The Brief
Our client, a world leader in the consumer electronics segment tasked us to recruit their initial team of 18 to 20 key personnel in the UAE. Though it was a well-known brand worldwide and a brand to reckon with in the ME, the company made a strategic decision to have a direct base in the UAE, to strengthen their channel partners, to increase their market share and to have an overall direct understanding of the local consumers.
Though they had many distributors in the GCC, their market share was only at 10%.
The client retained Lobo on an exclusive basis to build a new business from ground up starting with critical roles in Leadership, Sales, Marketing, Finance, HR and Supply Chain.
The Process
After detailed discussions with the client, we understood their broader business objectives, culture, ethos and their expectations in the new team. Since it was a new market for the client in terms of recruitment, we had to hand hold them on different requirements- to sensitize them on the cultural sensitivities of the local recruitment process, to define competencies based on the client’s expectation, to help them gain an understanding of their competitors in the region, to make them understand the current compensation trends, designing Job descriptions and suggesting a search strategy in line with the client’s requirements.
Lobo was able to leverage its experience, expertise and network to close 18 key positions with the company within 3 months.
The Result
The team recruited by Lobo in the UAE was able to grow the market share and grow sales across the GCC and catapulted the brand to number one within a short period of three years. In addition, they were able to penetrate the African market with a novel and a unique business plan, which helped them to secure a strong position in markets like Algeria, Tunisia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya and Nigeria, capturing 80% of market share in 2 years.
In 2014, the brand was recognized as one of the top 10 intimate brands in the UAE.
The Regional Sales Manager placed by Lobo achieved tremendous success and was able to grow to the level of Regional Head, General Manager and currently the Managing Director within a few years. He was also recognized as a business influencer by Forbes ME in 2018.
The success of the organization, the career progression of the employees within the company along with the fact that minimal attrition in the team selected by Lobo, has made this a very fullfiling consulting assignemnt. Most importantly, our conversations with all the candidates placed there over the years translate into a simple sentiment of being happy, being loyal and be able to contribute to the growth of the brand.
