PROFILE
The Shadi way
to do business
Shadi Bteddini, president of BE International, claims to be about to launch operations in
several new Middle East markets. And—given that he boards a plane every 2.5 days—he
certainly has enough air miles to scout around for opportunities
BY BEN FLANAGAN
f the number of partnership we’ll be launch- in this could be rin ecruitment.
I
houses one pos- ing shortly,” says Bteddini, “Finding talent—people who
sesses is an accurate adding that he is also plan- believe in whb at we believe
measure of success, ning to enter Kuwait on an in—is the biggest chin allenge,”
then Shadi Bted- independent basis. An opera- says Bteddini.
dini, president of tion in Egypt and Iraq, and an “We’ve been very lucky
full-service BE International, expansion of activities in the with the staff we have, but
is very successful indeed. UK, could follow. it’s tough to grow your busi-
For Bteddini—who, with This is surprising at a time nessn . I’m looking for certain
his family, formed the glo- when most agencies are bat- skill ssk ets: family values, en-
bal communications agency tening down the hatches, and trepreneurial values. You
twelve years ago—claims to concentrating on servicing wanw t these people to take the
own or rent 14 houses world- their core businesses and cli- prp oactive approach and con-
wide, and says that he boards ents. But Bteddini says that it tact you dirta ectly, to talk to us
a plane every 2.5 days. is typical of his entrepreneur- about who they arab e.”
That’s a lot of trips to Ikea, ial approach, which he says is Media Week offers to pub-
and a lot of air miles. But it’s “a true testament of how the lish Bli teddini’s (three) mo-
understandable when you American dream works”. bile nb umbers to assist in this
consider that BE Interna- “I enjoy starting things sseearch, but he declines, say-
tional has a global network of from scratch, to create op- ing: “They can Gin oogle us:
offices than spans the conti- portunities. We don’t have we’rw e not that hard to find.”
nents, in cities ranging from the deep pockets that the big
San Francisco and New York boys do, so we can’t just go in
to London, Dubai, Mumbai and acquire. But we started
Shadi Bteddini
and Melbourne. in a garage, and I like to say Title: President, BE Interna-
But while Bteddini ad- that in each new market we tional
mits that his “tonnes” of air enter, we start in a garage
Born: In Lebanon; moved to
miles are now being used to there too,” he says.
the US aged 14
pay for upgrades on planes, “Now we’re finding that the
rather than paying for busi- cost of entry becomes cheap-
Lives: Mainly in Dubai, New
ness class outright, he says
York, and Singapore. Owns
that the global downturn is in the “middle tier” of agency
or rents 14 houses: there are
not dissuading him from ex-
We started in a garage,
four in the US, and one in To-
world, offering both “global
ronto, China, India, Singapore,
panding his business network
further. Because the group—
and in each new market
reach, but also local knowl-
Malaysia, Turkey, Morocco,
edge.”
Dubai, Doha and Riyadh
which is already present in
28 markets, plus another 18
we enter, we start in a
Specialising in youth mar-
keting, PR, media planning
Age: 35
through affiliates—plans to
garage there too.
and buying, the group’s glo-
Family: Single
enter many more cities in the bal clients include Shell and
near future. Google. Within the GCC, cli-
Education: Studied astro-
To begin with, the company er. Also, the talent market also about entrepreneurship. ents include Grand Stores,
physics at State University in
Connecticut (“The idea was
plans to launch its PR agency is easier. More importantly, And I’ve noticed that it’s the Sharjah Islamic Bank, and
to get into the NASA Space
and youth marketing divi- we’re finding that the clients same in Singapore, India and property developer Tanmiyat.
Programme, but real life took
sion in Bahrain, following the are there.” China. Whether it’s a small Bteddini is confident that
hold. I still look at the stars
launch of operations there Bteddini draws a parallel guy opening a 7/11 fran- the group will maintain its
every now and then”). Fol-
three months ago, which between forming his compa- chise, or pushing a hotdog performance this year. “I’d ex- lowed that with a marketing
Bteddini says “has been ny in the US 12 years ago and cart, it doesn’t really matter,” pect that we’d do the same as degree and MBA
amazingly successful”. his current operations in the he says. last year in terms of profit and
Previous employment:
Regulatory approvals are emerging markets. turnover. I don’t expect us to
Managed a retail outlet with
also underway in Jeddah: “It was the whole Ameri- drop. Opening new offices is
$35 million of sales aged 17.
“It will officially launch in a can dream, to start your own going to help,” he says.
Then worked in media sales
few months’ time, through a business. The Dubai dream is B
teddini claims that BE
International’s suc-
cess lies in its position But one stumbling block
16 / 10 MAY 2009
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