I get curious about why people buy, then turn it into strategy.
Or book a 30-minute call
Usually asking why people buy.
years in brand and marketing, across 8 countries
markets repositioned at the same time, in one inflation year
premium line volume in one year, against a goal of 3x
In 2024, inflation hit four markets and every fragrance brand cut prices. Maa Althahab, Egypt's budget leader, went the other way: lift the brand people already knew, grow upmarket, and keep its loyal base.
Regional Brand Manager, Maison de Maa.
Premium line, in one year
Ready-made fragrance volume
Markets that grew
A virtual real-estate app with no name, audience or category. I built its brand and launch, starting in Bahrain.
How do you make people trust a property they can't touch?
Brand built from scratch
Pilot market, three more planned
A chain growing ninefold risked losing what made people choose it. I led the insight behind its repositioning.
What does a brand need to stay itself while it multiplies?
Branches by the time I left
Anniversary campaign, 2021
A brand strategy for an AI and cloud upskilling startup, built around one idea: a lighthouse that guides.
How do you speak to learners, companies and governments at once?
Hackweek sprint, Sept 2025
Audiences: B2C, B2B, B2G
Brand strategy, positioning, pricing, retail, communications, launches, exhibitions and B2B export, owned end to end.
Built a marketing team from scratch in Bahrain. Certified trainer for 35+ CRM staff. Briefs agencies and celebrity talent.
Reports to a Group Regional Director of Marketing. Presented market insight to the 19011 board. MBA in Global Marketing.
My self-built framework, and a loop rather than a line: every roadmap ends by measuring, then going back to check where the brand stands now. Tap a letter.
Understand the market, culture, category and competition.
Four markets, one squeeze: inflation from about 1% in Morocco to 58.5% in Turkey, and shoppers who still wanted to feel premium.
“One of the most reliable and well-rounded brand managers on the team.”
Sameh SalemGroup Regional Director of Marketing · his manager“A masterclass in how creative thinking turns into real brand value.”
Mohamed Yossry Al NaggarHead of Customer Marketing, minlo · senior colleague“Any solution he proposes is built on a solid foundation of information.”
Mora MichelCreative Director · colleague
Designer turned marketer. Since 2018 I've built and repositioned brands across 8 countries, connecting why people buy with what the business needs, and making the creative land.
Each hat opens a side of the work that doesn't fit on a CV.
Positioning, pricing and go-to-market for brands across 8 countries, from fragrances to apps. Curious first, then strategic.
Premium line volume 3.1x in one year, across four markets at once.
Try the other hats to see what else he does.
Every Ramadan, Egypt's biggest brands spend their biggest budgets in just a few weeks. On Copy Taste, I break those ads down: what worked, what didn't, and what each one reveals about Egyptian audiences. It keeps my eye sharp on creative and culture, not just strategy.
A full series on the biggest season in Egyptian advertising.
Two products, built solo. Where my own advice meets real users.
Notices when friends' lives cross, nearby or doing the same thing, so you can say hi in one tap. Private by design.
A 4-minute check on how well you really know your market.
I'm a certified trainer (TOT), and I've designed and delivered communication training for 35+ CRM employees. In Bahrain, I built a marketing department from scratch.
35+ people trained. One marketing team built from zero.
13 questions, 4 minutes. Rate how you know what you know, and get the three gaps to close first, with a two-week plan.
A brand to grow, a market to crack or a role to fill? Let's talk. Good work usually starts with one conversation.
13 quick questions. There are no right answers: you don't answer the questions, you say how you know what you know. You get your three priorities, a two-week plan and the questions to ask.
The gaps that matter most, ranked for your situation.
What to do, who to talk to and what to ask them.
How much of it comes from customers, and how much from assumptions.
Created by Abdulrahman Elhelaihy after moving between very different industries and having to learn each one fast.
Premium line sales volume across the region, year on year
Ready-made fragrance volume, year on year
Total brand volume, with every market growing
What world were we playing in?
Four markets, one shared squeeze. In 2024, inflation hit Maa Althahab's customers hard almost everywhere it sold.
| Market | 2024 inflation | What it meant for fragrance |
|---|---|---|
| Egypt | 32.5% (April) | Shoppers traded down to cheaper brands and fakes; offers drove the category |
| Turkey | 58.5% | A shift toward affordable indulgences; mass leads, premium growing faster |
| Lebanon | 45% (221% in 2023) | Recovering from crisis; mass growing fastest, helped by masstige launches |
| Morocco | ~1% | Low inflation but tight budgets; premium under pressure, masstige rising |
Brand and marketing strategy built from scratch
Pilot market + 3 expansion markets planned
UI/UX, product, commercial and operations, working as one
What world were we playing in?
Property search in the region ran through listing portals like Property Finder, Bayut and Aqarmap: photos, a phone number, and a trip across town to see if the place matched the pictures. 3D virtual tours existed, but almost nobody in MENA real estate used them.
Where did the brand really stand?
Makanvi started from zero: a product idea (3D virtual tours of real properties) with no name, no audience and no listings. What it had was a clear problem: brokers who don't show up, photos that don't match reality, fake listings, and hours lost on viewings.
Where exactly did we need to be?
Launch in Bahrain with clear three-month targets for awareness, downloads and listings, then expand to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt.
The challenge: win both sides of the market at once, property owners to list and people to browse.
The brand and go-to-market
I planned the brand and marketing strategy and the go-to-market from scratch:
The launch plan
When you launch a new category, sell the problem first. Then reveal the answer.
← Back to all workBranches by the time I left
Repositioning strategy adopted by leadership
Anniversary turned into a full internal + external campaign
What world were we playing in?
A young pharmacy chain in a crowded market, up against El Ezaby and Ezz Eldeen. The whole category ran on constant promotions, so customers chased the next discount instead of staying loyal.
Where did the brand really stand?
An honest SWOT showed a brand that had grown faster than its foundations:
On top of that, customers had a negative attitude toward the brand, partly from bad call-center experiences.
Where exactly did we need to be?
Move from one-off promotions to a brand people feel good about: build brand recall and a positive attitude, turn deal-seekers into loyal customers, and bring employees along with the brand.
Two campaigns carried the strategy
The 2nd Anniversary
Results: the chain grew from 35 to 300 branches during my time, and leadership adopted the repositioning strategy I built.
When a brand grows ninefold, marketing's job isn't more promotions. It's giving the brand, and the people behind it, a clear direction to grow into.
← Back to all workDuring a one-week hackweek, I built and presented a full brand strategy for a startup speaking to three very different audiences: learners, companies and governments.
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