MARKETING WITH A DIFFERENCE

In an exclusive to Reseller ME, Sirin Akrouk, the newly appointed Marketing Manager for Middle East and Emerging Africa, Pure Storage, opens up about her role, responsibilities, background and challenges that women in the technology field face.

Tell us about yourself: your educational background and years of experience

I am a passionate Marketer by education and experience. I hold a Business Administration degree with a minor in Marketing from The American University of Rome as well as a Master’s degree in Marketing, Management, Communications and Media at the Paris Sorbonne University in 2015.

I started my career 18 years ago at an agency before making the switch to the client side to work for USAID’s program, Local Economic Development in the Communications division in Jordan. In 2008, I made the decision to move to Dubai to join Microsoft as part of the Central Marketing Team for the Gulf region. Since then, I have worked at Intel and Oracle leading marketing, communications and customer advocacy

I am excited to join Pure Storage as a Regional Marketing Manager for the Middle East and Emerging

Africa region to share my knowledge and experience and be part of the company’s growth.

Tell us about your new role and responsibilities

My role is to bring exciting marketing strategies in alignment with Sales and Channel teams to create brand awareness and increase pipeline for the Middle East and Emerging Africa region. Bringing together the entire customer and partner ecosystem to create co-marketing plans that help achieve results is top priority. I am also eager to engage with third parties to stay up-to-date with market trends.

What are some of the challenges that women entering the technology field face?

From both personal experience and speaking to my network, women can feel outnumbered, find it hard to manage work-life-balance and overcome stereotypes and biases. However, a lot has changed and there are more and more women working across technology. I find the tech industry is amongst the best in offering measures to help achieve a good work- balance. For any women entering the industry, I’d advise to surround yourself with people who support and appreciate you, can coach and guide you along a successful career.

Do you think there needs to be more inclusion and diversity in the technology space?

It’s essential for all companies regardless of the industry to embrace inclusion and diversity. Companies have a lot to gain as it brings fresh perspectives to tackle work challenges and make the workplace more appealing to attract a wider range of talent. Though there’s always room for improvement, I feel that the technology industry is doing a lot in this regard.

What are some of the unique leadership qualities that women bring to the table?

Although I wouldn’t want to generalise and paint all women with the same brush, from my personal experience, women tend to bring certain qualities such as empathy, collaboration, good listening skills, better understanding of work-lifebalance and sharing success.

BRINGING TOGETHER THE ENTIRE CUSTOMER AND PARTNER

ECOSYSTEM TO CREATE COMARKETING PLANS THAT HELP ACHIEVE RESULTS IS TOP PRIORITY.