As a native of the UAE, my journey into the professional world began immediately after completing my college exams. Armed with cultural insight and local know-how, I secured a position in FMCG within a week. Little did I know that this initial step would not only define my career trajectory, but also shape my work ethic and approach to business for years to come.
They say that the habits and work ethic formed early in one’s career become ingrained, setting the tone for how tasks, deadlines and responsibilities are approached throughout one’s professional life. This certainly held true in my case as I found myself immersed in the world of P&G for first 4 years, where the language spoken was a unique one – that of the Customer Business Development (CBD) Manager as a role.
The term might not be widely used, but at P&G, it represented a crucial role: developing the business of the customer, often a retailer. As a supplier, my initial confusion was understandable – why focus on the retailer’s business development when the primary goal is to sell our company’s products and foster our business? However, it was during these formative years that I learned the paradigm of thinking ‘customer-first’. This approach involved offering products in a way that enhanced the customer’s sales, creating marketing collateral and integrating ‘our products’ into advertising efforts to boost the customer’s business, ultimately benefiting both parties.
After five years of adopting this mindset, I found myself transitioning to the telecom industry in 2005 as Sales Manager, just as mobile phones were becoming a ubiquitous commodity. The shift was drastic. The industry mantra was to “move the box as if there is no tomorrow,” emphasizing relentless selling. This clashed with my ingrained customer-centric philosophy, leading to a period of adaptation and finding a balance. Fortunately, having bosses from major FMCG companies helped bridge the gap, allowing us to challenge the status quo and pioneer a customer business development approach within the telecom sector. The result was a revolutionary channel that annually sold billions AED worth of mobile phones, defying conventional industry practices.
Fast forward a decade with Virgin Mobile, Redington and in my current role with TCL as Regional Manager, managing operations & Distributors across GCC and Pakistan, the principle of an end-to-end business development has remained my guiding philosophy. Whether working with distributors or operators, I firmly believe that the movement of our products at customer premises determines our market share and the future of our company. Thinking ‘business development’ rather than merely selling products has become the cornerstone of my approach – a simple concept that, when executed effectively, works like magic. Yes, it is important that companies develop marketing strategies and products/services to standout, but ‘partner focus’ is parallelly important part when it comes to long term distribution strategy and ultimately ensuring availability on a global scale.
In conclusion, my journey from FMCG to the telecoms industry has been an adventure of adaptation, innovation and a steadfast commitment to customer business development. It reaffirms the belief that a customer-centric mindset, coupled with strategic thinking and a commitment to partnership, can lead to unprecedented success in any industry.
