GET TO KNOW...
On the lighter side of things, we ask the
industry experts what makes them tick. . . .
Emma Shakespeare,
SAP Concur Regional Sales Director for MENA
wWhat would you describe as your
most memorable achievement?
On a personal level, being able to buy my
parents a house when I moved away from
the UK to live in Dubai with my husband
and child. It enabled my parents to live
closer to family and have help while we are
away. On a career level, being appointed
as Regional Director to oversee MENA for a
global technology firm for new and exciting
developing markets.
What first made you think of a
career in technology?
I have always been interested in technology
and making end-users lives easier. It has
been interesting to see the cloud industry
take off while sadly other industries die out.
Nowadays, if you buy an iPhone you expect
certain applications to integrate with it, and
the same is expected in the business world
of tech. An example of this would be the
finance team which has to pay employees
and/or suppliers and there are various
processes and applications which should all
connect together through the corporate card
provider, travel agency spend, employee cash
spend, company petty cash floats, supplier
invoices for direct and indirect spend.
Finding ways in which people can connect
easier, communicate faster and share more
information and get visibility of their data is
key. In addition, this is the way that forwardthinking
tech companies leverage and
integrate with other cloud companies as user
behaviour increases with on-demand.
What style of management
philosophy do you employ with
your current position?
I don’t really have a set style; I try to be
agile during this period since it’s a testing
time during COVID for myself as well as
my employees and key stakeholders. The
key thing is to have empathy, understand
“
IT HAS BEEN
INTERESTING TO
SEE THE CLOUD
INDUSTRY TAKE
OFF WHILE
SADLY OTHER
INDUSTRIES
DIE OUT.
the underlying drivers of why people do
what they do, give them a career goal and
a path forward to continually be invested
in the company. The most important thing
is choosing the right people who have the
right attitude, doing things outside of the job
description come with the territory especially
when you are managing an emerging market.
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