Intelligent Tech Channels Issue 20 | Page 61

CHANNEL CHIEF For Nokia’s WALEED BADR , playing on everyone’s strengths helps his organisation fulfil its mandates. D Describe your current job role and the parts that are somewhat challenging? best possible services to meet their needs, using our technology. I head up Nuage Networks, SubSea Segment, WebScale an extra- large enterprise for Nokia in the Middle East and Africa, and work with a great team to support and align Nokia objectives towards our Middle Eastern and African communities. We believe that enterprise segments will maintain a unique vertical use case that need to be addressed directly with the enterprise segments. We look closely with financial, media, WebScale and cloud providers and SubSea. The world is moving towards a new type of provider that addresses the enterprise segment’s needs and contents. That will be a strong driver to a digitalisation and content awareness journey. When you look back at your career what has been the most memorable achievement? The biggest achievement would be helping a start-up entrepreneur, looking for a space in this highly competitive world, using our technology to create an opportunity for them to serve their customers, and ours, with the right technology. While this has been the narrative for a while, we are still seeing IT and telecommunications converging, because customer demands are changing. For me, the most memorable achievements do not hinge on big financial gains necessarily, but rather helping a smaller business digitalise and step up the competitive plate to compete against bigger rivals and provide their customers with the INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS Issue 20 What made you think of a career in technology? I became involved in technology at a time when most people wanted to have careers in technology. That said, this is a very dynamic landscape that is constantly changing, which allows me to continuously grow as I navigate the changes that my clients must go through to remain relevant and be successful. Waleed Badr, Head of Sales, WebScale and Enterprise (MEA) at Nokia; Regional Director (MEA) at Nuage Networks from Nokia I would be very happy to see a young organisation or a young entity idea come to life based on our technology and solutions. Technology helps enterprises deliver their best in business and deliver value to their clients, so working with these clients to find the right solution to enhance their business operations in terms of excellence of operations, saving costs and driving efficiency is very gratifying. The satisfaction I get from helping a client meet their operational objectives 61