Cisco unveils new strategy for MENAL

Ziad will report directly to Mark De Simone, Cisco's Vice President for the Middle East & Africa region and his new role begins with immediate effect.

'Ziad's promotion comes after the instrumental role he played as Sales Operations Director over the years within Cisco Saudi,' said De Simone. 'With his vast experience of over 20 years in the industry, Ziad attributed significantly to developing Cisco's business and operations in Saudi Arabia and will now transfer his expertise to further Cisco's success in the North Africa and Levant region.'

Ziad started his career at Cisco in the year 2000 as a Service Provider Account Manager in Saudi Arabia and then led the role as Regional Sales Manager. He was further promoted as the Operations Director for all Sales in Saudi Arabia. Over the last 3 years, he has developed strategic relationships within the Saudi market across various verticals. Ziad has also played a key role in raising the profile of Cisco's recently launched Tourism, Real Estate and Construction (TREC) division.

The company further announced the appointment of Hani Abdulaziz as General Manager for Egypt, Adel Dahmani as General Manager for Tunisia and Libya, Abderrahmane Mounir as General Manager for Morocco, Fadi Moubarak as General Manger for Lebanon and Lehouri Belbari as General Manager for Algeria. The new managers, who report directly to Ziad Mortaja, will oversee Cisco's presence and rapid expansion in Levant and Northern Africa and will also spearhead efforts across the booming sectors of Tourism, Real Estate, Retail as well as Banking, Telecom, Finance and Public sector.

'MENAL is a key market for us and we have invested heavily here in terms of people and by opening up new offices across key markets. These important changes are part of Cisco's strategy underpinning the creation of the new Emerging Markets Theatre,' said De Simone.

Cisco recently announced that its Middle East and Africa operations delivered 56 per cent growth in FY 2006 over the same period last year.