walid darwish, General Manager

walid darwish

General Manager

Imad Ghazzawi Sons & Partners

Location
Saudi Arabia - Jeddah
Education
Bachelor's degree, Business Administration
Experience
17 years, 2 Months

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Work Experience

Total years of experience :17 years, 2 Months

General Manager at Imad Ghazzawi Sons & Partners
  • Saudi Arabia - Jeddah
  • My current job since December 2021

Key Deliverables:
• Strategic Planning: Conceptualize and implement a 3-year business strategy to enable the company to grow, thrive, and maintain a healthy financial position within the industry.
• Business Management: Accountable for spearheading the Lami business for KSA, Bahrain, Egypt & Lebanon to achieve the desired results per overall strategy and mission.
• P&L Responsibility: Pinpoint untapped business opportunities for the business optimal revenue growth and profits.
• New Market Penetration: Identify and penetrate the new markets and industries having product potential, devise market-entry tactics, and build a presence within the market to grow business.
• Market Positioning: Tier the business as a market leader by achieving competitiveness and combatting the competition.
• Client Acquisition: Develop and expand business networks towards sourcing for new clients and developing new business.
• Reporting: Coordinate the quarterly and annual reporting to the Board of Directors.
• Operational Excellence: Assess and resolve problematic situations to ensure company survival and growth.
• Suppliers Coordination: Maintain business continuity in coordination with multiple global suppliers.
• Team Leadership: Build, mentor, and steer a team of 32 full-time employees across 4 countries. Key Achievements:
• Migrated to a cloud-based ERP system (Daftara).
• Ensured debt settlement with reasonable payments internally and internationally through proper payment schedules.
• Turned the company from cash negative to cash-positive by optimizing payment scheduling.
• Slashed down the operating expenses by approx. 25%.
• Grew the revenue stream with exclusive rights of marketing & distribution to the Middle East by adding the supplier to the product mix.
• Recorded a significant rise in profitability by approx. 15%
• Produced cash surplus of 1.2 million Saudi Riyals in first 10 months, diverted to Debt Payments
• Discovered and penetrated the new locations for expansion.
• Discovered and capitalized on the new supplier investment
• Played a stellar role in overhauling the Lebanon Branch and revamped the Bahrain branch.

Territory Commercial Manager at Tarkett
  • Saudi Arabia - Jeddah
  • September 2019 to November 2021

Key Deliverables:
● Held responsible for setting the vision for the company and defining the overall strategy from launch to scale.
● Championed efforts in driving growth, profitability, and company value.
● Conceptualized and implemented scalable and efficient strategies to ensure consistent results and exponential growth.
● Played a stellar role in spearheading the Tarkett business for KSA and Bahrain.
● Essayed a KSA success story in Bahrain.
● Transformed and empowered the Tarkett leadership position in the healthcare industry in both public & private entities
● Ranked Tarketts educational segment portfolio to penetrate (PPP)

Specification & Country Manager at Tarkett
  • Saudi Arabia - Jeddah
  • February 2016 to September 2019

Key Deliverables:
● Achieved 38% Organic Growth versus Budget 2018.
● Pioneered efforts in diversifying the customer base by +20% through a segmented Go-To-Market approach.
● Catered the key accounts and attained competitors to Tarkett, such as (KAUST, Suleiman Habib Hospitals, Saudi German Hospitals, Fakih Medical clinics, Panda Hyper Markets, Al Mana Hospitals, and Al Salam Hospital).
● Launched new products, including Tandus (Powerbond), Desso (Airmaster), and LVT (Luxury Vinyl Tiles).
● Secured mega project contracts totalling an excess of 2.5 Mn Euros.
● Deployed the RTMs dedicated to remote area sales and augmented the remote area coverage.
● Bagged a more balanced revenue stream by transitioning the business module from the public to the private sector.
● Secured tremendous growth by discovering and exploiting untapped segments.
● Created and implemented the specifications mindset around flooring vs price-driven mindset.

Sales Supervisor at 3M Corporation Industrial Adhesive & Tapes Division
  • Saudi Arabia - Jeddah
  • July 2011 to November 2015

Key Deliverables:
● Propelled sales volumes and diversified the market share by identifying, qualifying, and adding new distributors.
● Steered the sales team and maintained the optimum performance to achieve sales volume.
● Commended as the highest sales achiever (2013) over the operating plan by +10%.
● Bagged increased annual sales by penetrating markets and generated new business to exceed the operating plan for 2012 by +4%.
● Rolled out new products to new customers and increased turnover by closing an initial order of USD 206K.
● Facilitated the geographical expansion by securing the 2 new distributors and improved contribution to P&L.
● Onboarded 3 new distributors and managed 5 existing ones, each targeting a specific construction segment.
● Looked after the 2 direct reports and 10 distributor sales representatives.
● Developed and managed the annual sales projections for target and minimum stock-level planning requirements.
● Handled the branding of 3M Corp in major construction projects to discover and tap into business opportunities.
● Stipulated and ranked the 3M Corp Products with construction industry consultants and generated sales through product demonstrations, competitor comparison, and analysis. Directed the distributors to visit the end-users.
● Visited 5 end-user per day for customer satisfaction and diversifying the customer base.

Project Sales Manager at Building Material Trading Company
  • Saudi Arabia - Jeddah
  • January 2008 to May 2011

Key Achievements:
● Secured a project worth USD 5.3 Mn with a major contractor in Makkah.
● Played a stellar role in steering the client servicing for leading clients in the construction field, such as Saudi Bin Laden Group, Saudi Oger, Freyssinet, and others.

Key Account Manager at IKK Group
  • Saudi Arabia - Jeddah
  • August 2006 to December 2007

• Establish long lasting relationships with Key Accounts such as Saudi Binladen Group, Saudi Oger Etc.
• Showcase our services to New clients and build rapport
• Present company Portfolio to C-level clients.
• Prepare and follow up on proposals for new projects
• Coordinate with Different departments internally to secure deals

Education

Bachelor's degree, Business Administration
  • at Lebanese American University
  • July 2024

Emphasis On Marketing

High school or equivalent, Economics & Sociology
  • at International School of Choueifat
  • July 2024

Specialties & Skills

Data Collection
Developing New Markets
Decision Making
Team Leadership
SCHEDULING
BRANDING
FLOORING
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
REVENUE STREAM
OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE
MFG/PRO (ERP)
ORGANIC GROWTH

Social Profiles

Personal Website
Personal Website

URL removed due to policy violation. Please contact support for further information.

Languages

Arabic
Expert
English
Expert

Training and Certifications

Cumulative - online learning - Remote Working during Pandemic (Training)
Training Institute:
LinkedIn
Date Attended:
January 2019
Duration:
15 hours

Hobbies

  • Cars/Salt water Aquariums