Regional Director – Saudi Arabia and North Africa
Invest Northern Ireland
Total years of experience :26 years, 3 Months
• Opened and led the Invest NI Saudi office since its inception in Sep 2011
• Raised the profile of Northern Ireland in the region through building strong relationships with senior business leaders, and working collaboratively across the FCO and DIT networks.
• Developed new trade relationships between Northern Irish companies and Saudi counterparts to distribute Northern Ireland products across multiple sectors and industries through new channels
• Performed primary market research, market intelligence gathering, and market forecasting to draft market entry strategies, determine attractive sectors and exploit new opportunities
• Organized trade missions across Saudi Arabia and Egypt to open new markets for NI companies
• Initiated Invest Northern Ireland’s FDI promotion activities in Saudi Arabia to attract Saudi investments into Northern Ireland.
• Built good relationships with senior banking officials and financial services companies
• Worked collaboratively with multiple stakeholders to understand the local priorities and needs and then bring the complimentary products and services from Northern Ireland
Built a business development and consultancy practice. Main focus was on evaluating & recommending a wide array of proposals to launch new business lines primarily focusing on renewable energy, building materials & construction - Sample assignments include:
Abdul Latif jameel group (ALJ): Worked as a business development consultant for the Technology and Innovation Department at ALJ on three different projects
Satellier, Inc. I worked as a business development consultant for Satellier, qualified the company with Aramco, and won, after a competitive bidding process, the BIM contract for a prestigious project, The King Abdulla Petroleum Science & Research Center (KAPSARC).
Riyada ventures : Worked as a business development consultant for Riyada Ventures on assessing the market potential for renewable energy, sustainable building materials and clean-tech opportunities in Saudi Arabia
-Developed strategic and business relationships between Chinese companies and Saudi business groups
-Developed and led the strategy implementation, marketing and fund raising activities of the company
-Assisted in sourcing investments and conducting due diligence on investment opportunities
-Obtained seed financing of US$ 0.7 m and first anchor commitment of US$ 10m from prominent Saudi investors and business groups
Adveq is the leading independent private equity fund of funds in continental Europe with over $3.0 billion under management.
- Performed extensive due diligence on over 20 funds resulting in committing $100m in investments in Europe and the US (i.e KKR, Candover, Rothschild, Barings, Carlyle)
-Conducted industry research on the emerging outsourcing trends in China & India
- Developed & implemented a new generation of investment tools, systems and processes
- Assisted in determining the investment strategy and portfolio allocation in the healthcare segment. Including Biotech Drugs and Medical Devices
- Business development and market penetration in the Middle Eastern region
- Worked as project engineer on several residential and retail projects.
- Led a team consisting of 10 foremen, & 120 skilled labors for the construction of a 100 villas project resulting in 20% time savings
-Constructed cash flow models, monthly forecasts, progress reports & monthly payments for a ongoing projects
-Developed and streamlined site operations to achieve greater efficiencies
-Presented project updates to senior management
-Negotiated contract specification and materials takeoff with both clients and suppliers to achieve substantial cost savings
-Supervised and managed project workforce and subcontractors to ensure timely completion of projects
-Performed quantity takeoffs and cost estimation of various projects
-Developed master schedule for several projects to ensure project completion within specified constraints
-Represented company in contract negotiations totaling $3.5 million leading to 10% profit increase
-Negotiated & closed deals with suppliers & subcontractors
-Performed leading research on Artificial Intelligence & Computer Simulation Models for optimization of construction processes
-Wrote project thesis focusing on applying Computer Simulation Techniques and Artificial Intelligence for pipeline construction
-Publications: AbouRizk, S., McCabe, B., and Saadi, W. (1996). “Estimating Trenching Productivity Using Neural Networks.” Third Congress on Computing in Civil Eng., ASCE, San Diego, CA
GMAT score: 710 - top 95th percentile
Faculty Research Assistant