houcem.bakkari's CV
houcem.bakkari
Director - MEA region
Profile summary
Strategic Director with 14 years shaping manufacturing, chemical, and industrial outcomes across the MEA region, Europe, and GCC markets. Known for directing large scale commercial expansions, managing multi-million dollar P&L portfolios, and driving cross-border operational efficiency. Committed to aligning localization efforts with global growth objectives to deliver measurable enterprise value.
Career highlights
P&L and Regional Management: Managed a $50M annual P&L across 6 product lines, increasing net margins by 15% in 18 months while overseeing operations for a 60-FTE manufacturing facility.
Commercial Expansion: Directed commercial development for the Libyan Oil and Gas sector at Sika AG and doubled a customer portfolio from 9 to 19 customers at Crown Holdings.
Revenue Growth and Strategy: Managed strategy and product portfolio for waterproofing solutions, generating $10M in revenue in 2019 and scaling Ucrete flooring solutions to $30M in annual revenue by 2022.
Enterprise Acquisition and Sales: Captured 10 tier-1 chemical suppliers with over $250M asset size in 7 months and secured 18 strategic customer migrations for SaaS subscription services across Francophone Europe.
Key skills
Professional experience
Manages commercial export and distribution operations across multiple countries, overseeing regional sales and manufacturing functions. Shapes regional growth strategy and directs cross-border teams, aligning commercial activities with corporate objectives.
- Managed a $50M annual P&L across 6 product lines increasing net margins by 15% in 18 months.
- Built the feasibility study, legal structuring, and deployment of a new corporate entity in Libya, overseeing regulatory compliance and capital project execution for a 60-FTE manufacturing operation.
- Drove regional change management as part of the Africa leadership committee, leading a modern supply chain vision to dismantle operational silos and merge legacy sales, procurement, and manufacturing departments.
- Introduced the regional Trade Marketing framework across South Africa, Morocco, and Algeria and engineered targeted initiatives to capture high-growth Residential and DIY markets.
- Architected and deployed the inaugural EMEA digital loyalty pilot in Tunisia; directed the end-to-end launch of a specialized mobile solution scaling to 3,000+ active users in collaboration with an international tech provider.
Shaped regional market intelligence and commercial development across the Libyan energy sector, steering product adoption across refining assets. Defined commercial execution within specific technical verticals and managed technical infrastructure solutions positioning.
- Directed market intelligence and commercial development for the Libyan Oil and Gas sector, driving strategic product adoption across major refining assets including Azzawiya and Tobruk.
- De-risked the regional portfolio by leading a Food and Beverage sector diversification initiative, converting 5 new greenfield and expansion projects across Poultry, Brewery, and Seafood verticals.
- Drove commercial execution within the ER vertical, driving a 17% YoY top-line growth rate.
- Commercialized specialized wastewater infrastructure solutions, capturing 5 critical SWWT project closures within 10 months to establish an early-mover advantage with ONAS Tunisia.
Steered regional commercial operations for Crown Holdings, Inc., managing a 90M annual P&L. Coordinated cross-functional shipments across 12 African countries while executing price hedges under London Metal Exchange agreements and delivering rolling financial forecasts to the regional Finance team.
- Doubled the customer portfolio from 9 to 19 clients following a 25M capacity investment.
- Produced legal documents and prepared agreements with the regional Legal team, negotiating directly with customers.
Directed regional enterprise acquisition and SaaS monetization strategy across France and Benelux, overseeing commercial engagement, product architecture demonstrations, and customer innovation workshops for industrial chemical markets.
- Acquired 10 tier-1 chemical suppliers representing 250M in asset size within 7 months to establish regional presence.
- Secured 18 strategic customer migrations for SaaS and EDI subscription services across Francophone Europe over 12 months.
- Conducted 5 to 7 enterprise product architecture demonstrations weekly to accelerate commercial pipeline conversion.
- Managed strategy and product portfolio for waterproofing solutions, generating $10M revenue in 2019 across 2 countries with no manufacturing entity in Tunisia and Libya.
- Defined levels of country adaptations and technical Go-to-Market approaches for flooring solutions, reaching $30M annual revenue in 4 countries in 2022 with the Ucrete brand.
- Developed the permanent placement service line by acquiring 22 customers across 4 new sectors in the Middle East and North Africa region during the 2017-01 to 2018-01 period.
- Executed business development strategies for C-suite and senior profiles within sales and marketing markets.
- Generated an annual revenue of $5M across 4 countries, operating a manufacturing unit in Tunisia alongside distribution channels in Algeria, Ivory Coast, and Senegal starting in 2015.
- Managed regional development across 6 product lines including admixtures, waterproofing, sealants, adhesives, flooring, and coating.
- Directed sales and design consulting for Italian brand Veneta Cucine, generating 2M revenue in 1 year.
- Managed sales and co-branding operations with luxury furniture Italian suppliers including Ligne Roset, producing 0,5M sales in 1 year.
- Secured engineering studies coordination across diverse project stakeholders.
- Managed site operations involving different types of subcontractors.
- Expanded the customer portfolio from 9 to 19 accounts following a 25M investment in production capacity.
- Delivered volume and price reviews through 3 rolling forecasts per year to the regional finance team.
- Captured 10 tier-1 chemical suppliers with 250M asset size in 7 months to anchor regional market presence.
- Secured 18 strategic customer migrations in 12 months for SaaS and EDI subscription services.
- Directed waterproofing strategy and product portfolio in Tunisia and Libya, achieving 10M USD in revenue during 2019 without local manufacturing.
- Established country adaptations and technical market entry approaches for flooring solutions, reaching 30M USD in annual revenue across 4 countries by 2022 using the Ucrete brand.
- Managed the Experts brand for 360 recruitment consulting.
- Developed permanent placement by acquiring 22 customers in 4 new sectors over the Middle East and North Africa during 2017 to 2018.
- Directed sales and design consulting for Italian brand Veneta Cucine, generating 2 million in revenue over 1 year.
- Managed sales and co-branding initiatives with luxury furniture Italian suppliers like Ligne Roset, producing 0,5 million in sales within 1 year.
- Coordinated on-site operations involving diverse sub-contractors to maintain schedule adherence.
- Generated compliance documentation, hazard management reports, and official site meeting minutes.
Education
With merit | Architecture, Arts, Law & Management, Civil Engineering, Ecological Construction, Art & Architecture History, Sociology, Anthropology, Urban Design, Building Automation.