Jiddah, Makkah, Saudi Arabia
Over 30 years I have built, led, and transformed businesses across banking, payments, travel, tourism, aviation, hospitality, e-commerce, and the pilgrimage economy — giving me a rare cross-industry perspective that I now bring to boards and strategic advisory roles. I am best known for pioneering the digitalisation of the Umrah sector. The company I founded became one of MENA's leading pilgrimage technology platforms, reaching 200M+ SAR in annual revenue, serving 5,000+ agent partners across GCC, Africa, and Asia, and operating with a cross-border team of 100+ professionals across Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, and India. This work was developed in direct collaboration with the Ministry of Hajj & Umrah as part of Saudi Arabia's national digitalisation roadmap under Vision 2030. Before founding my own venture, I spent 8 years at The Saudi National Bank — rising to VP Head of Payment Operations, leading a team of 70, and building the payments and cash management infrastructure that serves Saudi Arabia's largest corporations including Saudi Aramco, STC, SABIC, and Saudi Electricity Company. I also architected B2B banking platforms, drove SWIFT and SARIE automation to 80–90% STP rates, and represented the bank with SAMA on national payments infrastructure. Earlier in my career I led the Travel & Tours and Hajj & Umrah divisions at Elaf Group, growing revenues 3x in four years, establishing international offices across four markets, and holding GSA representation for multiple international airlines. Before that I managed a multi-branch travel agency across Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Yemen — and launched one of the first e-commerce websites in Saudi Arabia. I bring three things that are genuinely rare in combination: · Regulatory and payments depth — built at the infrastructure level inside a major Saudi bank · Proven founder track record — scaled a technology company from zero to market leadership · Cross-industry pattern recognition — 30 years spanning banking, tech, travel, aviation, and government I currently serve on the board of Traveazy Group and actively seek board directorships and strategic advisory mandates with organisations navigating growth, digital transformation, or market entry across travel, tourism, hospitality, fintech, and the broader Islamic economy. Open to: Board directorships · Strategic advisory mandates · Investor partnerships · Government digitalization initiatives · International market entry (MENA & GCC)
Founded and led Umrahme, a digital Umrah and travel-tech platform enabling real-time, customizable pilgrimage travel across accommodation, visas, transportation, mobility, Haramain train and related services. • Built and led a 100+ member organization across Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt and India, with responsibility for strategy, product development, technology, partnerships, commercial growth and regulatory engagement. • Scaled the platform to SAR 350M+ in B2B Umrah sales, supported by 10,000+ agents and customers across 50+ countries. • Led the product and technology vision for a B2C dynamic packaging platform for Umrah, integrating hotels, visas, transportation, mobility, Haramain train and third-party travel providers into a real-time booking ecosystem. • Worked closely with the Ministry of Hajj & Umrah, Saudi Tourism Authority, Nusuk and other ecosystem partners on digitalization initiatives aligned with Saudi Vision 2030. • Launched direct B2C Hajj bookings, growing the channel to SAR 120M+ and serving pilgrims across 50+ countries. • Delivered the first OTA integration and launch platform for Haramain High Speed Railway bookings for groups and individual travelers. • Developed mobility and ground-service platform capabilities for travel companies, transport operators and rental companies serving the Umrah ecosystem. • Built and scaled payment and operational infrastructure supporting high-volume digital transactions and complex regulatory requirements. • Recognized by Entrepreneur Middle East as E-Business of the Year.
Held full commercial and P&L responsibility for the Travel & Tours and Hajj & Umrah divisions of Elaf Group, overseeing growth strategy, sales, operations, supplier partnerships, distribution channels and customer-value programs. • Delivered significant growth across both divisions, including +225% net operating profit to SAR 65M, +200% Hajj & Umrah revenue to SAR 580M, +100% Travel & Tours revenue to SAR 500M, and expansion of the Hajj & Umrah agent network by 200+ partners. • Expanded the international Hajj & Umrah sales network through offices and market presence across Morocco, Turkey, Egypt and Indonesia. • Developed annual operating plans, strategic KPIs and divisional growth roadmaps across short-, medium- and long-term horizons, aligning commercial execution with group objectives. • Led organizational realignment and operational improvements across the Travel & Tours and Hajj & Umrah businesses, introducing new processes, controls, performance measures and digital capabilities. • Implemented Salesforce across the business, replacing legacy systems and improving sales effectiveness, reporting and management visibility. • Introduced performance-management dashboards, balanced scorecard methodology and Sales & Operations Planning across business units, contributing to 10% annual cost savings and 95% first-year contract renewals. • Led digital transformation of the online travel platform ecosystem, working across UX, analytics, insights and commercial teams to improve conversion, online revenue and customer engagement. • Managed airline GSA operations and representation relationships, including Biman Bangladesh Airlines, Royal Brunei Airlines, Ariana Afghan Airlines and Aegean Airlines, overseeing commercial performance, sales development and partner coordination.
Handpicked by Corporate Sector Head to lead development of a completely new range of cash management products, and online banking services for corporate clients Responsible to deliver bank-wide B2B platform product delivery platform and integration services Ensured performance and operating standards of various products - Corporate Online banking portal e-Corp, Corporate Payroll, Dividend Distribution, e-commerce e-pay, cash pickup, direct debit, and B2B Led development of all cash management electronic products in payments and collection – developed Business Requirement Documents and framed SOPs Worked with Relationship managers of top corporate clients (Saudi Aramco, STC, SEC, SABIC) to gather and implement requirements Led transition & implementation of Saudi Aramco from B2B to SWIFT MA-CUG platform all type of payments with the bank Implemented complete integration of B2B e-Banking for Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) Hired, trained, and managed combined team of four product managers and their subordinates, and communicate their strategic goals and day-to-day responsibilities
Pioneer of payment for e-commerce (e-pay) – implemented MIGS gateway solution by Mastercard to build an exhaustive product for all type of e-commerce payments and to facilitate multicurrency acquiring business (USD, Sterling Pounds, Euros & SAR) Managed all bank wide e-commerce acquiring business Managed relationship with merchants and major external partners VISA, MasterCard, merchant services Recruited new merchants and negotiated highly favorable contract Tracked all merchant transactions and handled bank settlement with VISA and MasterCard
Managed all alternative distribution channel strategy for retail online banking operation – including ATM, POS, Call Center / IVR and e-Commerce acquiring Developed innovative new services and migrated formerly manual transactions from branches to electronic channels Evaluated competitive products and systems