Abdul Sami Qahar

Leading a team of 18 members as CEO of the largest ad film production house of the country. Have produced marketing campaigns for Coke, Lays, Surf Excel, Nestle, Sooper, Samsung, Hyundai, Vivo, Tapal etc.m with offices in Romania and Thailand.

• Turned around a loss making company from its lowest year in the history to its highest revenue in less than a year, with 205% growth in top line and 7pp growth in bottom line.
• Reduced the working capital of the company by 74% through debt financing and positive cash flow.
• Expanded Stimulus Foot print to from Stimulus Productions to Stimulus Concepts, Stimulus Content Factory and Khana Badosh Entertainment, company’s new strategic and start-up arms.
• Introduced pay-for-performance compensation model for the team bringing in a cultural and mindset shift towards business.

Hired as a Business Consultant and Project Head for launch of RRP, Reduced Risk Products in Pakistan.
• Successfully launched Shiro Nicotine Pouches in Pakistan, in line with global brand guidelines customized to local market insights.
• Complete 360 degree launch with Research, NPD, Communication, Activations and Trade engagement.
• Working on additional product launches, geographical expansion, and content development for RRPs.

Reset the company with respect to People, Project and Processes, with the CEO as a member of leadership team, resulting in double digit growth in a declining industry.

• Headed 4 Sub-functions and leading 60 team members; Marketing & Corporate Communications (11), Trade Marketing (3), Sales Planning & Excellence (39), Commercial Finance (1) and R&D (3).
• Managing accelerated growth of a 6 brands portfolio of $110M in $1.5 billion markets UHT Milk, Flavored Milk, Dairy Culinary and Non-Carbonated Beverage with a portfolio growth of 2.5x in 2 years by repositioning the brands, fixing SKU mix and adding long pipeline innovations.
• Custodian of brand development and visibility investment budget of $9M per annum across all consumer touch points.

Helped a $84M company with 13% EBIT & 18% CNWC reach $220M sales with 29% EBIT & negative CNWC in 7 years. Henkel GCC team was No. 1 market in Henkel world in 2010 and 2014.


Sales Director (Dec 2013 to Feb 2017) - Trade investment Budget $98 million
• Head of Sales Eastern Gulf UAE, Qatar, Bahrain (Dec 2013 to Apr 2014)
• Head of Trade Marketing & Customer Operations (Dec 2011 - June 2014)

Member of Ex-Com managing $220 million P&L and NWC. Custodian of in-market 'excellence in execution', Cost Centers, Sales and Go-to-Market strategy, Distributors and field sales infrastructure.

Marketing Manager (Mar 2010 to Nov 2011)
• $74 million GCC portfolio across 8 countries; leading a team of 3 people with a marketing budget of $7M.
• Reporting to regional marketing unit in Egypt and global marketing unit in Germany for regional and global brand policies and applications, financial, sales and marketing KPIs.
• Media investment management for all brands of GCC business improving media KPIs, and driving innovation in media spends and content strategy. (Media budget $20 million)

• Business Achievements
• 3-year CAGR 18% from 2014-2016; 17% in 2016 vs. 2015 with -3.1pp investment, defying economic factors of GCC.
• Highest gross margin & EBIT ever (29%) in 2015 and 2016 driven by profitable sales mix and investment optimization.
• Brought Liquid Detergents to GCC market following Blue Ocean Strategy; converted 13% powder detergent users to liquids in 2010-2016; gaining 3pp market share for Henkel.
• Pioneered digital activations and strategy in Henkel GCC with Persil Black; covering Content, App, Interactive Website, Social Media.
• Winner of GEMAS Effies Gold 2011 and 2012, Dubai Lynx 2011, Dubai Lynx Grand Prix 2013 for Persil.

Personal Achievements

• Recipient of various Henkel MEA awards - Employee of the year 2013 & 2014, Best Performance in Marketing 2010.
• One of the top 4 emerging global talents in 2014. Chosen for Regional Executive Resource Group 2011, Fast Track Development Program ‘Exceed 2014” by Henkel Global Talent Management.

• Strengthened the market leadership of $200M brand Milkpak, contributing 45% of total sales of Nestle Pakistan. 4% volume growth in a declining industry resulting in 6% market share gain in 2009.
• Conducted NeedScope study for consumer segmentation of UHT Milk.

Asst. Brand Manager & Brand Manager Beverages - Mondelez Pakistan (11/2006 - 08/2008)

Managed $25M brand Tang in refreshment beverages category. Recipient of Global Kraft President Award for outstanding year 2007. Tang brand volume growth of 28% in 2007 over the largest base in 10 years.