The Middle East channel has continued to evolve and expand extraordinarily in recent years. In the competitive IT world, resellers and retailers are always looking to partner with the best IT vendors and distributors for any given product or technology.
Partnering with the top echelon not only helps reseller partners to run their day-to-day operations more smoothly, but it also casts a positive glow on their own consultancies.
The channel in this region still retains an understanding rarely seen in other markets around the globe.
While the market continues to evolve and vendors or distributors may have changed names or merged, the intent of the ‘Channel Champions Top 50’ list has remained the same. The list aims to highlight the works of executives that are playing a pivotal role in the development of the Middle East IT market and whose actions have impacted the channel community by going that extra mile.
The top 50 honours executives at vendor and distributor companies who are influential in the channel and go out of their way to assist channel partners to win deals, embrace new technology and business models, and grow their businesses.
The top 50 list also recognises executives whose individual influence on channel partner businesses in the Middle East is having a positive bearing.
So, how did we go about selecting these top 50 channel executives? Well, we set ourselves a few ground rules for a start. First of all, the executives featured in the 2011 list are employed by vendors or distributors, the main companies that resellers and retailers depend on for the success of their businesses in the regional IT market.
Although the aim is to get as many executives as we possibly can from around the Middle East, many of the executives on our list are based out of the UAE, although all of them have wider roles covering the entire MENA region and beyond.
Like last year, we have kept to the policy of selecting one executive per company, even though the scale of presence of some companies could probably have warranted more than one entry for some organisations.
Furthermore, when selecting our top 50 executives, we have attempted to take into account the influence of each individual and their company over the broader Middle East channel, the contribution to development, enhancement of expertise and visibility.
Influence is hard to define. It is as much about the future as the present; it’s as much about leaders like CEOs, MDs, channel directors, business unit heads and channel managers whose ideas are moving channel partners’ businesses in new directions as about those whose actions are impacting the Middle East IT industry today in different ways.
Although we can only feature 50 executives from the region’s channel, we are aware that there are more ‘channel champions’ beyond the ones we have selected. Nevertheless, the list offers a solid guide to the who’s who in the Middle East channel market. In the pages that follow, Channel Middle East showcases the 2011 top 50 channel pioneers.
Systems & Hardware
10. Ismail Abdel Aziz
Regional Territories Manager
Unatrac IT Distribution
Unatrac’s close association with Dell, as well as its proficiency in distributing the Acer product array makes the distributor a strong player in the PC hardware space. Aziz has galvanised Unatrac’s channel in the region making sure that despite the challenges facing the market, partners continues to excel.
9. Arshad Chishty
General Manager, IT Distribution
Jumbo IT Distribution
With the market showing strong signs of stabilising this year, Chishty has been the driving force behind Jumbo’s solid showing during the economic downturn that saw some companies exiting from the market. Chishty is driving the strategy that will see Jumbo go back to being a broadline distributor in the region.
8. Demetris Demetriou
General Manager
Logicom Dubai LLC
Having taken over the reins at Logicom, Demetriou has moved quickly to ensure that there is channel continuity at the company after the departure of Nicholas Argyrides earlier this year. The distributor plans to enhance its operations and structure and expand into new markets in the Middle East and Africa.
7. Rizwan Kareem
Business Unit Manager PC Business
Emitac Distribution
As Emitac Distribution continues to redefine its business strategy and reinforce its ties with vendors and resellers, Kareem heads a business unit that contributes immensely to the company’s overall revenue and profitability share. Emitac had sales of more than $250m last year.
6. Zeba Naqvi
Business Unit Head
Metra Computer Group
As Metra is looking to strategically grow avenues of its channel business in the Middle East, Naqvi has been the channel’s face inside Metra’s PC division. Naqvi has been involved in widening and strengthening Metra’s channel network in Middle East market. Metra has continued to build strong ties with resellers.
5. Vipin Sharma
Vice President, MEA & CIS Sales
Tripp Lite
Tripp Lite has made huge strides in the UPS and power management channel in the region. With demand for cooling and data centre power management tools at an all time high in the region, Sharma has been directly involved in ensuring that the company forms solid alliances with the leading distributors.
4. John Maliakal
Regional Manager – KSA, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman &Bahrain
Toshiba Gulf FZE
Having taken over the role of developing Toshiba’s channel business in five GCC countries, Maliakal has contributed to growing the vendor’s channel sales in these markets. With sales of tablets and 3D-enabled laptops expected to rise, Maliakal has been involved in growing the Toshiba brand in the Middle East region.
3. Djillali Lahiani
Regional Channel Partner Manager
Lenovo
Lenovo has continued to gain market share from its rivals in the Middle East market thanks to the partner-focused approach the vendor has taken. Lahiani has proved himself to be an invaluable member of Lenovo’s channel team, building the vendor’s channel business in the retail, SMB and enterprise space.
2. Dave Brooke
General Manager, Commercial
Dell
In his role, Brooke has responsibility for Dell’s Middle East commercial business across Saudi Arabia, UAE and the rest of the Gulf region, Egypt and Levant. Brooke has been working on integrating Dell’s new acquisitions and boosting new storage competencies to channel partners in the Middle East.
1. Amin Mortazavi
General Manager, IPG MEMA
HP
HP’s printing and supplies business has continued to be one of the vendor’s most profitable hardware performing business units in the region. With a wide range of imaging and printing solutions, and the rapid commoditisation that the printing hardware business has continued to witness, HP has maintained an indisputable hold in the printing hardware segment in the Middle East region. Mortazavi has been instrumental in combating the importation of fake consumables and grey products that have hit the KSA and UAE printing markets the hardest this year. He has also played a crucial task in revamping IPG’s channel strategy in the MEMA region with the unit successfully integrating its consumables and printing hardware business into one single division.
Components
10. Harprit Singh
Managing Director
VIP Computers MEA
Ever since UK-headquartered VIP Computers decided to set up a subsidiary office in the UAE to target partners in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia region, Singh has moved quickly to formalise vendor and resellers allainces in the market. VIP has a solid track record in software and components.
9. Shahood Khan
Sales and Marketing Director
EMPA
Although EMPA has been diversifying its business to cover the retail and enterprise sectors, components remain at the core its focus in the region. Khan has been instrumental in mapping out EMPA’s channel coverage model. It’s under him that EMPA has continued to expand and sign on new vendors.
8. Girish Kewalramani
Component Director
FDC
Kewalramani has done a yeoman’s job in ensuring that FDC’s components partner vendors continue to enjoy better channel visibility and brand appeal in the Middle East. Kewalramani has boosted FDC’s RMA and strengthened after sales-support following the investment the company made in this area last year.
7. Ehsan Hashemi
COO
Golden Systems Middle East
As Golden Systems celebrates 15 years of successfully doing business in the Middle East this year, Hashemi wants the company to continue building on the elements that it has taken to achieve this accomplishment. Hashemi, has made it a point that the company’s product basket offers unique benefits to its channel.
6. Madhav Narayan
Regional Director, GCC
Samsung Gulf Electronics
Samsung’s semi-conductor business continues to grow, thanks to the strategy to engage the solution builder channel. With a wider system builder base residing in the Middle East, Narayan is aware that if Samsung is to enjoy the same success as with its display panels & mobile business, it needs system builders.
5. Hesham Tantawi
Vice President
Asbis META
Asbis has this year embarked on an initiative aimed at helping partners to develop local markets and their services capability. Tantawi has been instrumental in ensuring that Asbis plays a pivotal role in assisting resellers throughout the Middle East to mitigate the tough channel market conditions.
4. Rami Al Saleh
Channel Sales Manager
AMD
Under Al Saleh’s reign the AMD Fusion Partner Programme has received positive feedback and growth in the region. After its launch in 2009, the programme now has 33 Premiere and Elite partners in addition to the 45 Select partners. Al Saleh has been instrumental in pushing Fusion to AMD channel partners.
3. Ayman Al Ajouz
Channel sales manager
Seagate
With channel partner support no longer presenting that much of a challenge for Seagate, Al Ajouz is focusing his channel strategies on the expected growth of the tablet and handheld devices market as areas where Seagate’s channel needs to pay attention to. Under Al-Ajouz’ watch, Seagate has continued to gain ground.
2. Khwaja Saifuddin
Sales Director
WD
As director of sales for the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, Saifuddin knows that it is important for WD to have a solid channel. The vendor has managed to grow its business and raise its brand in the Middle East thanks to Saifuddin’s philosophy of forging closer ties with its distributors and over 4,000 resellers.
1. Taha Khalifa
Reseller Channel Organisation Sales Manager
Intel MENA
Chip maker Intel has continued to dominate the CPU market in the Middle East region. It’s this domination that has given the vendor more appeal in the system builder channel than any other components manufacturer in the Middle East. Khalifa has taken on the role earlier this year, and will be continuing to build on the channel momentum that his predecessor Sven Beckmann had already built. As Intel generates more revenues sales through the system builder channel and resellers than it does from its biggest OEM partners in the region, Khalifa with his channel team will be aware that to keep up this tempo, Intel has to enhance channel engagement and support initiatives to generate new channel sales opportunities and venture into untapped markets.
Software
10. Ilyas Mohammed
Regional Manager
Waterford Technologies MEA
Mohammed is responsible for channel development and management for Waterford in the MEA region. The data management software vendor has put more emphasis on its Email Archiving, File Archiving and Cloud Email Archiving solutions during the past year. Waterford has also been recruiting partners.
9. Rishikesh Trivedi
Channel Director
Epicor Software MEA, Turkey & India
With the launch of Epicor’s next-gen ERP solution earlier this year, Trivedi has been in the driving seat of the vendor’s partner recruiting exercise. Epicor has been expanding its partner base in the region to better serve the verticals that are adopting and already using its ERP solutions. Trivedi has led that process.
8. Hisham Malak
Sales Director
CA-MENA
Malak has been at the centre of CA’s channel expansion plans as the software vendor continues to grow its product portfolio. He has ensured that existing partners are empowered despite the ongoing recruitment of strategic partners in new focus areas. The channel forms an integral part of CA’s business.
7. Reggie Fernandes
Director – Gulf Operations
Sage Software
As Middle East spending on CRM and ERP is set to increase this year, Fernandes has his work cut out. He has been actively involved in Sage’s plans to aggressively develop across the region as the financial crisis wanes. He has been urging partners to explore prospects in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and UAE.
6. Amir Sohrabi
Alliances and Partner Development Manager
SAS Middle East
Business analytics vendor SAS has taken full responsibility to drive its business through channel partners in the region. Sohrabi heads SAS’ channel business in the Middle East. With the current focus on partner recruitment and expansion of services, the vendor has moved away from its-long established direct model.
5. Santhosh Kumar
Software Business Unit Manager
Aptec Distribution
Aptec Distribution has continued to augment its software portfolio thanks to Kumar’s vision for software distribution. In the last 18 months, Aptec has revealed innovative strategies around cloud, virtualisation, UC and business apps, all of which have aggregated its software offerings to the channel.
4. Mazen Jabri
Head of Channels and Ecosystem
SAP MENA
Although Jabri has only been in his new channel role for not more than a year, he has managed to transform SAP’s channel development by increasing the vendor’s partner landscape and developing new initiatives aimed at gaining market share. SAP now has the opportunity to make its channel business a lot bigger.
3. David Postel
Channel Manager
Red Hat
With Red Hat looking to establish itself as a strategic open-source solutions vendor in the region, Postel has placed emphasis on streamlining and ramping up the vendor’s distribution channels. He has developed Red Hat’s rules of engagement so that the wider channel can benefit and grow their business.
2. Nagy Al Saeed
Alliances and Channels Director
Oracle
As the head of partnerships and channels division in the Middle East and Africa, Al Saeed has focused the team’s efforts on channel partner specialisations. Oracle’s Specialisation Programme is a trusted status and brand, which allows partners to differentiate themselves in the marketplace and gain competitive edge.
1. Zaid Abunuwar
Small & Medium Solution & Partners Director
Microsoft
Software giant Microsoft has continued to bolster its strong position in the software channel in the Middle East, largely due to the company’s continued efforts to refine its channel strategy. With cloud computing, SaaS and other cloud-based software services gathering momentum, Microsoft has managed to not only hone its channel focus, but has ensured that its partners gain specialisations in these areas. Abunuwar has focused his energies on ensuring that resellers of all sizes take advantage of new opportunities that are emerging as cloud computing begins to gain wide acceptance in the Middle East. He has been instrumental in getting partners to specialise and develop domain expertise across various industry verticals as Microsoft readies itself for the next wave of computing.
Networking & Comms
10. Leo Psara
Chairman
Minerva
As the major regional distribution partner for Motorola in the Middle East, Minerva has continued to create a niche for itself and channel partners by showcasing some of its two-way radio and VoIP solutions in the Middle East market. Psara has managed to establish Minerva as the premier VAD for wireless solutions.
9. Dong Wu
Vice President
Huawei Enterprise Business, Middle East
Huawei might be known for its strength in the telecoms space but the vendor also boasts a comprehensive enterprise router and switching line up. As head of the newly launched Huawei Enterprise Business, Wu has helped the vendor to successfully launch its partner programme in the Middle East this year.
8. Renton D’souza
Divisional Director
Comstor Middle East
ComstorME has continued to bring to the channel innovative value-add initiatives. The specialist Cisco distributor has under the leadership of D’Souza focused on enabling the channel’s need for credit and marketing services. D’Souza is also the brains behind Comstor’s recently launched Credit as a Service [CaaS].
7. Ahmad Zeidan
Channel Sales Manager
Netgear
Zeidan has spent most of this year and 2010 helping Netgear’s partners to capitalise on the many opportunities emerging in the wireless space. He has devoted most of his efforts to helping partners to increase their business share in telecommunications, government, oil & gas and financial vertical segments.
6. Mohammad Almahdi
Regional Channel Manager
Brocade
Brocade has continued to build new channel sales for its IP networking array after the merger with Foundry Networks, the vendor it acquired two years ago. Almahdi has been creating new business opportunities via existing and new channel partners making sure that they benefit from being part of Brocade.
5. Kumar Mani
Manager – Channel Development
FVC
Mani has stepped into the role that was previously headed by Guru Prasad at FVC. As a VAD, FVC’s core business is to work with channels. Mani’s responsibilities include developing and managing the channel across the Middle East. He has been driving the CHEER programme to partners.
4. Ramkumar Balakrishnan
Vice President, Value Business
Redington Gulf
Redington’s Value Business has continued to ramp up its unit and credit must go to Balakrishnan for having played such an integral role in making sure that its portofolio grows in stature. This year, Balakrishnan has overseen negotiations that have led to the division signing Aastra, Fujitsu and Tripp Lite.
3. Mohammed Areff
Managing Director
Avaya Gulf and Pakistan
Areff has focused most of Avaya’s efforts in 2010 to integrating the channels of Avaya and Nortel. The integration demanded that both partner communities were able to articulate Avaya’s value proposition in totality going forward. He was responsible for making sure that this was a success.
2. Taj El-Khayat
Regional Director, Channels & General Business
Juniper
Juniper has continued to gain market share at the expense of its rivals especially in the core switching and routing market in the Middle East. With El Khayat at the helm of Juniper’s channel operations, Juniper has firmly established itself as a serious player in the Middle East networking channel.
1. Claire Jones
Regional Partner Manager
Cisco UAE
Jones’ role at Cisco has seen her transform the networking vendor’s existing partner relationships, making it easier for the company to support growth opportunities and foster innovation in the solution provider channel. Jones has been leading Cisco’s charges in building transformational and managed services partnerships to support partners focusing on the SME segment. In addition, she has swayed channel partners in Cisco’s favour and to date, the networking giant has 160 certified partners and more than 300 registered partners in the UAE. In the past year, Cisco was able to host its first SME Select Partner Summit in the UAE and extended coverage by partnering with solution providers that will take it into new market adjacencies.
Security & Storage
10. Mohammed Abdul Kabeer
Business Unit Head: InfoSec Business
LQ Securertinet
Kabeer is responsible for developing and growing the distributor’s channel business throughout the region. Prior to assuming this role earlier in the year, he served as channel sales manager where he had the task of recruiting new channel partners for LQ secure. Kabeer aims to grow LQ channel.
9. Hani Barakat
Senior Director Oracle Business
Avnet MENA
With the Oracle and Sun product integration now complete, Avnet’s Barakat has been busy working with channel partners to grow Oracle’s storage business in the region. Barakat is in-charge of driving Avnet’s overall Oracle business and implementing data centre and storage solutions training.
8. Fari Boustantchi
CEO
Secureway
Boustantchi has focused Secureway’s spotlight on HR, R&D and signing of new technologies and brands. He has made sure that partner training is high on the agenda. As an Authorised Training Centre (ATC) for Fortinet, F5, Vasco and Sophos, Secureway has invested in training which has benefited channel partners.
7. Mohammad Mobasseri
Senior Vice-President
Comguard
As Comguard prepares for the next wave of IT distribution, Mobasseri has been in the forefront of spearheading the company’s channel schemes as it moulds its VAD model. Mobasseri is pushing Comguard’s cloud-based managed services efforts. How he positions this will be key for the future.
6. Sushma Kajaria
Channel Development Manager
Trend Micro
The anti-virus security software space continues to witness stiff competition in the region. With the major security vendors continuing to lose market share to start-ups, Kajaria has been using her extensive IT industry experience to promote Trend Micro’s breadth of solutions to the channel in the region.
5. Omar Barakat
Channel Development Manager
McAfee MENA
McAfee has started to implement bold initiatives since coming under the umbrella of $44 billion parent company Intel. Barakat has targeted his channel endeavours on boosting partner margins for solution provider partners playing in commercial and enterprise markets. He is readying the deal registration scheme.
4. Aman Manzoor
Channel Manager
Kaspersky Lab Middle East
Kaspersky has continued to gain favour with channel partners as the company aims to become the number one security vendor by 2014. Manzoor has been driving partner recruitment with the vendor successfully appointing over 26 partners as Premier Retail Resellers. The vendor is also focusing on certification.
3. Lee Reynolds
Managing Director MEA & APAC
Computerlinks
Under the leadership of Reynolds, Computerlinks has continued to forge strategic alliances with tier 1 vendors from Europe and the US. The specialist security solutions VAD has continued to expand its array with the company adopting a solutions-focused approach to address the maturing ME IT markets.
2. Tamim Taufiq
Head Consumer Sales
Symantec MENA
As head of consumer sales, Taufiq has helped Symantec to raise its bar in the power retail channel. After Symantec restructured its internal sales unit to provide better support to all its channels, Taufiq has been influential in assisting the vendor to diversify its consumer business reach in the MENA region.
1. Havier Haddad
Channel Manager
EMC
Earlier this year EMC launched 40 new storage products targeted at partners serving the SMB market. As head of EMC’s partner initiatives, Haddad has helped EMC to transform its business and move more into the midmarket space. With the introduction of purpose built solutions for SMB, Haddad has paid attention to empowering channel partners with tools and knowledge so that they can generate incremental business and differentiate themselves in the market. With enrichments made to the Velocity Partner Programme, Haddad is pushing specialisations and competencies to channel partners in the Middle East.
