Head of Finance and Consulting

R E S U M E

Name : RAJEEV CHOWDHRY Age : ** years

Nationality : Indian Contact Tele : 00-966-**-***-**** (Saudi)

E – mail : ******.************@*****.***

Summary of Experience:

Accomplished management consultant, having acquired over 30 years of diverse and rich experience in domestic and international markets. Adept at working in large multi-cultural environment, with international firms as well as family businesses. Rich experience of working in North America, Europe, UK, Middle East, Far East & India. Result oriented decisive leader with proven success in establishing start-ups as well as reengineering and restructuring existing companies. Successful track record of increasing sales and growing bottom line, while spearheading operational improvements to increase efficiency and reducing cost through teamwork. Specialized in feasibility studies and project financing. Led the implementation and customization of ERP Solutions. Designed and implemented policies and procedures documentation to organize and streamline systems & processes with an objective to enhance internal controls. MIS reports based on analysis of accounting and operational information, market reports & statistics. Led the design & launch of branding and re-branding companies and their products and services. Formulated cost-effective schemes to boost employee morale, efficiency and productivity, & foster team spirit and loyalty.

Core Competencies:

Visionary Leadership & Team Building Strategic Management Negotiation

P&L & Performance Improvement Change Management Tactical Marketing

Organizational Restructuring Risk Management Strategic Alliance

Coaching and Mentoring Budget Management Building Key-Partnerships

Experience

Alpha International Management Consultants – An independent management consultancy firm set up in 2008 providing management, financial and economic consultancy services.

External Consultant - (December 2008 - April 2010)

Managing Partner – (April 2010 till date)

Successfully set up and grew business with strategic alliances to diversify service offering to meet customers’ needs and add value in providing a single window to service the key customers consultancy and outsourcing requirements.

Business Consultancy – Strategy and Marketing, Joint Ventures and Strategic Partnerships. Implementing Rockefeller 10 Habits and Scaling Up methodology to help companies grow.

Financial Consultancy – Feasibility Studies, Project Financing, Balance Sheet Restructuring, Policies and Procedures for standardization and enhancing internal controls, Investment and Advisory Services, Financial Evaluation and Due Diligence for buyouts and mergers and Acquisitions.

IT Consultancy Services – design process and workflows, identify and map business process requirements and recommend best fit and supervise implementation of ERP and other customization requirements.

Process Consulting and Re-engineering services: Design and develop process flows and documentation manuals. Implement 5s, 5 whys, Kaizen and Lean to improve work process, reduce waste, add value and improve the working environment.

Legal Counsel – contracts review and drafting services with commercial and management perspective for legal documents. Joint venture agreements, sales and commercial contracts, technology agreements and off-take agreements.

Internal Audits – financial and process audits.

HR Consulting – Organizational Development, evaluation of key executives and their recruitment and their training. Policy and procedures manual and job scorecard/descriptions.

Key Achievement:

Successfully turned around several loss making entities averaging 100% to 200% growth in revenue and converting loosing operations to sustainable profitable growing operations.

Successfully headed the submission of bid for the first private sector refinery license in KSA.

Report on reformation in policy making for Asharqiya Chamber of Commerce of which several recommendations were incorporated by Labour Ministry.

Successfully established strategic global alliances to enhance service offering to clients.

Zoom Developers Middle East – Middle East subsidiary of Zoom Developers Pvt. Ltd. India. A multi-billion dollar industrial, real estate and manufacturing conglomerate and global project developer with assets in real estate, IT, telecom, industrial & engineering projects, infrastructure developments, steel & aluminium, pharmaceuticals, auto parts manufacturing and off-shore oil & gas platform construction. Zoom is one of the fastest growing companies in India, through this subsidiary now focused on investing in diverse manufacturing activities in the Middle East Region.

Chief Financial Officer – (November 2008 – April 2010)

Successfully set up and organized the middle east offices managing finance and accounts, procurement and general administration for the operations based in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Sultanate of Oman.

1.Finance and Accounts: supervise the accounting and financial reporting as per international accounting standards for all Middle East subsidiaries and ensuring their successful external audits and filing of tax returns, in addition to monthly internal MIS reports. Coordinated the development of a bankable feasibility study report by Atkins – UK. Supervised the internal audit function.

2.Procurement: head the commercial negotiations for all major procurement contracts related to assets and services procured for the Middle East Companies. Negotiate and finalize the payment terms and arrange the same from internal and external sources to meet all commitments on time.

3.General Administration: head the internal team to design, develop and establish the internal policy and procedures manual for the Middle East companies covering the accounting, financing, administration, human resources and information technology functions. Represent the company in all meetings with government officials.

Key Achievement:

Successfully negotiated and obtained a compensation of AED 11 million from RAK Free-zone after 2 years of bitter litigations had failed and supervised the transfer of capital assets of steel rail mill from RAK-UAE to Sur – Oman worth AED 400 million.

Evaluation Centre for Consulting- Saudi arm of Horwath International, one of the top 10 audit and consulting firms in the world. Licensed for Business, Financial and Economic Consultancy activities and Internal Audits only.

Business and Financial Consultant – (April 2002 – November 2008)

Successfully setup and grew consulting business with value added services covering Business Consultancy, Information Technology, Marketing, Sales, Finance and accounts, Administration and Supply Chain.

Independent hands on experience in various fields helped to diversify into multi faceted business activities. Some of the projects / activities covered-

1.Project Feasibility and Economic Consultancy - specialized in building and reviewing of project feasibility studies.

2.Business Consultancy – specialised in joint ventures. Concept to Implementation and Operations. Merger and Acquisition of Companies, Valuation and Financial Restructuring.

3.Business Process Re-engineering – Reengineering and restructuring of organisations, with a view to make them efficient and profitable. Complete restructuring of documentation system, company policies, procedures, rules and regulations.

4.Information Technology – partnership with two Indian giants in the field of Information Technology Solutions namely Tata Consultancy Services and Satyam Computer Services Limited, to market their services for providing end to end IT Solutions, in the large to mega projects sector. Partnered with Dammam and Riyadh based Software and Hardware services provider to serve small to medium scale projects.

5.Marketing & Sales– conducted market research for companies drew up marketing plans and strategies for companies. Direct Marketing and Sales of Financial Services, Investment Projects, Information Technology Solutions.

6.Finance – financial presentation package including projections for banking or institutional finance. Internal Audits.

7.Administration- documentation system, policies, procedures rules and regulations for streamlining the administration function.

8.Purchasing- Identifying sources, negotiating contracts or purchasing materials for clients.

Key Achievement:

Coordinated a mega project techno commercial feasibility study as Project Manager for the decongestion of traffic in Riyadh, KSA. The Riyadh Metro resulted from the recommendation of this report, after further technical and soil test studies were conducted by Ar Riyadh Development Authority.

FONTERRA, Dammam, Saudi Arabia. joint venture between New Zealand Dairy Board and Sadafco packing Powder Milk and producing Cheese in addition to importing a range of products from NZDB for direct resale.

Factory Accountant: (May 00 to Dec 01) was responsible for finalisation of Profit and Loss at the factory, preparation of monthly Financial Reports for the management, costing of existing and new products from their formulation phase. Instrumental in the successful implementation and customization of the inventory module of Oracle Financials.

Olayan Arabian Packaging Co. Ltd., Jubail, Saudi Arabia. the largest capacity state-of-the-art plant, manufacturing Stretch Film, in the Middle East in joint venture with Manuli Stretch SpA – Italy,

Marketing Manager: (September 1998 to Feb 00) promoted and assigned with direct responsibility for managing the entire marketing of 9,000 tons output.

Key Achievement:

Successfully designed and implemented a complete Marketing Plan to exceed the annual budgeted sales.

Opened new export markets in India, GCC, Lebanon, Jordan and Morocco.

Finance Controller: (September 1996 to August 1998) As the chief financial officer, of Olayan Arabian Packaging Co. Ltd. was directly responsible for preparation and monitoring of budgets, managing the accounting & finance departments, while overseeing purchase and administrative functions.

Key Achievement:

Led the design & implementation of a fully automated financial reporting system on Baan.

Supervised the ISO 9002 certifications program.

Successfully negotiated USD 15 million loans & facilities, from premium financial institutions.

Renegotiated offtake agreement with technology partners.

Riyadh Steel Mill Co., Ltd. - Riyadh KSA. a hot rolling mill producing commercial sections, in joint venture with Choong San Corporation – Korea.

Finance Controller: (April 1995 to September 1996) Responsibilities included implementation of a fully computerized accounting system, integrating the ISO 9002 documentation system. Directly responsible for preparation of budgets and the analysis of actual performance variance thereof.

Key Achievement:

Successfully negotiated loans to the tune of USD 30 million, to fund the project and its operations.

Directly responsible for monthly purchase of raw materials (mild steel billets), worth about USD 6.50 million. Growing procurement to USD 20 Million monthly by combining procurement with another competitor, achieving significant reduction in cost.

Wrote the job responsibilities / description for the key executives.

Hoshanco Software Ltd.- Riyadh KSA. exclusive distributors representing over 50 major software publishers, from North America & Europe.

Marketing Manager: (January 1993 - March 1995) promoted and specially assigned to incorporate the company, set up procedures and a fully automated documentation system.

Achievement:

Key Achievement:

Successfully won exclusive distributorship of 47 global leaders in leisure entertainment software.

Successfully met the challenge of directly marketing “original” leisure entertainment & educational software, in a piracy dominated market. Involved in the official launch of major software publications.

Instrumental in the development and launch of localized versions of these software’s in Arabic language, boosting sales and profitability.

Hoshan Office Automation Ltd.- Riyadh KSA. exclusive distributors representing over 7 major international office equipment and furniture manufacturers, from North America & Europe. Herman Miller, Sharp, Minolta, Marubeni and Brother to name a few.

Supply Chain In-charge: (January 1992 - January 1993) managed the budget forecast and procurement plan and distribution of inventory for Hoshan Office Automation Company.

Key Achievement:

Key member in successfully executing 2 mega bids from Ministry.

Stand manager for successful Exhibition under very challenging circumstances.

Span India Ltd., New Delhi, India. USD 6.5 million project manufacturing high fashion garments for "Rene Derhy - France", with an annual turnover USD 12.5 million.

Asst. Manager Finance - (January 1990 - January 1992) managed a team of 4 accountants and directly responsible for internal audits. Started as Accounts Officer and grew rapidly with 3 promotions in a short span of time.

Summary of Qualifications:

Educational : Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting & Finance from,

Allahabad University, India 1986.

Professional : Certified Internal Auditor – (The Institute of Internal Auditors, New York,

USA- November 2003)

Certified Private Equity Specialist – (The American Academy of Financial Management- Los Angeles, USA – June 2007)

Certified Lead Assessor – ISO 9000

Internal Auditor – ISO 9000

(“ISO 9000 Quality Management Systems”- Red Oak Management Consultancy, UK. 1995)

Details of Experience:

Accounting and financial management

Counselling management on financial implications of business decisions

Participating in setting company’s strategic vision, objectives & goals

Overall management of company’s financial and accounting affairs including cash flows, cash and fund flow management, facilities and hedging.

Preparation of financials forecasts, budgets and business plans

Review of monthly financial packages in comparison with budgets and prior periods

Writing comments on operating results

Preparation of feasibility/profitability of projects, new products and agencies

Break even and sensitivity analysis

Capital expenditure management and control of the fixed assets

Financial control over branches and joint ventures/independent business units

Introducing and implementing cost reduction programs

Risk management

Liaison with statutory auditors & internal auditors

Batch and standard costing systems

Business Management

Budgets and budgetary control

Product policy, product mix and product range control

Responsibility and control of company’s expenses

Production planning and control

Control of finished goods levels by location and by product range

Pricing and discounting structure

Control and issue of price lists

Advertising and promotional control

Guarantees and warranties

Warehousing and storage management

Vehicles fleet running & maintenance

Review, analyze and comment on business proposals

Review and analyze feasibility and market reports

Credit Control and Management

Credit control policy, system and operation

Achievement of budget (targets) of receivables

Treasury management

Negotiating and managing bank borrowings

Monitor and control of cost of borrowing

Investment management – technical analysis of stocks movements

Foreign exchange risk management - hedging

Setting and achieving optimum levels of borrowings to reduce financial cost

Systems and Procedures

Organization structure – streamlining process flows and assigning job descriptions

Setting up financial, commercial and administrative policies and procedures for ISO 9000

Review and appraisal of existing systems and procedures for continuous improvement

Leading the development of IT system requirement and specifications

Specify internal control requirements for computerized workflow

Design forms and reports for managing finance and business functions for their systems

Inventory Planning and Control

Managing purchasing function including review and approval of purchase orders

Formulating minimum and maximum inventory levels

Review and monitoring lead times

Negotiating with freight forwarders and clearing agents

Management of distribution function

Initiating necessary action for disposal of excessive and aged stocks

Procurement

Negotiation and finalization of prices and terms with suppliers

Sourcing alternate products and suppliers

Monitoring market trends of key raw materials, ingredients, metals and commodities to help decide opportune time to conclude purchase deals

Design, implement, monitor and manage with continuous improvement the supply chain function

Personnel and Administration

Formulating and implementing personnel policies

Developing innovative Job Description – Middle and Senior Management

Review and adjustment of compensation policies in line with the market trends

Control of personnel cost against budget

Managing recruitment, transfer, promotion and termination of employees

Management of administrative functions including but not limited to office services, employee’s transportation, local purchasing, fire and safety matters.

Control and dissemination of company mail

Marketing Management

Corporate Image - Vision, Mission, Goals and Objectives

Market Plan including marketing strategy and budgets

Rolling sales forecast

Market share, market trend and competitor’s analysis

SWOT analysis

Business Consultancy

Improve Corporate Image - Vision, Mission, Goals and Objectives

Review and analyze feasibility of business proposals

Implement Rockefeller 10 Habits and Scaling Up principles to help companies grow

Valuation of companies and new projects

Mergers and Acquisition – review, recommend and manage process

Restructuring, reorganization and optimizing organizations and their process flows

Developing and documenting systems, policies and procedures manuals

Develop cost effective schemes to improve productivity and boost employee morale

Recruitment of senior executives

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