Najib Michel Fayad

International Sales & Marketing Operations Director

2011-01-01T12:00:00.004+01:00

Najib Fayad was born in Baabda, Lebanon to Lebanese parents, and grew up speaking fluent English, French and Arabic plus notions in Italian and Spanish. He is dual Lebanese & French.

His early schooling was at the prestigious Jamhour in Lebanon. He holds, from Université Saint-Esprit de Kaslik, a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing, Financial Banking & Stock Exchange and a Master of Business Administration in Management, Economics & Marketing.

He has approximately 30 years of experience in international strategy and development with various companies in Lebanon, France, the United States, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong, such as Jeux Nathan, Smoby, Majorette and Halsall (HTI). He is a well-known expert in general management, operational direction, integration of external acquisitions, internationalization, set-up of subsidiaries, development of winning entry strategies to foreign markets, export management, international marketing, international sales, franchise development and cross-cultural management.

In addition, Mr. Fayad led the first Lebanese think-tank: the Gamma Group.

Since 2010 HTI – Fleetwood (UK) and Hong Kong (China)

2010-01-01T12:00:00.001+01:00

Toy Industry. 110 M€, 100 people.

International Sales & Marketing Director, Member of Board of Directors

Managing the international pole (around 72 countries in the 5 continents): 100 people and 50 distributors.

2008 - 2009 MAJORETTE SAS Group - Dagneux (01)

2008-07-25T12:00:00.012+02:00

Toy Industry. 100 M€, 1.000 people.

Vice-President – International Sales & Marketing Operations, Member of the Executive Committee
Managing the international pole (around 100 countries in the 5 continents): 200 people, budget: 65 Millions €, 12 subsidiaries and 50 distributors.

§ Establishment and management of a new team fully linked to the international: 4 managers of international zones, 4 commercial assistants, 1 trade marketer & 1 Management controllers.

§ Set-up of the Hong Kong office & showroom.

§ International development of the group through the establishment of a new business and marketing strategy.

§ Strengthening relations with the subsidiaries (Chile, Mexico, China, Russia in particular) and distributors through the introduction of monthly balances have contributed to the improved results.

§ Review :

- Successful integration of all the external acquisitions (BAO).

Reward

2008-04-05T12:00:00.004+02:00

With President Jacques Chirac

Interview with Najib Michel Fayad about Smoby-Majorette

2008-04-05T00:00:00.001+02:00

1998 - 2008 SMOBY MAJORETTE GROUP – Lavans Les Saint Claude (39)

2008-04-04T12:00:00.003+02:00

Toy Industry. 480 M€, 2.000 people.

Vice-President – International Sales & Marketing Operations, Member of Board of Directors

Managing the international pole (around 100 countries in the 5 continents): 200 people, budget: 100 Millions €, 15 subsidiaries and 50 distributors. Reporting to the CEO & to the Board of Trustees.

§ Establishment and management of a new team fully linked to the international: 5 managers of international zones, 5 commercial assistants, 2 trade marketers, 4 administrators of sales & 2 Management controllers.

§ International development of the group through the establishment of a new business and marketing strategy (multiplication of languages on the boxes of games in particular).

§ Adaptation of the products to the cultural environment, to trends and popular brands in the major markets (Western and Eastern Europe, Middle East & Asia/Pacific area)

§ Identifying opportunities to improve the commercial part among the distributors and the major retailers : improving performance (+30%) against competition.

§ Implementing a business process specialized by category (age in particular), organization followed later by the group at the level of France.

§ Strengthening relations with the subsidiaries (Argentina, China, Russia in particular) and distributors through the introduction of monthly balances have contributed to the improved results.
§ Review :

- Organic sales growth of 80% in a highly competitive industry (compared with 30% previously) ;
- Successful integration of all the external acquisitions (Majorette, Unice, Berchet);
- Reaching of all the financial goals, & improvement of the profit: 8%.

1996 – 1998 JEUX NATHAN SA (HAVAS Group) – Paris

2008-04-04T00:00:00.002+02:00

Development of educational games. 27 M€, 380 people.

International Marketing & Sales Manager, Member of Board of Directors
Coaching a 3 people team. Managing 50 countries in the world (representation on 5 continents) and development of new markets.

§ Adaptation of educational products to the different cultures and markets concerned that allowed to open up to new regions of the world: Canada, Australia, Greece, Brazil, Eastern Europe, etc.

§ Establishing a new business & marketing strategy at the International: +45% of sales in 2 years

§ Contribution to acquire interests in several competitors such as Ravensburger, Clementoni, V. Tech, etc.

§ Negotiation with key strategic distributors in order to minimize the commercial costs related to growth.

1993 – 1996 NARIJO INTERNATIONAL – Paris

2008-04-03T12:00:00.001+02:00

Toy Industry. 200 K€, 5 people.

Marketing & Sales Manager
Control & development of several product lines trademarks Nathan, Smoby & Superjouet Meccano in Middle East, Near East & Africa areas.

§ Elaboration of the strategy to be carried out according to each market.
§ Proposal force for a new strategic approach of national accounts.
§ Identifying new opportunities have contributed to an improvement of 5% of the commercial part among the major retailers.

1991 – 1993 MURAT 1920 – Paris

2008-04-03T00:00:00.001+02:00

Toy Industry. 13 M€, 30 people.

Marketing & Sales Manager
Identification of key products on the French market and development to the international (Francophone Africa & Southern Europe in particular). Results :

§ Increasing of 15% of the organic sales in 1 year.
§ Reaching of all the financial goals, including improving of the profit: 8%.

1981 – 1991 NONI-LIBAN SARL (holding group) – Beirut (Lebanon)

2008-04-02T12:00:00.001+02:00

Sales of ready-to-wear, toys, gadgets, stationery, exclusive distributor of brands Lego, Mattel, Walt Disney, Superjouet, Nathan. 18 M$, 50 people.

Merchandising Manager for the Disney products and then Head of Sales & Buyers

§ Selection and organisation of the Walt Disney sales in the Middle East and Africa
§ Support for the gradual integration of Walt Disney commercial licenses (including negotiation of their net worth).
§ Development of strategic recommendations to refocus the investment on the key drivers of value.

My past as Freedom Fighter

2008-04-02T00:00:00.016+02:00

When the war started in Lebanon (1975), I was only 15 years old.

Following the outbreak of war and the foreign aggressions against Lebanon, I chose to fight for freedom: I joined the Lebanese Resistance Movement known as Tanzim ("organization"). I was among the founders of the Lebanese Forces, the unified armed resistance, the military wing of the Front for Freedom and Man, the political resistant coalition, which later became the Lebanese Front. Charles Malek who chaired the third session of the UN General Assembly's Third Committee in Paris, which drafted the text for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and, in 1951, succeeded Mrs Roosevelt as president of the Human Rights Commission & in 1958-59 and was president of the UN General Assembly's thirteenth session, was one of its prominent members with also, former President Camille Chamoun.

Bachir Gemayel (commander in chief of the Lebanese Forces & member of the Lebanese Front) who had the ambition to be President of the Lebanese Republic, assigned me as the new leader of the "Gamma Group", an institution (who succeeded to Dar al-Amal, a popular committee) led by Raymond Arab (alias Moni). Under my leadership, the "Gamma" was transformed into a real "think-tank" including specialists, academics & intellectuals (such as Georges Frayha or Freiha -former coordinator of the popular committees and chief of staff of Bachir Gemayel presidential campaign-, Joseph Maila, Selim Jahel & Najib Amiouni) to plan the building of a modern and strong state in all of its sectors. It was like a "shadow government" composed of eighteen branches equivalent to eighteen ministries. Selim Abou wrote a synthesis of the main lines of the project in his book "Béchir Gemayel ou l'Esprit d'un peuple" (p.p. 349-360). Following the assassination of President Bachir Gemayel (1982), I became an adviser of Fouad Abou Nader who was elected as commander in chief of the Lebanese Forces in 1984. Fouad Abou Nader is currently the president of the Liberty Front.

Who I am

2008-04-01T12:00:00.002+02:00

Born in Baabda (Lebanon) on 10 january 1960.
Son of Michel Fayad and Marie Kanaan.
Married to Denise Abela. 4 children: Michel, Meggie, Marc & Matthieu.
Nationality: Dual Lebanese & French.
Religion: Christian Maronite (Catholic).
Education: Kaslik University (USEK, Lebanon):
1981: Master in Management, Economics & Marketing (equivalent to ESSEC)
1980: BBA (Marketing, Financial Banking & Stock Exchange)
Languages: French, English & Arabic – Trilingual
Italian & Spanish – Fluent spoken
German, Russian & Mandarin – Good understanding
Activities: Geopolitics & political analysis specialist
Sports: judo, basketball, ping-pong & tennis