Interview | Alliance Business Centers BUSINESS CENTRES A SIGN OF THE TIMES Sherif Kamel President - RMEA (Russia, Middle East and Africa) 26 Alliance Business <strong>May</strong>-<strong>June</strong> Centers <strong>2017</strong>
Interview | Alliance Business Centers One of the hottest trends globally among startups, freelancers and creative types seeking community and collaboration with like-minded entrepreneurs, today, the shared office movement, which has been building momentum for years, is skyrocketing. It’s revolutionizing how, when and where people work. Some like ABCN with its global reach have set the bar high. With locations spanning the globe, Alliance Business Centers is one of the largest global network of serviced offices in the world, with more than 650 locations in 45 countries, and counting. With customizable support tools and a dedicated team to help you take care of business, Alliance provides solutions to mobile workers, entrepreneurs, small businesses and corporates. President of ABCN RMEA (Russia, Middle East, and Africa), Sherif Kamel is a veteran of the industry. Starting his career in banking, he was appointed ABCN CEO for the UAE in 2008, a role that soon expanded to the Middle East region and Africa continent, and then on the same upward trajectory to the position he holds today. bizbahrain Group Editor, Reena Abraham talks to the dynamic, gogetting Sherif Kamel. The sharing economy is an ecosystem that boosts the sharing of human, physical, and thoughtful resources to create more efficient and collaborative systems. “Armed with 20 years of experience and a track record of proven performance in the banking and finance industries, the knowledge I gained became my stepping stone to enter the entrepreneurial world with ABCN. After my graduation, I worked in the banking sector for many years. I first started with Chase Manhattan bank (which became Commercial International Bank later on) for 4 years and a half. I decided to come in the GCC to pursue my career in banking so I join National Bank of Umm Al Quwain and after 4 years of experience I joined Standard Chartered for 10 years.” How has your experience in financial institutions and banking helped you in your current role? The banking industry helped me a lot in many areas that are fundamentals to run a business. First it helped me to manage the pressure and the stress that you can get from the outside environment. It also helped me to be proactive and implement a new strategy when necessary and take the appropriate actions with any third parties. I understood the expectations of the Middle Eastern work market, how to approach and deal with many different cultures. Also, in banking, you need to follow a lot of procedures to get things done, it thought me how to keep a discipline in everything I do. If you want to get results you need to stick to your strategy and come up with an action plan that you must follow step by step until your mission is successfully completed. What have been the main strategies employed to expand and grow ABCN after you took over? It is thanks to my experience in different countries along with my network that I could reached out to the people I was looking for. I was able to identify the audience I wanted to target and elaborate an adequate advertisement strategy. In this Industry communication is key, you must propose your services in the proper way and make sure everyone knows about you. Second really important element, you must make sure that the quality of your services is better every day. There is always room for self-improvement and happy clients are the best advertisement you can have, your reputation in this industry is really important and word of mouth works really well in this part of the world. The last but not least, is to constantly stay up to date with the global economy and monitor the emerging markets where doing business is becoming a serious playground. What are some of challenges being faced in the GCC economy and how are you working to overcome those challenges? The main challenge in the GCC economy is to face market uncertainty the best way possible. Even though the market has been quite stable for a while now, a lot of changes can happen suddenly especially after the decrease in oil prices. From one year to the next, the conditions and expectations of the market can change quickly, so you must be flexible and adapt quickly to the wave you are surfing on. This means changing your strategy within a very small amount of time and always having new ideas to implement. At ABCN we step into our customers’ situation every day and we try to experience things from their side… We step through the customer touch points in our business and consciously think about them and this is how we provide the best service possible. Having worked in many countries in the Middle East and the region do you find major differences in work culture and business processes in each country? What makes Bahrain different in your opinion? The work culture in the GCC is different from any other country in the Middle East but similar to Bahrain due to a higher number of expats, so the work flow is more eclectic and sustained. The Bahrain Market is geographically more interesting as it is surrounded by top player economies in the Middle East like Saudi, Qatar and the GCC so it makes it a central platform to meet up with investors. Another important advantage is that the government makes it easier for any International company to set up their business in Bahrain, thanks to adequate rules and regulations. This makes it different. <strong>May</strong>-<strong>June</strong> <strong>2017</strong> 27
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