PROVEN, one of the leading outsourcing organisations in the Middle East, has announced that Omer Saleem has been elevated to the role of Chief Executive Officer (CEO), following a stellar seven year run as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), and Deputy CEO, driving the company to realise significant horizontal and vertical expansion. As CEO, he is tasked with continuing PROVEN’s journey into the consulting and advisory space, while increasing its footprint across the GCC region.
In his previous role as CFO, Omer was initially tasked with addressing the company’s various growing pains, while streamlining the financial side of the business. As part of the latter process, he became involved in other areas of the business. Through his efforts, four business lines have been spun off into standalone businesses, and the company, as a whole, has undergone significant horizontal and vertical expansion. Over the last seven years, Omer has contributed to improving the company’s core business by a factor of three, while taking the staff count from 40 in 2016 to over 120 team members adding value from eight different global locations today.
As CEO, Omer will also be responsible for expanding the company’s service offerings higher up in the corporate services value chain by leveraging the strong base it has built in recent years. This will enable PROVEN’s clients to operate in a more efficient and compliant manner, taking into account the dynamic GCC business landscape. Another major goal for Omer is to infuse technology into PROVEN’s service delivery model to enable a more interactive client journey for customers and transparency for partners.
Speaking on Omer’s promotion, Zaid Al Mashari, CEO, PROVEN Arabia, said, “It gives me great pleasure to witness Omer take the reins as CEO of PROVEN. Thanks to his invaluable international experience and knowledge, the company has grown steadily since he joined us in 2016. He has proven himself a perfect fit for the PROVEN culture, carries the same core values and start-up passion of PROVEN’s existing leadership, and is the perfect person to lead our company’s growth going forward. We wish him all the success in his new role as CEO.”
Omer has significant experience in the finance sector, specifically financial valuations, internal strategy and business transformation having spent a significant part of his career within alternative investments including hedge funds. He began his career in the middle office space and moved into valuations and investment sector management, and accumulated significant experience at some of the biggest players in the industry including Goldman Sachs, Credit Agricole and State Street. He was later part of a private equity firm which gave him exposure to various elements of the deal lifecycle. Omer has an MBA from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.
“I’m excited to continue my journey with PROVEN with the expanded responsibilities that come with being CEO. PROVEN has performed exceptionally well in recent years and is now ideally positioned to continue its journey into the consulting and advisory space, whilst expanding its footprint in the GCC markets. I thank the management for entrusting me with leading the company’s next phase of growth, and look forward to working closely with my colleagues to realise the company’s strategic objectives,” said Omer Saleem, CEO, PROVEN.
PROVEN provides invaluable corporate services helping businesses kick-off operations in Saudi Arabia, find efficiencies, and stay compliant with an evolving regulatory climate. The company has enabled its clients to operate more fluidly in the booming Saudi market, and garner maximum value from their operations for the past nine years.
PROVEN has empowered its customers to focus on their core competencies by taking care of their non-core functions and optimising processes for maximum efficiency. The company also uses its existing client platform to impart best practices and business process optimisation on local businesses in a bid to make them more competitive.
Since its inception, PROVEN has built a boutique service delivery model which focuses on delivering localised and custom solutions geared around client requirements. The firm has built a solid foundation based on highly collaborative and talented team executing a fine-tuned service delivery model.
