SMEAME_SuccessThroughExports

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Success through exports <<<

Her Highness Sheikha Dr. Hind bint Abdul Aziz Al Qassimi, Chairperson of the UAE Businesswomen’s Council Dr. Ashraf Mahate, Head of Export Market Intelligence at the Dubai Exports and Vice Chair of the Economic Policy Committee, Dubai DED

Engineer Saed Al Awadi, CEO, Dubai Exports

(L to R) Murali Subramanian, Head Transaction Banking, ADCB; Nilanjan Ray, Sr. Vice President, Head - SME Banking, ADCB; Engineer Saed Al Awadi, CEO, Dubai Exports; Colin Fraser, Executive Vice President and Group Head Wholesale Banking Group, ADCB; with HH Sheikha Dr. Hind bint Abdul Aziz Al Qassimi, Chairperson of the UAE Businesswomen’s Council; HRH Princess Fay Jahan Ara (fourth from right); and other VIP guests

Seminar supports SME exporters

Dubai Exports, ADCB and SME Advisor held the “Success through exports” event on 20th April to advise SMEs on how to take their products and services to an international market. There was an impressive speaker line-up, with Her Highness Sheikha DR. Hind bint Abdul Aziz Al Qassimi, Chairperson of the UAE Businesswomen’s Council, as keynote speaker. THE SME ADVISOR TEAM reports.

Dubai Exports, an agency of the Dubai Department of Economic Development (DED), SME Advisor Middle East, a magazine aimed at small EXCLUSIVE TELECOM PARTNER

Grand Hyatt in Dubai.

It was part of the SME Success Series events, jointly organised by SME Advisor and ADCB. Dubai Exports was the strategic partner for “Success Through Exports” and brought

and medium enterprises in the region, and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) organised a hugely successful seminar entitled “Success Through Exports”. The event took place on 20th April at the SUPPORTED BY

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invaluable subject matter expertise and support to the initiative, further reiterating the DED’s commitment to small and medium enterprises in Dubai.

“Dubai Exports continually seeks to identify new and innovative ways by which to increase the level of exports from the country.

This seminar is just one further example of how we are seeking to increase the knowledge base of our companies so that they are competitive in global markets,” said Engineer Saed Al Awadi, CEO, Dubai Exports.

He further commented that exporting allows SMEs to grow their business and benefit from geographical diversification.

Her Highness Sheikha Dr. Hind Al Qassimi, PUBLISHER

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attitudes of the owner or manager. “Psychological inertia towards exporting is something that these seminars are intended to

Attendees networking during breaks

Chairwoman, UAE Businesswomen’s Council, Murali Subramanian, Head Transaction Banking, ADCB presented the keynote speech whereby she stated that, “Despite the actually earn revenue from obstacles and difficulties exporting activities. In Dubai, women face, they succeed in where SMEs account for 98.5% overcoming them through of all firms, less than 10% creating and finding business export, and consequently earn opportunities under the any form of export revenues. umbrella of free trade Most export sales by SMEs pursued by the Government are modest in terms of scale, of the UAE.” with 68% of goods exporters Sheikha Dr. Hind also generating less than AED 1 pointed out that, “Over million worth of exports per the past 39 years, women annum per firm. in the UAE were able to “Such a low level of export take important steps in activity by SMEs leads to the the field of investment and natural question as to why entrepreneurship. They form they are not exporting. The around 4.5% of the total importance of this question is number of investors and are underpinned by the fact that managing approximately AED exports allow firms to enhance 12.5 billion which has been their competitiveness, provide invested in the trade, banking, opportunities for growth real estate, tourism, industrial, and innovation as well as contracting, construction and technology transfer, diversify services sectors. They also their revenue base, benefit invested AED 2.1 billion in the from economies of scale and manufacturing sector.” The of course increase profits,” UAE Businesswomen’s Council said Dr. Ashraf Mahate, Head currently represents over of Export Market Intelligence 11,000 members and covers at the Dubai Exports and Vice 30% of the SMEs with savings Chair of the Economic Policy of AED 27 billion.

Committee, Dubai DED. According to research A need for more carried out by Dubai Exports, SMEs to export there are two main reasons “Success Through Exports” why SMEs do not tend to highlighted how SMEs can export – namely, internal and take their products and external barriers. Various services to an international studies have shown that the market. In most countries only real export barriers are the a small proportion of SMEs psychological or behavioural

John Lincoln, Vice President, Enterprise Marketing, du

break,” commented Richard Judd, Commercial Director, CPI Business and IT, which publishes SME Advisor Middle East.

Supporting UAE businesses Focusing on these issues, “Success Through Exports” was a means to provide SMEs with the latest information, support and tools they require, whether they are just beginning to consider export as an option to expand, or whether they are established mid-market players.

Nilanjan Ray, Sr. Vice President, Head - SME Banking, ADCB reiterated the need for supporting SMEs: “ADCB is focussing on the SME segment and trade finance as areas of strategic growth. In view of this, the export /re-export business in the UAE is of great significance as the UAE has emerged as the re-export hub in the region. We at ADCB have launched several products focussed on this segment of clients operating in the SME space and will continue to do so. We are shortly coming MAY 2011

up with a Business Banking branch in Jebel Ali to expand our footprint in this segment.

We also plan to launch a specialised pre-shipment finance programme for exporters in the SME segment.

We believe this product will cater to a latent demand in this segment. In addition, we are ready to launch our online Fx trading platform – Fx Freeway to help exporters and importers manage their foreign exchange flows efficiently.”

Ray further pointed out that: “In keeping with our focus in this segment, we are extremely happy to partner with Dubai Exports to organise this event. We hope this will help bring necessary attention to the potential of this segment and will help address relevant issues.”

John Lincoln, Vice President, Enterprise Marketing, du – who advised attendees on managing international customers, and who has over 20 years of international hands-on operating experience in emerging and developed markets from the Far East to the Middle East, the Americas and Europe – said: “If you are conducting business in international markets, the world is your oyster. However be warned of the pitfalls and intricacies. Managing international customers is an art and a science. This and the many other pertinent issues covered during this event will, hopefully, help SMEs with a few of the challenges they face.”

“SMEs need to expand overseas if they are to grow their business and form new alliances and partnerships” said Ketaki Banga, Senior Editor, SME Advisor. She added: “SME Advisor is grateful for the support provided by Dubai Exports and ADCB. We will be organising various such events SME ADVISOR MIDDLE EAST

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throughout the year. Not only will these events be educational and informative, but will also provide platforms to voice concerns, make new contacts through networking, and share experiences and advice.”

A day with the experts The impressive speaker line-up at “Success Through Exports” included Her Highness Sheikha Dr. Hind bint Abdul Aziz Al Qassimi, Chairperson of the UAE Businesswomen’s Council, and Engineer Saed Al Awadi, CEO Dubai Exports.

The seminar covered a number of topics some of which included: Trade finance: Innovative solutions for SMEs,

by Murali Subramanian, Head Transaction Banking, ADCB; Web based strategies

by Jean-Marc Paufique, General Manager at Zawya; Internet technology and export business, by Imtiaz Ali, Director - Global Sales, Tijari; Franchising, agents and distributors as a foreign entry route, by Gautam Sen Gupta, Market Vision; and Protecting your intellectual property rights, by Faisal Daudpota, Head of Data Privacy & Information Security, Al Tamimi & Company.

Other topics included Global logistics: Innovation in supply chain management,

by Damien Sheehan, Commercial Manager, DHL Express, UAE; Export risk mitigation techniques, by Pedro Mairos, Regional Marine Underwriter Manager Gulf Axa Insurance; and Export Credit Insurance by Schyler D’Souza, COO, Export Credit Insurance Company of the Emirates (ECIE).

For event details, speaker presentations and post-event coverage, please visit www.smeadvisor.com/events/ success-through-exports.

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AGENDA Date: 20th April 2011

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8:30 am Doors open, breakfast and networking 9:00 am Opening address: Engineer Saed Al Awadi, CEO, Dubai Exports 9:07 am to 9:10 am Brief welcome and acknowledgements by SME Advisor Middle East 9:10 am to 9:30 am Keynote speaker Her Highness Sheikha Dr. Hind bint Abdul Aziz Al Qassimi, Chairperson of the UAE Businesswomen’s Council 9:30 am to 9:50 am Trade finance: Innovative solutions for SMEs Murali Subramanian, Head Transaction Banking, ADCB 9:50am to 10:10am www: Your gateway to exports Jean-Marc Paufique, General Manager, Zawya The role of online communities to promote trade Imtiaz Ali, Director - Global Sales, Tijari 10:10 am to 10:25 am Break and then move to parallel sessions in breakout rooms 10:25 am to 10:40 am Parallel session #1: Reaching out to global customers How to manage international customers John Lincoln, Vice President – Enterprise Marketing, du Parallel session #2: Managing export risk Protecting your intellectual property rights Faisal Daudpota, Head of Data Privacy & Information Security, Al Tamimi & Company Parallel session #3: Effective exporting techniques How to prepare your company for the next step of growth through exports Vikram Venkataraman, Co-founder and Director Salvus Strategic Advisors

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Venue: Grand Hyatt, Dubai 10:50 am to 11:05 am Parallel session #1: Effective exporting techniques Franchising, agents and distributors as a foreign entry route Gautam Sen Gupta, Director, Market Vision Parallel session #2: Managing export risk Export risk mitigation techniques Pedro Mairos, Regional Marine Underwriter Manager Gulf Axa Insurance Parallel session #3: Reaching out to global customers Global logistics: Innovation in supply chain management Damien Sheehan, Commercial Manager, DHL Express, UAE 11:15 am to 11:25 am Break and move back to the main hall 11:25 am to 11:40 am Export success case study 1: Gulf extrusion – Entry into Europe Sowmya Narayan, Supply Chain Manager, Gulf Extrusions Co. 11:40 am to 11:55 am Export success case study 2: Dofreeze – Global food exports Aamer Fayyaz, Managing Director, Dofreeze 11:55 am to 12:05 pm Schuyler D’Souza, Chief Commercial Officer, Export Credit Insurance Company of the Emirates (ECIE) 12:05 pm to 12:30 pm Open house for Q&A 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm Lunch 1:30 pm to 2.30 pm Meet the experts - Informal sessions for private one-toone consultations

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Opening address

Speakers snapshot “Trade and exports allow firms to enhance their competitiveness, provide opportunities for growth and innovation as well as technology transfer, diversify their source of earnings and, of course, increase profit.”

Her Highness Sheikha Dr. Hind bint Abdul Aziz Al Qassimi, Chairperson of the UAE Businesswomen’s Council er Highness Sheikha Hind bint Abdul Aziz Al Qassimi is at present the Chairperson of the UAE Businesswomen’s Council and is also a member of the Board of Trustees Advisory Council of the Swiss friendship UAE as well as a board member of the Arab Businesswomen Council.

After obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in literature, sociology and social work from Kuwait University, HH Qassimi spent several years working in the area of social work and education

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aed Mohamed Al Awadi, is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Export Development Corporation (Dubai Exports), which is the first export promotion agency in the UAE. He is also the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Export Credit Insurance Company of the Emirates, which is the first company of its type in the country. Prior to this he was the Chief Operating Officer at the Environmental Health and Safety, which is the regulatory arm of Dubai World. Saed is also the Vice-Chairman of M’Sharie, which is part of Dubai Investment and the largest investment company listed on the Dubai Financial market. Saed is also on the Board of Directors of the Emirates Standardisation and Metrology Authority – the national reference point for the World Trade Organisation for technical regulations and standards.

Saed holds a degree in Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, with a Masters in Environmental Engineering, and an Executive MBA from Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania.

Trade finance: Innovative solutions for SMEs

Keynote speaker

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Engineer Saed Al Awadi, Chief Executive Officer, Dubai Exports

before returning to her studies, where she received a Masters in Sociology from Ain Shams University (Arab Republic of Egypt) and Doctorate Sociology from Ain Shams University several years later.

As well as working tirelessly within the sector of education, HH Qassimi has coorindated programmes for the youth and has been a driving force in bringing about more awareness and progress for the participation of women in business in the region.

“Emirates Business Women Council has been represented at both external and regional levels through the Federation of GCC Chambers, or at the international level through the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry and International Chamber of Commerce as well as presenting in economic conferences and forums. Its efforts extended to sending trade delegations to visit other countries to promote and develop relations between traders in UAE and oversees.”

Murali Subramanian, Head of Transaction Banking, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB)

“It is not true that there is a shortage of banking for SMEs, but it tends to be where it concerns matters of credit and extension of credit and where it concerns trusted advisory services and partnerships but more can always be done to provide greater value to the sector.”

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urali Subramanian is an Executive Vice President and the Head of Transaction Banking at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB).

Transaction Banking is a group in the Wholesale Banking Group, offering industry leading cash management and trade solutions and premier client service to over 15,000 multinationals, public sector entities, domestic corporations, government entities, SMEs

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and financial institutions throughout the UAE. Prior to this, he was Managing Director and Head of Global Transaction Services at Citibank N.A. for the MENA region based in Dubai, and has held various senior management roles in GTS in the North African, CIS, and western European business. Murali has had a 22 year banking career of which 20 have been with Citibank, and two with ABN Amro Bank in Amsterdam and Kazakstan.

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www: Your gateway to exports Jean-Marc Paufique, General Manager, Zawya

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ean-Marc Paufique was appointed General Manager of Zawya in July 2010. He joined Zawya in October 2008 as Director for the Investment Opportunities Division, where he played a key role in developing Zawya solutions within this strategic market segment.

Jean-Marc started his career in Paris as a software engineer with McDonnell Douglas Information Systems and thereafter joined Reuters where his roles included

general management, sales and marketing in Europe and the Middle East.

Prior to joining Zawya, JeanMarc was the Managing Director of Reuters MENA, responsible for developing Reuters’ information and transaction business. JeanMarc is a French citizen with an Engineering Degree from Ecole Centrale de Lille and has attended several specialised executive programs at Michigan Business School and IMD Lausanne.

“With trade there is an abundance of potential buyers worldwide for products and services but there is the problem of reach – how can I get in touch with them and how can they reach me? Businesses need to acquire the means of reach which best suits their customer and the market they wish to focus on.”

The role of online communities to promote trade Imtiaz Ali, Director Global Sales, Tijari

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mtiaz has over 14 years of experience as a management consultant in the e-procurement world and has been involved in projects assessing and improving operations in the public and private sectors. With extensive event management experience along with procurement consulting for airlines, petroleum, and other big organisations in the region, Imtiaz is often involved in various capacities with complex e-procurement readiness assessment exercises for many local and international financial institutions.

He is member of Institute of Supply Management (ISM) and has been awarded the highest designation of Certified Purchasing Manager (CPM) by the institution. Imtiaz’s consulting expertise, moreover, covers a wide array of functions – from business design to supply chain assessment to technical consulting advice. He has led or been a major contributor in the business and technology design, development, and implementation of procureto-pay solutions and business process automation initiatives.

“Working in exports, as with any business, you have to learn how to use the power of the Internet – it is simply not an option anymore and cannot be ignored by businesses if they want to make headway in their respective sectors.”

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Parallel session #1: Reaching out to global customers

How to manage international customers John Lincoln, Vice President – Enterprise Marketing, du

“A gesture that might mean excellent in one part of the world could be offensive in another! What we take for granted is not always so. In Japan there are six ways of saying no. But yes might not always mean “yes I’ll go along with you,” it might just mean “yes I understand.”

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ohn Lincoln has over 20 years telecommunications experience in the USA, Japan, Europe, India, Dubai, Malaysia, Latin America and various other countries. He has extensive senior expertise in international telecommunications sales, marketing, business development and customer service delivery.

John also has executive experience with general management, marketing, P&L, product development and revenue management responsibilities in both consumer and enterprise segments for both the fixed and mobile sectors.

In addition John has an impressive operational and management portfolio of established proven expertise in incremental business value creation and management of large multi-cultural teams in Vodafone Global in the UK, Japan

Telecom in Tokyo, AirTouch and Pacific Bell (now AT&T) in San Francisco and Tokyo, Airtel in Delhi and other telecom and technology companies.

Additionally he has extensive large scale business development, M&A and operational project experience across the USA, Europe, Asia and Latin America.

John has an MBA and MS in Telecommunications from the Golden Gate University in San Francisco, California, USA. You can find John’s personal blog at johnlincoln.blog.com. He can be contacted via: john.lincoln@ gmail.com, Twitter: @lincolnjc.

Parallel session #1: Reaching out to global customers

Global logistics: Innovation in supply chain management Damien Sheehan, Commercial Manager, DHL Express, UAE

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amien Sheehan is the Country Commercial Manager for DHL Express in the UAE, an international express industry. Based in Dubai, Damien is responsible for all DHL Express Commercial related activities within the UAE. Damien’s career with DHL

spans more than ten years. He joined the company in Australia in 2000 within the sales group and then spent time in various countries globally including the Philippines, Singapore, USA and Bahrain before arriving in the UAE in 2009. His time has predominately been spent on

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the Sales and Commercial side of the business and in recent times he established the Global MNC channel structure in Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa as part of the global CRM channel.

Prior to joining DHL, Damien

spent six years in Australia with NYK Line focused on their liner shipping business.

Damien has a Diploma in International Business from the Helsinki School of Economics, Singapore.

“Now that things are starting to happen again, it’s really time to separate yourself from your competitors and think about what you should be asking suppliers like us in the logistics industry.

Some of you may not even use DHL but, my point is, you should be pushing your suppliers to understand your options.

Don’t let them tell you this is your only choice – push them and us for choices. That’s one of the things about Dubai – it is a true hub in every sense of the word. It’s important that you leverage your location.”

Parallel session #2: Managing export risk

Export risk mitigation techniques Pedro Mairos, Regional Marine Underwriter Manager Gulf Axa Insurance

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edro Mairos has a wide experience at the international level on marine insurance, particularly in the areas of marine liability (protection & indemnity), hull and cargo and pleasure craft and cargo.

After spending five years in Paris with AXA Corporate Solutions, Pedro spent a further four years in Hong Kong

“There are various types of risks when exporting – some are insurable and some are not. There are credit risks, legal risks, political risks and, of course, transport and logistical risks.

Before you begin exporting you must be aware of what cover your business and products or services need.”

Parallel session #2: Managing export risk

Protecting your intellectual property rights Faisal Daudpota, Head of Data Privacy & Information Security, Al Tamimi & Company

“When working in foreign jurisdictions with your products or services, it’s vital you first achieve rights in that foreign market and then you must protect those rights in order to maintain a competitive edge.”

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aisal’s practice covers transactional and contentious matters relating to intellectual property, information technology, telecommunications, competition and anti-money laundering. He is also accredited to appear before the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts.

He is experienced at advising clients in various other areas of laws, such as, banking, Internet, data protection, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), data protection, privacy, customs, criminal, maritime and anticorruption.

Prior to joining INTA Faisal worked as an Attorney with the law firm of Khalid Daudpota & Co. in Karachi, Pakistan, where he represented a broad range of clients in both contentious and transaction work in multiple disciplines.

He has authored many articles covering various legal disciplines. He has also spoken at international conferences and seminars, in particular, the World Intellectual Property Organisation and the World Customs Organisation and Interpol. He holds an LLM in Intellectual Property Law from the University of London.

overseeing the Far East portfolio.

Based in Dubai since the end of 2008, he is currently managing the GCC region marine cargo portfolio of AXA Gulf. Pedro is in charge of developing and bringing innovative solutions for large clients and SME customers, importers, exporters, traders and freight forwarders.

Parallel session #3: Effective exporting techniques

How to prepare your company for the next step of growth through exports Vikram Venkataraman, Co-founder and Director Salvus Strategic Advisors

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ikram has a career banking spanning over 25 years in India and the Middle East, working with HSBC, ABN AMRO, Dubai Bank and Mashreq Bank.

His most recent experience in banking has been as the Head of the SME Business at Mashreq, which he left in 2010 to co-found and SME focussed investment banking firm – Salvus Strategic Advisors, which is based in Jumeirah Lakes Towers (JLT),

Dubai, and Salvus Capital Advisors Pvt. Ltd. in Mumbai.

Salvus advises SMEs with the objective of helping them grow.

Raising equity and debt capital is an integral part of Salvus’s activities.

Vikram holds a BA from Loyola College, India, and a Masters from Oxford University, U.K. He has also served as the Secretary of the Oxford University Economics Society.

“Every SME has to ask this question right at the beginning: Why do we want to export?

It’s very important to analyse the reasons for exporting right up front and to understand the market you wish to enter.”

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Parallel session #3: Effective exporting techniques

Franchising, agents and distributors as a foreign entry route Gautam Sen Gupta, Director, Market Vision

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autam Sen Gupta is based in Dubai as Director, Market Vision Research and Consulting Services, which is a firm undertaking research, consulting assignments and feasibility studies across industry sectors; and Managing Director, Brand Finance Middle East, an independent marketing metrics consultancy supporting corporate bodies with brand valuation and strategic management of brands.

Gautam is also Director of GRAS Academy in India, providing vocational skills training aimed

at enhancing livelihood for underprivileged youth.

He is an invited member on the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO)’s Worldwide Panel of Tourism Experts since 2003, and a regular speaker at events relating to entrepreneurship, tourism, branding, market dynamics and research.

Gautam holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata and also received an undergraduate degree in Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India.

“Look at franchising as a route.

You need a brand but not all of us have a brand – we work in commodity markets, for example. And, critically, the brand must have value.”

Export success case study 1: Gulf extrusion – Entry into Europe Sowmya Narayan, Supply Chain Manager, Gulf Extrusions Co.

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procurement and supply chain.

Currently heading the Supply chain department, she is in charge of international supply chain projects, contracts management, and sourcing and warehouse management.

owmya is a science graduate and a certified supply chain professional from the Chartered Institute of Supply Chain, UK. She has over twelve years consulting background in strategic

“A good idea, which we ourselves implemented, is to outsource to a company to have a market research study carried out. There is no room for error or shortcuts – you simply must know the market you are entering and the feasibility of your product in this market.”

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Aamer Fayyaz, Managing Director, Dofreeze

“After the experience of working in exports, we have four recommendations to help boost exports in business – acquire global quality standards; reach out to international customers at trade shows, exhibitions and government bodies; develop global sourcing arrangements by staying price competitive; and finally, develop international cooperation agreements with key players in targeted markets.”

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amer Fayyaz has been involved in setting up and running baked products businesses for the last 28 years. He has worked in top management positions in several countries including United States, Europe and Asia in the food and bakery sector.

He started his career in 1984 with “Paris Croissant” in Connecticut, United States.

Later he has worked with “La

Brioche Dore” France, “Harry’s Bread” France and “Artal Foods” Belgium.

He is presently the Managing Director of Dofreeze LLC, Dubai.

He started up the company at a relatively small scale in 2000, and today, after 11 years, the actual market cap of the company exceeds AED 100 million and has become the leader in long shelf life packaged baked products in Asia.

Schuyler D’Souza, Chief Commercial Officer, Export Credit Insurance Company of the Emirates (ECIE)

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chuyler D’Souza joined the Export Credit Insurance Company of the Emirates (ECIE) in 2008 to start operations, manage and develop the Dubai Government’s export credit agency, which currently provides trade credit risk protection to the business community of the UAE. His extensive industry background includes several years of strategic marketing and business development.

Prior to this, Schuyler was Country Manager of Atradius Trade Credit Insurance where he successfully built and

managed the trade credit insurer’s business in the UAE. In the past, Schuyler has also held key positions with Emirates Bank, Firmenich and Bayer.

Schuyler has an MBA in Marketing and Sales from the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies in Mumbai, and a Post Graduate in General Management from the Berufsakademie in Germany.

He is a Certified International Credit Professional and, a member of the Association of Finance, Credit & International Business Professionals.

“I have been visiting SMEs for the last eight to ten years and the majority have problems with documentation.

There are gaps everywhere but it’s vital to get this right before proceeding with exporting.”

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One-on-one consultations Trade and working capital finance Dhiraj Kunwar, Regional Manager, Business Banking Group, SME, ADCB

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hiraj has over 12 years of banking experience in the field of SME/ corporate lending, liability management and product development and capital markets.

He has worked with various top banks across India and the UAE.

How to select partners and traps to avoid Gautam Sen Gupta, Director, Market Vision

How to prepare your company for the next step of growth through exports Vikram Venkataraman, Co-founder and Director Salvus Strategic Advisors

Trade and working capital finance Ehtesham Riaz Rabbani, Team Leader, Medium Segment, Dubai Business Banking Group, SME, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, (ADCB).

Exporting to the Middle East & Asia Aamer Fayyaz, Managing Director, DoFreeze

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htesham manages a team that provides custom made working capital and trade related solutions to cater to the business requirements of Medium Segment companies in any industry operating in the emirate of Dubai. His expertise includes over draft facilities, short or medium and long term loans, invoice discounting, post dated cheque discounting, LC, finance against trust receipt and letter of guarantees.

Reaching out to global customers Sylvia Youssef, Operations Manager, Virtuzone

A How logistics and DHL can provide assistance to SMEs in general Ben McLean, Area Sales Manager, DHL Express UAE

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enâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s career with DHL spans more than seven years. He joined the company in England in 2004 within the sales department and went on to become Major Account Manager for London and the docklands before arriving to the UAE in 2009 as Area Sales Manager.

Prior to joining DHL, Ben spent nine years with Securicor Omega Express in the UK.

Successful entry into the EU market Sowmya Narayan, Supply Chain Manager, Gulf Extrusions Co. LLC

fter graduating in 2005 from Deakin University, Australia, with Bachelors in Biomedical Science, Sylvia began her career with Australia Post. During the four years with this company she progressed from Compliance Officer to a business analyst.

When arriving in Dubai in 2009 Sylvia quickly acquired her position as Operations Manager for Virtuzone and has been an integral part of Virtuzoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s progress since then. Although most of her time is spent improving the day-to-day business processes she also continues to attend initial consultations with new clients and with strategically planning and project managing the businesses growth.

For event details, speaker presentations and post-event coverage, please visit www.smeadvisor.com/events/success-through-exports MAY 2011

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