Saleem Khan, our Bahrain-based Sales Manager, has an evolving role representing other Mitsubishi Chemical Europe (MCE) businesses alongside his responsibility for our methacrylate customers in the Middle East and North Africa.
On top of his main, methacrylates-based sales role, a significant percentage of Saleem’s time is now dedicated to working on behalf of Mitsubishi Polyester Film (MFE) and Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials (MCAM) – fellow group companies of MCE.
Pictured: Saleem at K2019 in Dusseldorf, Germany.
An overview of the new role
With our well-established base and over 35 years of history in the Middle East/North Africa region, EMEA Monomers Sales & Marketing Director, Alan Gallagher, was keen to make full use of this strategic location and Saleem’s valuable experience.
After 22 years living and working in the Middle East region, Saleem has an in-depth understanding of local cultures, work environments and decision-making processes which he continues to develop as a sales development resource for other MCE group companies in the region.
A quota of Saleem’s time is dedicated to the MFE and MCAM businesses, which involves managing the sales and business development of their products in the region. The balance of his time is dedicated to selling PMMA produced in Saudi Arabia by SAMAC (Saudi Methacrylates Company – a joint venture between Mitsubishi Chemical and SABIC) and Speciality Resins (for and on behalf of Lucite International Specialty Polymers and Resins).
Saleem says:
“My involvement with MFE and MCAM doesn’t involve acrylics, but I have a long history of working with plastic and rubber processing technologies with previous employers, where I had the opportunity to study and train in extrusion, injection moulding, reaction and mixing technologies”
Fresh challenges
Working for these fellow MCE companies requires communication with a large number of new customers and colleagues, promoting an entirely different product range compared to LI, where the competition is predominantly from Asia rather than EMEA.
These new sales contacts include many smaller customers and new contacts with whom Saleem and his team have no existing relationships.
Over and above existing challenges, such as political instability in the region and trade embargos, Saleem has had to update himself with new MCE and MCC product knowledge and to start the regional sales development process afresh.
