ALKHOBAR, 7 October 2003 — In a move that shocked the Saudi IT community, yesterday Microsoft announced the departure of two senior executives. Mohammed Kateeb, regional director, Microsoft Middle East and Bilal Sununu, general manager, Microsoft Arabia have left their posts and the company.
The company attempted to justify the departures by claiming that they were part of a plan to extend greater autonomy to Microsoft’s Middle East subsidiaries. Effective immediately Microsoft’s five Middle East regional subsidiaries — North Gulf, South Gulf, Arabia, Eastern Mediterranean and Egypt — will report directly to the Middle East and Africa headquarters (MEA HQ).
“The five subsidiaries in the Middle East have grown to be mature and self sufficient. This translates into a greater commitment from Microsoft to the individual Middle East subsidiaries with more resources and more investment now going directly to the countries that they cover,” said Emre Berkin, vice president, Microsoft Europe Middle East and Africa. (EMEA).
Microsoft believes that under the regional restructuring the five Middle East subsidiaries will enjoy higher visibility and greater empowerment. The subsidiaries will report directly to Berkin. Last year, Microsoft announced a gradual regional structural change that was aimed at maintaining a lean organizational structure with few management layers and a quicker decision making process. The company sees this change in the reporting structure of the subsidiaries as the next step in this strategy.
“Our previous structure helped us through the years to build five strong subsidiaries in the region. These subsidiaries and their management teams are now ready to play their expected roles in further growing the business, supporting their partners and serving their communities,” said Berkin.
In the press release Berkin went on to state that “In parallel to the new structure, Mohammed Kateeb and Bilal Sununu both decided to leave the company, and we respect their decisions. Both Mohammed and Bilal have contributed greatly to the growth of Microsoft’s business throughout the Middle East and Saudi Arabia respectively over the years. We wish them continued success in all their future endeavors.”
The bottom line is that it is clear that neither Kateeb nor Sununu’s departure had anything to do with the reorganization and no amount of spin can disguise that fact. In the reorganization, Sununu’s position as general manager Saudi Arabia has not been eliminated. Microsoft is “currently searching for a suitable candidate for the Saudi GM position. In the meantime, Sherif Seddik, the enterprise sales director of the Middle East and Africa region will be the acting GM.” For legal reasons neither Kateeb nor Sununu could speak on the record to address the current situation. The market is rife with rumors, unethical to print, on the true reasons for their departure.
Arab News was contacted by several of Microsoft’s Saudi customers for further information and confirmation of the change. The customers were all extremely strong supporters of the two managers, especially of Kateeb and they were not pleased with the news of their departure.
“This so called ‘reorganization’ is proof that Microsoft does not understand the nature of business in Saudi Arabia,” said one IT manager.
“Mohammed Kateeb and Bilal Sununu were our brothers and our friends. We did business with Microsoft in part due to our close personal relationship with these two men. Kateeb was the first manager Microsoft ever sent to this country who wanted to give something back to us and not just profit from us. We were unhappy when he shifted to his new position in Dubai, but we saw that he worked hard to raise the profile of the entire Middle East region before Microsoft’s management and we respected him for his efforts.”
Sununu was a double major graduate of Dhahran’s King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM). He joined Microsoft Arabia in July 1995. He rose through the ranks holding positions in several different business units within Microsoft’s Kingdom-wide operations including Enterprise Group Manager. Sununu was Saudi Arabia’s country manager, before being appointed Microsoft’s general manager here in January 2003.
Kateeb was born in Jerusalem. He was educated in Abu Dhabi, where he won a scholarship from the UAE government for higher education in the US. Kateeb joined Microsoft more than a decade ago after earning his MBA. Before taking up his positions in the Middle East, he was the general manager of Microsoft’s US — Gulf Coast district, based in Houston, Texas.
From the moment Kateeb came to Saudi Arabia, he worked to counteract the negative image that Microsoft had in the Middle East. The company began sponsoring educational events, established strong ties with government ministries and forged durable friendships with major businessmen. Even Microsoft’s detractors were impressed.
“Kateeb was the greatest threat to Linux in the Middle East,” said a Middle East IT industry journalist. “He truly believed in Microsoft’s products. Whenever negative coverage of the company appeared, he had his people on the telephone attempting to refute the report and often demanding retraction of the article or equal space to put out Microsoft’s view. His photo and comments were all over the media constantly and he worked tirelessly to promote the company.”
In 1991, Microsoft opened its first office in the Middle East in Dubai, with five employees. Today the company operates directly in 13 Middle Eastern countries with 15 offices. Much of the push for such expansion can be directly linked to input from Kateeb, supported by his staff. Kateeb also used his US corporate connections to bring senior Microsoft management into the region for the first time.
During his tenure, senior Microsoft corporate officials began making whirlwind tours of the region, calling on governments and customers, and even became accessible to the regional media. In July 2002, Kateeb pulled off a major coup by convincing Middle East journalists and Microsoft’s management to meet in Redmond, Washington for Microsoft’s first Middle East and North Africa Media Briefing. Coverage of the company generated by the event was largely positive with Arab News one of the only publications that carried a critical story.
Kateeb also dealt well with the catastrophic issue of billboards sponsored by Microsoft, which appeared in Tel Aviv in 2002 and were supportive of the Israeli Defense Forces. While he was in no way involved in the billboard debacle, as the point man for Microsoft in the region Kateeb stepped up to the line and worked to bolster the company’s image against a huge wave of criticism.
Kateeb and Sununu were both vocal supporters of anti-piracy efforts. They cooperated closely with the Ministries of Information and Commerce to bring the anti-piracy issue to prominence and initiate open debate on the subject, while driving forward regulations to force businesses to “go legal.” Even more importantly for Saudi Arabia, while neither Kateeb nor Sununu were Saudis they both were diligent in promoting Saudization and localization. Training opportunities for local staff increased dramatically under their tenure.
In yesterday’s announcement from Microsoft, the vice president EMEA attempted to sooth customer anxiety over the regional changes.
“Microsoft’s business in the Middle East has witnessed exponential growth rate ever since we began operations in 1991, and we are sure that with this new change in structure, we will be able to provide better service and support to our customers and partners throughout the region,” said Berkin.
None of the customers who spoke with Arab News viewed Microsoft’s regional reorganization as a positive move. Plus, they had serious concerns over the callous handling of the situation and the loss of two dynamic IT professionals that they had come to respect. If Microsoft truly cares about the views of the customers in the Middle East then they should be made aware that the departure of Kateeb and Sununu is being taken as a personal affront by many in the Saudi business community.
Microsoft employees in the region should also be aware that Kateeb and Sununu dedicated their talents, energies and focus to Microsoft.
This was often to the detriment of their families and personal lives. They were both professionals of the highest caliber, driven to succeed and working toward a continuing relationship with Microsoft. Today’s news should provide plenty of fuel for thought as to exactly where such commitment leads.
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