Waqas Ahmed

  EXPERIENCE     _________________________________________________________ AGRI LIFE FERTILIZERS Jun 11 to Aug 17        Director – Operations and Marketing ·         Setup a manufacturing unit of pelleted organic fertilizers from scratch. ·         Planned and launched the product in b2b market supplying to various fertilizer and pesticides distribution companies. ·         Managed the production operations of the plant with key focus on production planning and MSL monitoring. ·         Finalized a Joint Venture with a leading Korean company named EDD Networks, specializing in organic fertilizer products, and introduced an advanced organic fertilizer in the market. ·         Launched and headed the retail sales team in 2015 along with the chemical fertilizer product range of the company. ·         Successfully supervised and carried out two foreign tour incentive schemes with top level fertilizer dealers from Punjab and KPK provinces. ·         Signed an MOU with Apna Bank (a local Micro Finance bank) to launch their loan packages for the farmers from our company’s platform in order to facilitate them in their capital needs. This helped in developing a bond with the end customer, hence supporting in sales growth. AKZO NOBEL formerly known as ICI PAKISTAN LTD Nov 09 to May 11       Assistant Manager Demand Generation, Center Region Decorative Paints ·         Lead the back selling team for the Housing segment of Decorative Paints for entire Punjab. ·         Planned and executed the first ever ICI Paints influencer programs for Architects. ·         Regularly monitored and reported the KPIs and service levels of the Demand Generation Team. ·         Managed a team of 26 Customer Services Consultants and 5 Interior Decoration Consultants.   Jan 08 to Nov 09         Product Manager, Industrial Paints ·         Prioritized process and communicated product wise production requirements to fulfill Business targets in liaison with relevant departments. ·         Directly contributed to record sales for Industrial Business by effective planning of operations. ·         Regularly analyzed and reported Business performance against budgets. ·         Carried out frequent evaluations of marketing activities of competitors to assist Business Manager in preparing counter strategies. ·         Acted as the HSE Product Steward for the Industrial Paints Business.   May 07 - Jan 08          Assistant Manager Channel, Decorative Paints ·         Regularly monitored and analyzed National Sales performance. ·         Successfully devised and carried out the 2008 Dealer Scheme program. ·         Responsible for credit assessment of all new dealers for ICI Paints.   Mar 07 - Apr 07          Commercial Trainee, Paints Business ·         Member of the marketing team for ICI’s Wood and Wood care range. ·         Conducted primary research for Wood care products. ·         Represented ICI at IAPEX 2007 for Wood and Wood care range.   EDUCATION     __________________________________________________________ ·         MSc. (Marketing) Oct 2005 – Sep 2006 University of Leicester (UK) ¨      Main areas of study include Marketing Research; Consumer Behavior; Product, Policy and Innovation Management; International Marketing and Branding. Dissertation: “Impact of peer pressure and celebrity endorsements on the buying behavior of Pakistani teenagers, regarding the purchase of a mobile phone connection”.   ·         MBA (Marketing) Sep 2003 – Aug 2005 Lahore School of Economics, Lahore ·         BSc. (Economics & Statistics) Sep 2001 – Aug 2003 Government College University, Lahore   COMPETENCIES________________________________________________________ Teamwork: ¨      Experience of working within a team-based culture at ICI Paints. ¨      Key attributes include mutual respect, commitment and collaboration, being open to criticism, and demonstrating willingness to work with all team members. ¨      Working with production staff in Agri Life Fertilizers provided a very learning experience in managing the labour problems efficiently and effectively. Planning and Organising: ¨      Executed the production and distribution planning on weekly basis according to the tough timelines of b2b customers at Agri Life Fertilizers. ¨      Increased my ability to prioritise workload in order to adhere to tight deadlines, through working in different departments at ICI Paints. ¨      This has taught me to maintain a consistently high standard of work under pressure, and created a greater awareness of time management thorough planning at each stage of a project. IT: ¨      Proficient in the use of Microsoft Office applications such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Languages: ¨      Fluent in English, Urdu and Punjabi. Interests: ¨      Golf, Cars, Politics, Travelling, Cricket, Snooker, Bowling & Movies.