Shazin Shahabudeen

Diversified multi-billion conglomerate with more than 1, 000 employees engaged in investment management, healthcare, engineering services, IT, industrial chemicals, and retail.

Reporting to the Chief Investment Officer and indirectly to the Chairman, the focus of the role is to lead the execution of change programs and strategies that enable the business to capitalize on profitable revenue growth opportunities, including potential mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and alliances.

ACHIEVEMENTS
- Launched a “Cloud-Kitchen” start-up business comprising 12 brands across major digital food aggregators. Implemented the IT systems, developed policies and processes, streamlined the supply chain, and introduced a performance-focused operating rhythm.
- Established strategic partnerships with companies offering enterprise information management and digital transformation services, driving a five-fold growth in the revenue of the company’s Digital Transformation Solutions business.
- Designed and executed a 90-day program to transform the business into a provider of digital transformation solutions that rapidly delivered results. As a result, the Board approved a revised budget to accelerate growth with focus on digital transformation.
- Advised on strategic initiatives to mitigate the decline in the performance of the Industrial Paints & Coatings Business Unit. Led to the appointment of a new Sales Director, a restructure of the management and sales teams, expanding geographical reach to reduce the reliance of the business on a small number of customers.
- Advised against the company’s entry into facilities management. Instead recommended investing in building information modelling, computer-aided facility management, intelligent energy solutions and smart building management systems. This was approved by the Board and incorporated into the growth plans of various business units.
- Developed the business case and secured Investment Committee approval to acquire a company that strengthened engineering project management capabilities and leveraged partnerships with reputable global brands. The combined entity achieved a higher project win ratio and doubled the sales pipeline to turn around the financial performance of the business.
- Identified and addressed the underlying causes of the declining performance of the Group’s IT Services business, which included the replacement of the Managing Director, and the recruitment of new people to drive new revenue streams from Cyber Security and Cloud Services significantly elevating revenue and profit potential.

Office of the Group COO - Juma Al Majid Holding Group (Dubai)
Diversified multi-billion conglomerate with 8, 000+ employees across 25 business units ranked amongst the top-10 business groups in UAE by Forbes Middle East. Strategic interests include the automotive, heavy equipment, engineering services, FMCG, trading, and manufacturing sectors.
Support the COO by facilitating data-driven decisions and operational growth proposals, advised business units on strategy development, budgeting, business planning, potential new revenue streams, and approaches to drive revenue and optimize business efficiency.

ACHIEVEMENTS
- Supported the Group COO and Commercial BU Heads to drive year-on-year double-digit growth. Involved in identifying new revenue streams and growth opportunities, forging strategic partnerships, introducing rigorous policies and procedures, working with the COO, BU Heads and Division Managers to formulate budgets, strategic plans, and executing strategic initiatives. Worked with the Marketing and Product Management team to analyze revenue sources and recommend the remedial actions needed to drive growth.
- Orchestrated the turnaround of Al Majid Watches by driving revenue growth, boosting travel retail by 2.3X, enhancing product management, and increasing inventory turnover by 160%. Strategies included:
- Led the merger of FMCG Distribution and FMCG Manufacturing Divisions to reduce OPEX by 25%, minimize internal conflicts, maximize business synergies, and strengthen sales capabilities, leading to 2.5X growth in operating profits.
- Designed and executed multiple process improvements across multiple business units to achieve operational excellence, strengthen governance oversight, and deliver annualized cost savings of more than AED 50M.
- Streamlined the sales process of the Automotive Division to reduce turnaround times by 25% while Included improving controls and checkpoints to mitigate the risks of fraud.
- Consulted on the marketing and sales strategies of Hyundai and Kia to increase the sales win ratio by 5%, leading to a top-line contribution of AED 110M.
- Chaired the Corporate Governance Committee that implemented the Code of Conduct & Business Ethics and Whistle Blowing Policy across the Commercial Sector.

Group Strategy Division - Juma Al Majid Holding Group (Dubai)

The focus of the role was the translate the Group Portfolio Strategy into Strategy Maps and Balanced Scorecards at Group and Business Unit levels and to drive the Business Planning Process to ensure aligned with the Group Portfolio Strategy.
This included conducting market analysis, feasibility studies, and strategic business analysis to build or validate business cases to drive decisions on business development, operational improvements, and corporate governance.
ACHIEVEMENTS
- Lead the Strategy Program Management Office of the AED 4 billion a year Commercial Sector that represents Hyundai, Kia, Isuzu, Liebherr, John Deere, Samsung, Yokohama, Konica Minolta, Mondelez, and Citizen in UAE. Key results included:
- Successfully launched new business adjacencies and commercial partnerships.
- Streamlined processes to reduce costs and improve operational efficiency in procurement, inventory, and sales processes. And implemented the Authority Matrix, to optimize and accelerate decision-making processes.
- Drove revenue growth of 16%, with 20% growth in bottom-line profitability.
- As a member of the team that led the institutionalization of the Group’s Strategic Architect Model, translated the Corporate Strategy into a Balanced Scorecard System to implement the group vision, mission, and five-year strategic roadmap. This shifted the focus from financial performance to building sustainable business performance, leading to double-digit growth during the subsequent four years.
- Implemented SKU rationalization and target costing in the Manufacturing Division to improve gross margins by 4% and increase revenue by 27% in FY’14.
- Following an analysis of the three-year 25% decline in the performance of the Watches Division, uncovered evidence of previously undetected systemic fraud which led to the termination of the Division Manager and 30 other employees. This also led to the implementation of a business turnaround plan, which was subsequently actioned.
- Developed and introduced a Group Sales Commission Policy that strengthened governance oversight and aligned sales incentives with the business strategy, which positively impacted profitability.
- Established Business Intelligence Dashboards in collaboration with Group IT to provide the COO and Business Unit Heads with timely information on business results to facilitate data-driven, real-time decision making and reduce the reliance on the Finance or Operations teams.

The oldest and leading money remittance business in UAE with 65+ retail branches and partnership arrangements
with SWIFT, Western Union, Visa, Mastercard and 150+ correspondent banks globally.
Reporting to the CEO, collaborated with JV partners to launch the Mobile Remittance business with an investment
of AED 4M. Included working with the Product Team to develop the Mobile Remittance platform, establishing
partnerships with potential Mobile Remittance partners globally and launching the service across the Al Fardan
Exchange network.
ACHIEVEMENTS
▪ Forged partnerships with Mobile Remittance players in Egypt, Nepal, and Philippines to roll-out the Mobile
Remittance service which led to profitable new revenue streams.
▪ Rolled out the service across the 50+ branches in UAE, which led to a 15% growth in transactions.
▪ Advised against investment in a third-party technology platform and worked with the Product Team (JV Partner)
to develop an in-house platform in-house which significantly reduced operational and support expenses.