I currently serve as Director Sales at DevBatch, Inc., CA, USA, with primary responsibility of international sales and business development. I help clients with brainstorming their mobile, web and software projects, fine tune their business models, and see the entire projects through, from estimation & proposal stage to final delivery and support.
Major skillsets include business development, strategy, consulting, public speaking, ideas development, and leadership.
I have mentored startups at leading incubators, launched multiple companies, and worked for multinationals in different countries in senior roles.
Early on, I invented plexiglass haute couture spectacles, sold books and journals to government, military, universities & retailers across several countries, did wall-finishes contracting, professional photography, headhunted C Suite & Senior level execs, built the first website in 1997, and more. Single-handedly raked in well over half-a-million-dollars in Adsense revenues.
Worked in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, London, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Karachi, and Lahore.
I have been active in Rotary International, the world's largest volunteer organization, where I served as Club President, Board Member, and Assistant Governor of Rotary District 3272 - Pakistan & Afghanistan. Also served as the General Secretary of Mensa Pakistan, the high IQ society, and served as Head of Lahore Brigade of Code For Pakistan, among other efforts.
DevBatch is a Mobile, Web, Cloud and Digital Marketing consulting firm. From product development for Fortune 500 clients to iPad apps for the healthcare sector, and loads more, I have played a key role in the entire sales cycle.
My primary role is providing leadership to the sales and marketing functions. With an international client base, my international career helps relate to the cultural nuances and build relations with clients around the world. The mantra in DevBatch Sales ops is that its a 24x7 job because my clients are dotted around the world and they expect me and my team to be available in their time zones.
From lead generation to lead nurturing, proposal development to price negotiation, deal closing, successful project delivery and final payments, I have an all encompassing role.
In addition, being part of the core management, I also play active role in all major spheres of the company.
GulfJobSites.com was launched in 2001 and quickly became the largest independent directory and search engine of Job Websites and related resources from the Persian Gulf region. It covers such attractive job markets as Dubai, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. I covered all aspects of the project, from strategy to development, SEO to user retention, and more. For many years, it dominated the search engine results on major keywords in the region and generated 4- and 5-digit adsense revenues on an ongoing basis.
Mensa is an international society whose only qualification for membership is a score in the top 2 percentile of the general population on a standardized intelligence test.
I qualified for Mensa in UAE back in 1996, then joined Mensa International, UK as a member in 2001. Subsequently I relocated to Pakistan and started participating in the Pakistan chapter. In late 2004 I became a member of the Management Committee and also cover the website and technology issues of the society in Pakistan.
Founded Sign In Group, a services company with three primary areas, web portals, signage and branding, and executive search.
With my background in business development, product development, strategy & planning and above all, customer service, helped stand out from the crowd. We delivered e-commerce, web based applications, portals, LMS, job boards, social media presence, SEO/SEM, online sales consulting, and more. With my years of business exposure I understand the dynamics and needs of a business and how to best translate that into technology.
Offices held in Rotary at District and Club levels:
2012-2013: Chairperson, Internet and Website, District 3272 - Pakistan & Afghanistan
2012-2013: Sargent-At-Arms of the Club
2010-2011: Assistant Governor
2009-2010: District Co-Chair, Membership Development & District Website
2008-2011: Editor and Webmaster, District Website
2008-2009: District Co-Chair Rotary Information
2008-2009: President of the Club
2007-2008: Secretary of the Club
2008-2013: Board Member
2007: Paul Harris Fellow
Tessera Search, headquartered in Dubai, is a retained Executive Search firm with significant experience of working across the MENA region for multinationals, large local conglomerates, government entities, law firms and banks. My role was to conduct search assignments for C-suite and HOD level roles across the globe.
ShopHTML is a design-to-HTML conversion service. ShopHTML.com was a fresh startup. We crafted an aggressive all-out international sales campaign and targeted 3 main markets: North America, Europe and Australia.
Our goal for the first 3 months: Acquire 30 clients who would provide a stream of repeat business.
Our role: Market research; pitch; acquire; collect the job and pass it on to the ShopHTML team and stay in the loop to ensure continuity of contact and do firefighting where necessary.
At the end of the contract we had surpassed the target. Also part of the contract was to train and transfer the knowledge, the sales pitch and the communication techniques to ShopHTML so that they can acquire and retain clients themselves. In due course ShopHTML went on to build a portfolio of several hundred clients before being sold to a new owner.
Direct Marketing International, Pakistan was a subsidiary of the Pioneer House group, and had representation for Encyclopaedia Britannica products in Pakistan. It was also a strategic foothold for the group in Pakistan, which also acted as a sourcing arm for materials, printing and human resources. It also acquired a distribution house in Karachi.
A diverse group with presence in Persian Gulf, South Africa, South Asia, U.K. and the U.S.A. Activities: Direct sales, publishing, distribution, manufacturing, real estate & food businesses.
My total stay with in Pioneer House was 1995-2005, as explained in subsequent entries below.
Reporting to the Managing Director, in the role of BDM my portfolio grew to Business Development while continuing to head Information Technology & Creative. I played a key role in the formation of alliances, new ventures and exploring new business partners, sales channels and suppliers.
In 2003, I set up alliances and laid foundation for a strategic foothold in Pakistan, as well as sourcing of materials and human resources, and the acquisition of a fast-growing distribution house in Karachi.
My role expanded to cover Information Technology as well as Creative. While continuing to lookafter the responsibilities of Creative Manager, in 1997 I developed the Sales Management Information System and was overall incharge of all I.T. requirements of the company, both, software and hardware.
MY MAJOR ACHIEVEMENT was spearheading the development of a cloud-based Management Information System in 2000 that was accessed by 18 offices and branches across the Persian Gulf, South Africa, India and Sri Lanka. The system included Sales, Inventory and Attendance modules and allowed real time reports. This pioneering work was both, ahead of its time, unheard-of at the time. The system was so robust that the company was still using it in 2012.
During this time I also, conducted Staff Training, Seminars and Presentations for Sales, Administration and HR Departments. I explored new supply sources, product lines and service providers as well as profit maximization through cost control measures.
My role evolved from field sales to development of Marketing Campaigns, Sales Promotions, Sales Collateral, as well as the development, monitoring and management of internal Sales Contests for the company's direct sales team of several hundred spread across the Gulf, South Africa and India.
Reporting to the Director, my responsibilities included developing the retail sales channel and wholeselling to bookshops, supermarkets, stationers, etc in the UAE and Saudi Arabia for trade titles, Sales Promotions and Trade Fair Participation.
Being the leading Media House in the Middle East, its product line included Audio/Visual products, Publishing, Trade Directories, Advertising Services and Cinema advertising.
Reporting to the Senior Management, I was responsible for all activities in my territory including retail distribution, corporate & government sales, and product launches. I conceived and launched a "book-club" to build customer-database enabling the company reach the customers directly for new product launches and promotional activities. In addition, I also initiated Company’s participation in trade fairs and exhibitions.
Institutional sales, government sales, military sales, bookfairs, purchasing, in-store management, and more.