
• Developing the marketing strategy for the company in line with company objectives.
• Place advertisements in print media such as Newspaper, Magazine, Directories and online portals.
• Coordinate with web development team in content development.
• Manage social media marketing and design brochure, envelope and corporate gifts.
• Prepare strategic tools for new client acquisition and market expansion.
• Monitor and report on effectiveness of marketing communications.
• Launched an aggressive marketing campaign increasing the market share by 5%.
• Implemented cursory market budget and reduced cost to company by more than 10%.
• Promoted company at Project Qatar'2012, implemented new marketing plan and amassed new clients.
• Played a critical role in revamp of the company website and promotion articles.
• Designated duties and responsibilities of each employee in the sales & marketing team and setting a measuring scale to track the performance.

• Deal with both Leisure clients and Corporate Houses.
• Implement strategic plans to always stay ahead of competition both in Marketing and Customer Services.
• Sales Co-ordination and Customer Service for the four hotels in India.
• Part of the pre-opening team of The Zuri Whitefield, Bangalore.
• Corporate calling, developing existing relationships and identifying new contacts.
• Develop intelligence on Competitors (& related hospitality industries) to adopt their best practices.
• Achieved full occupancy of our Hotel within the first week of startup.
• Exceeded the sales target of 1380 room nights every quarter.
• Adjudged the best sales team for The Zuri group of Hotels, India (2009-10).