Prince launches new regional operation in Middle East

The marketing and sales organisation will be headed by Raza Farooqui, who has been appointed as the Prince Business Development Manager Middle East Region, and will be based in the new regional office in Dubai Internet City.

Prince is the industry leader in the development and manufacturing of performance racquet sports equipment. Prince Sports Europe, based in London and covering the European, Middle East and African markets, is the European headquarters of Prince Sports Inc, the US-based company which was formed last year following the acquisition of the Prince brand from the Benetton Group.

Mike Ballardie, Vice President and Managing Director of Prince Sports Europe, is joining Farooqui in hosting a two-day series of launches and product presentations in Dubai for distributors, retailers, coaches and the media.

"The new regional operation will be of direct benefit to all Prince distributors throughout the Middle East region, working in partnership with their management teams and key customers to develop the optimum market strategy that will drive aggressive and sustained Prince brand growth within the various markets," said Ballardie.

Key to the new initiative will be the establishment of a Prince service centre in Jebel Ali, from which all products will be supplied to customers throughout the region.

Raza Farooqui has had a long history with the Prince brand and most recently worked for the Falaknaz Sports Group, the Prince distributor for UAE.

"I believe that both with Raza's appointment and the new opportunities that the regional service centre will provide, we will be able to work more closely in partnership with our distributors to rapidly rebuild the Prince business in all the Middle East markets," concluded Ballardie.