Helping food & drink companies access market opportunities in the GCC / Middle East by:- developing a strong network of trade contacts in both food service and food retail sectors.- identifying new growth opportunities in the GCC/ Middle East markets.- gathering market intelligence on key trends, industry developments, barriers or changes around the regulatory and legislative landscape for food and drink in the GCC/Middle East.- providing one-to-one market advice and detailed market research.- working closely with local governments in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, British Embassies Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Department for International Trade, British Chambers of Commerce and both British Business Groups in UAE.- providing access to contacts within leading business families in the Middle East.- arranging meetings with decision-makers within ministries and major organisations,- providing knowledge of best practice on business culture in the Middle East.

- I help businesses, particularly SMEs, expand into the UAE.- I am the main point of contact for any British Food & Drink and Sports companies looking to expand, export and set up in the UAE market and any UAE based Food & Drink and Sports companies looking to partner-up, distribute and retail UK food and drink and Sports products & services in the UAE.- I work closely with local governments in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, British Embassies Dubai and Abu Dhabi, UK Trade & Investment, British Chambers of Commerce and both British Business Groups in UAE.- Partnered with Lulu Hypermarkets to organise their “British Food Festival 2016” to showcase British products in the UAE. Recruited 18 UK companies to showcase their products at this festival.- Organised a comprehensive Gulfood 2016 programme for a UK trade mission of 58 companies. The programme included UAE food and drink sector briefing with industry experts, store visits, networking reception and networking sessions with Lulu Hypermarkets and Al Maya Supermarkets.- Arranged meetings for Al Maya Supermarkets, twice in 2015-16, with UK companies in their offices in UK. Nine British companies were taken on board by Al Maya after their UK visit.- Wrote a detailed UAE food and drink sector report for UK companies highlighting opportunities in the UAE, which has already been purchased by several individual UK companies to assess opportunities in the UAE.- We have developed a bespoke UK government incubator scheme in full partnership with Dubai Government, to allow British firms quick, cost-effective and efficient market entry which allows them to set up in Dubai, UAE, operate, fully licensed, whilst they pursue business development opportunities and also better understand their companies’ long-term corporate positioning in the region.

- UAE Sector lead for Business & Consumer Services, Food & Drink, Healthcare sectors and assisted on Financial & Professional Services sector.- Extensive expertise in supporting UK companies to develop their export potential in the UAE through market research and network building.- Overcame market barrier to UK salmon export to UAE resulting in the release of salmon shipments after being held at Dubai ports for two weeks.- Supported a British trade mission of 25 companies with a programme which included UAE food & drink sector briefing, store visits, meet the buyer event and a networking reception.- Set up meetings for key UAE based retailers with UK companies in London, resulting in several export deals for Gulf won by UK companies.- Delivered three years of Ministerial visits from UK to UAE - contributed to economic briefings.- Part of the Expo 2020 Dubai High Value Opportunity project team.

- Maintaining the commercial registry- Providing general assistance to British companies based in UK or locally. Also providing basic assistance to the local companies in UAE.- Taking the lead on the Commercial database and maintaining records with information gained from Commercial team’s contacts, telephone research and from the press.

Carrying out direct marketing, research & customer service for clients such as Microsoft, FedEx, Sony and Grand Hyatt.