The marketing industry is evolving so quickly that it is challenging to keep up with the newest trends and what is actually going on behind the scenes (changes to the Facebook algorithm, new Google ranking factors, new marketing tools, etc.). Both art and science exist in marketing. It needs a level of creative thinking that not many people have, together with keen attention to detail, in-depth analysis, and knowledge of mass psychology.
A good marketer who wants to become an expert in his field must do A/B tests, experiment with new tools, share his ideas with the community, engage in debates, and pick the brains of others while researching various marketing channels. Additionally, he needs to often consume excellent content from professionals.
Savoring the reputation as "Middle East's Most Influential Marketers of 2022" in the latest issue of Tycoon Success Magazine, marketers across the Middle East are recognized for their efforts. While companies struggle for survival in the current competitive environment, these executives are ensuring that the organization will be unaffected by the changing corporate industry.
We have endeavored to dive deeper into their success stories and comprehend how some of the esteemed marketers achieved their current positions, demonstrated their leadership skills, and remained unperturbed in the face of difficulties.
The Tycoon Success Magazine editors really hope you appreciate the article and share your insightful thoughts with us. We would love to hear from you, and your feedback helps us develop topics that are most important to you. For the same, please get in touch with us at editorial@tycoonsuccess.com.
Chief Marke�ng Officer Diriyah Gate Development Authority
Meet Kiran Jay Haslam, the Chief Marketing Officer for the Diriyah Gate Development Authority, establishing Diriyah within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and re-establishing its position internationally, not just as the birthplace of the Kingdom but also as a center for heritage and culture in Arabia.
Kiran started his journey as a young man intrigued by nature and the underwater world of oceans and the Amazon. So, he joined the university to study Marine Biology due to his fascination for Ichthyology, but it quickly morphed into engineering and technology, where he completed his graduation. In his early days, Kiran toured the entire world as a jazz musician and composer, performing at concerts and festivals and writing and performin compositions for film and television programs. Kiran describes himself as a true nomad, fully dedicated to chasing discomfort and forever on a mission to experience new things and shift into new roles. He has worked in public relations, advertising, and media. Kiran has also worked as an editor and writer focusing on art, travel, and automotive. Recently he has also authored a couple of story books for children to raise funds for conservation.
"From a young age, I was exposed to the world uniquely and powerfully due to my expatriate family life. In my youth, we lived in Penang, Singapore, and California for several years, exposing me to different sounds, sights, smells, and tastes. At a young age, I took an anthropological leap into the work of Joseph Campbell, and that is probably
where the first burst of marketing kicked into play to complement the understanding of human behavior I garnered from being a professional musician and entertainer. Campbell also joined the dots for me on Carl Jung's "archetypes of the collective unconscious," which is where my marketing approach tapped into the essence of branding."Says Kiran.
Kiran feels his most significant achievement at DGDA is bringing together one of the most talented marketing teams. This team has a unique Saudi voice with a global understanding and is motivated to take everything to the next level – even when levels don’t exist!
On the personal front, he feels his greatest achievement would be bringing a unique creative voice and touch to a corporate table and bringing significant change, which is hard to do in most corporations due to the 'play it far too safe' stance and lack of understanding on how creative arts can drive innovation in an organization.
Kiran knows everyone at DGDA truly believes in Diriyah, making it far less daunting to realize that nothing like this has ever been created or delivered. Especially nothing in terms of the scale or complexity, with the added layers of traditional architecture and mud-brick construction techniques, a truly smart city, and pedestrianized urban living, all of which are community-centric.
Kiran and his team are also enthusiastic about the fact that they have a significant role to play in Vision 2030, and thanks to the leadership of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and of course the amazing Jerry Inzerillo help them make enormous strides towards building a vibrant society with a thriving economy are taking place across the Kingdom. "Diriyah is unique in the rate at which it is coming to life and its significance being a human-scale development in the capital city of Riyadh."- He says.
Success for Kiran would be changing people's misconceptions about the Kingdom. "Stereotypes in films and popular culture have fed into a very shallow understanding of Saudi Arabia for many people worldwide over several decades. They don't know Saudi yet, but more and more people are visiting Saudi for themselves, engaging with real people - Saudis from all walks of life - and traveling across the Kingdom to see breathtaking environments."- He states.
Being the 15th largest country on the planet, with so much to offer visitors, Diriyah will soon be a focal point for this visitation, and Kiran feels the project has a unique ability to remove all prejudices, misconceptions, and narrow-minded views, leaving all those who interact with us with a real understanding of the culture, customs, traditions, and warmth that are entirely unique to the Kingdom.
For DGDA, success can be measured over time by its contribution of over $7.2 billion to the Kingdom's GDP, creation of over 55,000 jobs, and the attraction of visitors across the world to increase the tourist footfall in the Kingdom to over 27 million each year by 2030.
Kingdom's At-Turaif UNESCO World Heritage Site stands at the project's centerpiece and serves as the inspiration for what Kiran and his team do. DGDA's aim for Diriyah to return to being one of the great gathering places in the world, with the same status that the Acropolis has to the Greeks or the Colosseum has to the Romans.
Head of Marketing
Joanne De Guzman Rico
Meet Joanne de Guzman Rico, the Head of Marketing at Salma Rehabilitation Hospital, which is part of SEHA - the largest network of government medical facilities in the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
Joanne de Guzman Rico is a story of an empowered woman who is rising above adversity. From humble beginnings in Manila, she has gone a long way from her first job to now a truly inspiring global professional.
A consistent A-student, Joanne believes that having a strong academic foundation will serve as a springboard to success. Armed with resilience, grit, and ambition, she did not let poverty define her future so she studied very hard to earn scholarships. Her mother’s and family’s sacrifices became her inspiration and her drive to achieve more. She dedicated all her time and effort to complete each school year with academic and special awards so she could maintain her scholarship and help finance her education. In 1999, she graduated Valedictorian with 7 other academic, extracurricular, and special awards. She then took Bachelor of Arts, Major in Philosophy at the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy in the University of the Philippines –Diliman, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude.
Right after graduation, she joined Globe Telecom where she started her career as a Sales Administrative Associate, then later as a Customer Service Associate. While working at Globe, she received awards and special recognition from the
company. In 2005, she joined Ministop Philippines as a Franchise Marketing Officer – her first break in Marketing. Despite not having a formal education in the field of Marketing, she won the Rookie of the Year Award on her 6th month in Ministop. On her 7th month, and only at age 23 then, she was handpicked by top management and was promoted to Advertising and Promotions Manager, where she headed a 7-person team and managed the main brand with a chain of over 250 stores. Joanne was mentored by one of the Philippine's business tycoons, and was trained at Ministop’s Head Quarters in Tokyo, Japan so she could learn, replicate, and implement the core brand strategy in the local business arena.
In 2009, Al-Ahli Hospital – the largest private premium hospital in Doha, Qatar, took Joanne and later appointed her as the organization’s Marketing Executive. She was the first Filipino woman to officially breakthrough the space of healthcare marketing in Qatar.
In 2012, Burjeel Hospital in Abu Dhabi, UAE took Joanne as part of its pioneer team, where her main task was to introduce the brand in the emirate and grow its market share in the capital, within the country, and within the region. In the inception and growth stages of Burjeel, Joanne single-handedly managed all marketing campaigns of the brand across all platforms. She was awarded Burjeel Star Employee in 2013 and was recognized as Burjeel Star during Burjeel’s 2nd Annual Day in 2014. In 2015, Joanne was promoted to Senior Marketing Executive and a year later, she became the Assistant
Despite many challenges, this marketer built and turned-around brands from zero to hero
Marketing Manager of the brand, where she managed the PR communications and corporate events verticals of the brand.
In April 2018, Joanne joined NMC Healthcare – the largest private healthcare company in the UAE. NMC acquired Bareen International Hospital, which has been on negative profitability for 3 years since it started its operations. In less than a year after Joanne joined the company as the Marketing and Sales Manager, Bareen started growing patient volume and began gaining profits. As a result, the hospital expanded by adding more clinics, doctors, and beds to capture the continuous rise of patient footfall in its outpatient and inpatient departments. Joanne became the first Filipino woman in the leadership team of Bareen and played a significant role in the milestone that became a feather on the hat of both Bareen and NMC. Due to this breakthrough, NMC stepped up business expansion plans, acquired more medical centers in Abu Dhabi and winged each of them under Bareen Management team – which is now grouped as a cluster. In less than two years, Bareen Cluster has grown from managing one to eight medical facilities. In the same speed, Joanne was promoted to Head of Marketing and Sales of the cluster. She spearheaded functions related to Marketing and Business Development – from brand positioning to increasing brand awareness and growing brand loyalty to the facility, from increasing footfall to generating revenue and raising profitability for each medical facility.
In August 2022, Salma Rehabilitation Hospital under SEHA, took Joanne and posted her as Head of Marketing.
Joanne’s greatest dream is to serve, give back, and be an instrument of change in the community. Having experienced it herself, she has a strong personal advocacy on the right of children to access education, especially the underprivileged segment. She has been a resilient sponsor of World Vision Philippines for 17 years and has been supporting
many children together with their families and their communities in depressed areas of her home country. While working at Ministop Philippines, she launched the World Vision Coin Bank campaign across all Ministop stores. She opened doors to introduce World Vision’s Child Sponsorship Program to JG Summit employees and Ministop franchisees. Her commitment towards the cause prompted her to be one of the pro bono organizers of the event and to host the program. Currently, Joanne is one of the ambassadors and spokespersons of World Vision Philippines overseas.
In order to inspire other Filipino women to rise to the challenge no matter the circumstance and break glass ceilings, Joanne wrote a book chapter about her journey which was published in Disrupt 4.0 Filipina Women: BEING – The Fourth Book on Leadership by the Foundation for Filipina Women’s Network. The book was launched at the Gremio Literario in Lisbon, Portugal in November 2022.
During her 18-year career, Joanne has received numerous awards and recognitions for her accomplishments. In 2017, she was recognized and awarded as the Marketing and Advertising Professional of the Year by The Filipino Times, a glitterati red-carpet event held in honor of exemplary Filipinos overseas. In 2018, Joanne was one of the nominees for the Search for Huwarang OFW, organized by 700 Club Asia through one of the biggest TV networks in the Philippines: GMA 7. In 2020, she was named as one of the Thought Leaders in Illustrado’s 300 Most Influential Filipinos in the Gulf, Legacy Edition. In 2021, Joanne was recognized as one of the Most Influential Filipina Women in the World™ by a US-based non-profit organization, Foundation for Filipina Women’s Network. She was the only awardee from the Middle East during that year. In 2022, she received an award for Outstanding Leadership during the Health 2.0 Conference in Dubai, UAE. In 2023, she received a global award in Marketing during Marketing 2.0 Conference for her outstanding contributions and exceptional achievements in the field that span international markets for more than a decade.
Joanne’s journey in large, multicultural organizations was and is not a walk in the park. The struggles are real and are most of the time, daunting. Breaking stereotypes of nationality and gender roles in the workplace is still an existing unspoken issue. Bringing with her core values such as faith, hard work, dedication, passion, and resilience, Joanne rose to the challenge, trail-blazed with pride and confidence in the international arena.
Balaji Vaidyanathan
Director and Head of Marke�ng for Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (CEEMEA)
Franklin Templeton
alaji Vaidyanathan is an integrated marketing specialist with 2 decades of experience in B2B and Consumer Marketing. As Director and Head of Marketing for Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (CEEMEA) at Franklin Templeton based out of Dubai, Balaji is responsible for building the marketing value proposition, brand, digital presence, developing the strategic footprint across CEEMEA, performance managing regional teams, focusing on both institutional and retail businesses and driving marketing efforts for global and EMEA strategic projects, amongst other initiatives. Prior to this role, Balaji was with Franklin Templeton in their India office, leading all brand, advertising, investor education, and several other initiatives.Before joining the mutual fund industry, Balaji started his career as a group management trainee with the Aditya Birla Group, where he moved into a marketing role after an initial stint in sales. He was responsible for advertising & brand building, new product launches, managing the creative and media planning agencies, including ATL, communication, sales promotion, etc. After close to 5 years with Aditya Birla Group, Balaji worked with Lotus India Asset Management (now Invesco Mutual Fund) and then Edelweiss Financial Services in various capacities in the domain of marketing.
"When I joined Franklin Templeton in India in 2010, I was drawn to it because of its well-respected and established global brand, remarkable heritage, work culture, and other aspirational facets,"- Balaji recalled. "Coming from an Indian company, I saw the opportunity to grow through global exposure and the chance to work with teams across regions and functions. Having studied various aspects of the firm, I believed I had many ideas I could bring to the table, and I sensed that these would be well received."
Headquartered in San Mateo, California, Franklin Templeton is a global leader in asset management with more than seventy years of experience worldwide. With 1300+ investment professionals spread across 23 countries, Franklin Templeton manages an AUM of $1.3tn, diversified across asset classes, geography, and client type.
A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, London, Balaji holds an MBA in International Business from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi. Additionally, he also has a diploma in Digital Marketing from NIIT and the Digital Marketing Institute.
Over the years, Balaji has become an angel investor and a mentor to various- start-ups in the space of deep tech, EdTech, healthtech and sustainability. He is also a part of the Advisory Board (Middle East) for the global CMO Council, which presently has more than 15000 members from senior corporate marketing leaders and brand decision-makers across a wide range of global industries.
Changing Investors' Mindset
investing regularly, and staying invested for the long term to benefit from the power of compounding.
"In this era of easy credit and instant gratification, where everyone seems to be in the Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) mode, we need to try to inculcate better savings and investing habits," Balaji explained. "This entails first setting income aside for investments and then spending what is left rather than investing what is left over after spending. Wealth creation is making one's money work hard for you, which can only be done through discipline, long-term commitment and astute planning."
Balaji feels this is a fascinating and dynamic time due to rapid and exponential technological developments and the constant evolution of customer preferences and expectations. Thanks to AI, data, and analytics, predicting patterns in customer behavior has become much more straightforward, and data-driven marketing strategies have become less of a gamble than before. However, one can't undermine the contribution of creativity, agility, and innovation to the mix.
A few of the marketing trends Balaji envisage revolves around using web 3.0 and tapping into the potential of the metaverse. "As customer journeys evolve, we will see more brands focusing on an omnichannel approach to influence customers' decision-making processes, and products and services will offer more hybrid and cohesive customer experiences. We will have to face the challenge that brand loyalty will become a fading concept, and a customer is only as loyal as her last experience with the brand."- he explained.
Additionally, he feels, Regionalization is another major emerging trend as targeting tier 1 audiences gets saturated. This, alongside deep customization, will be a great brand differentiator, and personalization will become the key to hearts.
Also, User-generated content has ushered in a new era that closes the gap between creators of content and their audiences. As a result, audiences now seek to interact with content and content creators and with each other. This tests a brand's authenticity like never before but also opens the opportunity to
collect valuable insights into target audiences and their preferences.
"From a marketer's perspective, these are exciting times ahead, and one will need to consistently up his or her game to stay ahead of the curve and ensure their brand is able to become the preferred go-to brand for their customers."- said Balaji.
Over the years, several prestigious institutions and peers have acknowledged Balaji with various awards and recognition for his work. As a marketing leader, Balaji puts his heart and soul into every campaign he has spearheaded or partnered with, and he always feels a great sense of accomplishment when they meet their mark or help him learn new things.
"At the end of the day, it's always about the trust you built for your brand amongst customers, the knowledge that your work has helped improve people's financial futures and helped investors understand the importance of financial planning/ planning for one's goals,"- he explained. "That is the ultimate satisfaction – when you see the customer had been able to reach her goals in the long term because she believed in your brand and narrative."
Group Head of Marke�ng & Corporate Communica�on
Al Masaood LLC
Meet Marwa Kaabour, the Group Head of Marketing and Corporate Communication of Al Masaood LLC, one of the most prominent family-owned business conglomerates in Abu Dhabi, which formed concurrently with the UAE's union back in 1971. The group provides comprehensive solutions to its customers across 18 different industry sectors through its diverse activities and divisions. As an organization, Al Masaood has always aimed to serve and support the growth and development of the UAE, specifically in Abu Dhabi.
Being Abu Dhabi's largest family business, the Al Masaood Group has pioneered the fields of automotive, transport, power, and industrial, constantly growing and developing the country for more than five decades. The group's flagship company
Al Masaood
Automobiles is a leader in Abu Dhabi's automotive market. Its Power Division has long been supporting the power, marine and renewables industry in Abu Dhabi. From the very early days of importing the first gas turbine and constructing the first water desalination plant, the group has always supported Abu Dhabi's economic development.
Marwa has been a part of the marketing and communication industry for nearly three decades in the Middle East. She started her career with organizations like Leo Burnett and Impact BBDO. However, she soon decided to switch to the client side and started helping organizations build their marketing and corporate communication functions. During her long and illustrious career, Marwa has helped create and manage strategic marketing communications for several international and regional firms, including government entities of the region. Marwa's experience includes her work in energy, manufacturing, aviation, automotive, FMCG, food & beverage, construction, and retail industries.
A graduate of the American University of Sharjah's undergraduate and post-graduate programs, Marwa holds a bachelor's degree in Marketing and Management and an Executive MBA. She also holds certifications from the Center for Sustainability Excellence CSE in Brussuels as a Certified Sustainability Marketer and the Institute of Digital Marketing in Ireland as a Certified Digital Marketer.
In her current role, Marwa started with communication development from scratch. Later she moved into the overhaul and upscaling of the marketing delivery. Marwa feels her most significant achievement was forming a team of marketing and communications titans who eventually worked to improve brand equity and have tremendously grown the company's marketing and PR value. Even during the pandemic,
Al Masaood LLC's brands experienced the greatest growth, with its PR value rising by over 700 percent and its sales increasing by six folds.
As a veteran of the industry, Marwa would like much more cohesion and harmony among marketing and communication practitioners. Thanks to the abundance of data, the lines between marketing and communication practices have been blurred completely, and now the primary challenge is to know how to best leverage the data to help a brand thrive. Marwa believes introducing efficiencies across both disciplines is of utmost importance. Presently marketers are being challenged, and their roles are becoming extremely complex as they shoulder the additional responsibilities of business transformations. So, present-day marketing and communication practitioners need to start a brand's transformation from the inside by developing performance-driven cultures and then transitioning it to reflect on the outside.
Growth is an ongoing objective for everyone at Al Masaood. It needs continuous work and transformation to keep up with the changing market trends and customer preferences. As a part of the group's customer-centric ethos, Al Masaood always looks to provide value-driven experiences and services to its clients and customers. As a company, Al Masaood places a strong emphasis on building long-standing and fruitful relationships with all of its stakeholders. Its vision of growing together, delivering value, and embracing heritage set the group apart from its competitors.
Since its inception Al Masaood has faithfully served the UAE across the fields it operates in. For over the last five decades, the group has moved in synergy with the UAE, and now as it embarks on the next 50 years journey, it is aligned with the country's vision by continuously diversifying and investing in the economy's key strategic sectors.
Marwa says, "Al Masaood's future plans also consider the pressing environmental factors around us. As such, we have developed a strategy that places sustainability and innovation at the core.
Al Masaood Group exemplifies everything that Abu Dhabi stands for Indeed, the late Ahmed Al Masaood, our first chairman, was the first president of the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce, and Al Masaood was registered as company number 1 by the Chamber
For half a century Al Masaood has contributed to the emirate’s aspiration of being a modern, innovative, and sustainable economy. Our quest is to bring home the world’s best brands that constitute essential and commercial building blocks in the making of a nation.
From the very humble beginnings of this land, to the vibrant hub that it is today. Today’s Abu Dhabi is a reflection of the pride of the past. The possibilities of today... a reward for the e orts of those before.
Together with our nation, its leaders, and its communities, we continue to grow together, deliver value and embrace heritage.
For fifty years our nation’s journey has been our own. A shared dream of making the UAE the leader that it is today.. A beacon of light and opportunity for those who dare to dream.
Through it all, Al Masaood has been there. Strong and robust. Bringing home the world’s most renowned brands. From Automotive to Industrial.. and from Marine to Retail.
All under one home… Al Masaood.
For Maria, life is about balancing what you are good at, what you love and what makes your soul happy.
Maria, born and raised in Menorca, Spain, is living her best life in Dubai, where she leads the Marketing and PR at Infini Concepts for many popular restaurants, and she combines her job with her passion for healing and mindfulness.
The Mindfulness Part
Maria became an energy healing practitioner (Reiki) to help herself recover from a brain injury, and she not only recovered, but her whole life took a different and positive turn.
Maria does Reiki for people and horses and is certified in Horse Guided Empowerment with MrazMethod. She conducts private and group sessions in Dubai and Spain, helping people find answers with the help of the horses. She also leads international retreats where she works with a selected group of people to connect with themselves through holistic techniques, including Reiki, coaching with horses, sound healing and more.
When Maria recovered from her brain injury, she understood the importance of pursuing dreams while nourishing the soul with what makes people happy.
In our fast-paced world, many people, especially high-level executives, forget to dedicate time to themselves and slow down their 'fight or flight' mode. When this happens, people fall ill, shut down their spiritual side, and, in the end, can't function in a balanced state of life.
Maria believes that her mission is to help people with stressful and demanding jobs recognise that holistic practices and mindfulness are necessary to succeed and thrive in their careers, personal life, and everything in general. As a Marketing Director for Infini Concepts, Maria, specialized on F&B Marketing, manages the marketing and PR activities for 5 brands in Dubai. She also takes part in developing the branding and identity for new projects.
The Marketing Part
Maria is a resourceful and reliable person with an in-depth understanding of the food & beverage industry with 10 of experience in the UAE and three years of experience in the hospitality industry in Spain.
Her background in F&B Operations gives her a broader idea of how restaurants operate and understand the business from within.
From leading the marketing for world-class restaurants to mindfulness and coaching with horses.
Maria is creative with experience identifying target audiences and devising digital campaigns that engage, inform, and motivate.
Maria manages different teams and is always on top of her game when it comes to market trends.
She enjoys working hard for Infini Concepts as her work is measured on productivity and allows her to combine her job with the holistic part of her.
She believes that working in a place where inclusivity, equality and humanity matter is the core of being very good at your job.
Infini Concepts is a Dubai-based hospitality company with a distinctive focus on uniqueness, creativity, and impeccable attention to detail. The Infini Concepts team's collective passion for empowering brands and bringing concepts to life has resulted in 15 years of successfully operating, managing, and creating within the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region's food & beverage industry. Since its inception, Infini Concepts has built an impressive portfolio consulting for renowned brands such as Cé La Vi, Billionaire, Amazónico, and Cirque Le Soir, to name a few. In addition, Infini Concepts currently manages in Dubai
Health Co, and King of The Mambo in Sri Lanka.
Maria understands the need to combine the two very different parts of her life to function in a healthy and happy place.
One book
‘Breaking the habit of being yourself’ by Dr. Joe Dispenza
One quote
‘Apres l'effort le reconfort’
