Sara Sahely
Vice-Chair, ABG

In a marketing career spanning over 20 years in media, advertising and marketing across a variety of FMCG, service and publishing sectors, Sara has a string of blue chip experience. Sara has been in Dubai for 5 years with the Emirates Group where her advertising management responsibility has included the diverse businesses that comprise the Group. Spearheaded by one of the most admired and innovative airlines in the world, the Emirates Group is a dynamic travel and tourism operation with a global reputation for excellence spanning every aspect of the industry.

Her passion to see the caliber and practice of marketing improve in the Middle East is demonstrated though her role as Vice Chairperson of the Advertisers Business Group since its establishment.

Originally, from Melbourne, Australia, a career highlight for Sara includes reversing her home state of Victoria’s 20 year decline in milk sales with a campaign that won many international awards including a Mobius and three Cannes Gold Lions.

The GCC's Marketing Ecosystem

An opportunity to shape policy and change for an organisation can be very rewarding. But what about the chance to shape policy and drive change at an industry level, for the region? This is what motivates the board members that make up the Advertisers Business Group (ABG); a body dedicated to protecting the interests of advertisers within the GCC.

In this presentation, Sara Sahely, Vice Chair of the ABG, will take us through what steps are being taken to develop a regional marketing ecosystem and why this initiative is vital for brands and marketers to flourish.

Celia Peterson
Founder, arabianEye

Celia Peterson has worked in the photographic industry from the moment she graduated in 1996 from the University of Manchester. She moved to Dubai in 2004 and saw a gap in Dubai for a quality provider of images and photographers. For the next 5 years she has managed arabianEye to the brand it is today.

Company Profile:

Formed in 2006, arabianEye has grown to be the leading Middle Eastern image library and photographer’s agency. With a database of 30,000 images and 30 photographers from across the Middle East, our images are exciting for both a global editorial and commercial client base which include Time Magazine, The Guardian, Forbes, as well as regional brands Emirates, Gulf Air, Jumeirah. Whether you would like an image sourced or shot specifically for your brand, we are your visual partner.

www.arabianeye.com

The Evolution of the arabianEye Brand

Celia Peterson will talk about how she developed arabianEye into a leading brand in the Middle Eastern visual content industry. Her presentation will cover how arabianEye evolved organically from a one-woman operation into an internationally recognized producer and distributor of contemporary Arabian images.

Focal points will include the evolution of her perception (both as a business manager and as a photographer), the challenges she faced in synthesizing her vision of Arabian photography into a market-ready brand, and how she and her team have distinguished arabianEye regionally and in global markets. Along the way she will share her views on how to build a successful team and develop in competitive business environments.

Dina Valrani
Founder, S*uce

With a Bsc in Biology from McGill University, Dina Valrani never expected to end up at the forefront of one of the most innovative retail concepts in the Middle East. After a prolific four years in medical research with GlaxoWellcome, Dina moved to logistics company InfoFort, growing it from a 7 employee operation to a 100 employee regional entity, later acquired by Aramex in 2005.

In 2004, Dina partnered with Zayan Ghandour and Fatima Mazroui-Ghobash who founded S*uce, a multi-brand boutique with a difference. In just five years, the partners grew S*uce from a relatively small retail destination in Jumeriah to the fashion and lifestyle phenomenon it is today. As Operations and Business Development Director, Dina’s marketing acumen and entrepreneurial understanding have been an instrumental driving force behind the brand’s development at every stage.

S*uce has been featured in several international publications such as CondeNast Traveler, Financial Times, Forbes, Travel and Leisure and was hailed as the “spot that bounces with style” by US Vogue. S*uce was also awarded the Emirates Woman ‘Best Independent Boutique of the Year’ Award in 2006, as well as the "Best Multi-Brand Boutique" at the GraziaStyle Awards 2007 and the ‘Rising Star of the Year’ Award at Retail Me 2007.

With five existing locations in the UAE, and local and regional expansion in the cards, S*uce is proving to be the benchmark in multi-brand retail experience worldwide.

http://www.shopatsauce.com/

What's in the S*uce? The S*uce Story

Abstract coming soon