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A Passion for Adventure Turning Zain into a Telecom Giant
Published Apr 1, 2012
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Saad al Barrak is no ordinary businessman, but a pioneer of the Arab renaissance. His approach to business comes from the souks of his native Kuwait, but is also shaped by an American and British education, occupation and war, and his own warm and human leadership style.
In just seven years (2002-2009), Saad al Barrak transformed a moribund, ex-state-owned telecoms operator with a base of 500,000 customers in Kuwait into the international giant Zain, a company with over 72 million customers across 23 countries. Over the same period, revenues leapt from $570 million to a staggering $8 billion.
Saad al Barrak’s life has been a colourful one, and he has seen Zain through challenging times, like the Iraqi invasion and occupation of Kuwait in the early 1990s. His entrepreneurial taste for risk and his understanding of emerging markets led him- in a single breath-taking takeover- to expand into Sub-Saharan Africa, where other CEOs were afraid to invest.
Saad al Barrak’s respect for the human dimension in business dealings shines through this insightful and entertaining book.. His call to ‘be bold, be daring, be different,’ has revolutionised the business models of companies like McKinsey- now it can change yours.
About the author
Saad al Barrak was born in Kuwait and is an engineer and a businessman of international repute. Formerly CEO of the Zain Group from July 2002 until his resignation on February 3, 2010, he led the rebranding effort from MTC to Zain, a brand that became one of the most distinguished names in the Middle East and Africa region, and the sweetheart of the telecommunications industry. He remained CEO of Zain Saudi Arabia till October 2011. Prior to his appointment with Zain, Saad al Barrak was Managing Director of International Turnkey Systems (ITS), one of the leading IT companies in the Middle East and North Africa region. He has served on several company boards in the Middle East and Europe and received many distinguished leadership awards.
About BQFP
Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing (BQFP) is owned by Qatar Foundation and managed by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc in London. BQFP is based in Doha, Qatar, and has three main aims:
• Publishing: To publish books of excellence and originality to the highest editorial, design and production standards, in Arabic and in English. The list will range from board books for babies books via fiction and non-fiction for adults and children, information and reference, to academic monographs.
• Reading and Writing Development: to encourage the lifelong literacy in Qatar and the Arab World.
• Knowledge Transfer of publishing and related skills to Qatar and the Gulf region via training and other initiatives.
For more information on BQFP’S activities please refer to our website:
www.bqfp.com.qa
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VMD - [Virtual Marketing Department]
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