An Interview with Colin Davidson: MENA

Shannon Rollins (Global Marketing Manager): Hi, Colin! It's nice to meet you. Thanks for agreeing to do a quick interview with me before your official start with us as Head of Commercial MENA. So, I’m going to kick us off with a ‘softball’ question. Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and your professional background?

Colin Davidson (Head of Commercial MENA): Yeah. In terms of professional background, I've worked in the payments industry for the best part of 30 years.

Very much a majority of that has been in, you know, traditional banking, and on the acquiring space. I've also worked in cyber security, compliance solutions and on the issuing space more recently here in the Middle East, launching gift card programs for shopping mall owners. So yeah, 30 years of payments expertise, you could say, hence the hairline!

And working in banks for as long as I did, but yes, still very very passionate about it. I haven't lost the appetite during that time. You know, I've kind of gone with the innovation and, uh, and the development and technology as well, and, and tried to kind of get up to speed with those as, as they, as they come on stream and maybe add value to the conversations with customers, by making them aware of these technology developments as well, has really helped enhance the relationship.

Shannon: Okay. All right. So quickly confirming you are English, correct?

Colin: [laughing] I am. Yeah. I'm from the Northeast of England. I'm from -

Shannon: I was gonna say you're a Northerner, but I didn't want to just in case you were like, no, I'm from Birmingham and it's not in the north. So I hedged my bets.

Colin: I'm a "Geordie", as they say, I'm from Newcastle Upon Tyne same as Michelle [Michelle Blake, Head of Commercial, Europe].

Shannon: Oh, you're not as Geordie as Michelle!

Colin: Well, yeah, she she's, she's definitely more Geordie than me. Yeah. My accent comes out a little bit more after a couple of drinks.

Shannon: That's a great segue to my next question, actually: lager or cider?

Colin: Definitely lager.

Shannon: All right. And which one, if you had to pick your go-to pint?

Colin: I'd probably have Moretti, but given that Robert [Founder and CEO] took me out around Brussels recently I should really have probably chosen a Belgian beer, right?

Shannon: [chuckling] No, no. If you told me you loved Tenants [basic lager], I was gonna let it go!

Colin: Oh, no, no. It would be a Moretti or, um, we have this traditional ale in the Northeast of England called 'Landlord', which is a proper pint. It's not carbonated like most lagers, if you like, it's kind of a cross between Guinness and, um, -

Shannon: Oh, so it's like Belhaven Best?

Colin: Yeah, spot on. That's exactly what it is.

Shannon: I used to live in Edinburgh, and I was a bartender at an Irish bar.

Colin: Brilliant. Brilliant. Actually, Guinness would be a very close second.

Shannon: I’m going a bit off topic now, but I’ve gotta ask: you've known Michelle for years – has she always been this fun to work with?

Colin: She's mad as a box of frogs! I get on great with her and love the enthusiasm, you know, I love the energy quite honestly. When we worked at Flex-e-card together, I really became aligned with Michelle very early on because of that energy. You know, she was able to kind of foresee things or highlight things that kind of others in operational positions really should have seen. She's, you know her, she's energetic and enthusiastic. And I think that that in itself comes across with colleagues, but it comes across more importantly with clients - and I think clients want that enthusiasm. They want that energy and they want to know that they can rely on you. So yeah, we've always had a good working relationship.

Shannon: She is absolutely one of the most enthusiastic people I’ve ever met. So what has inspired you to join us here at Giftify, other than drinks with Robert and your strong connection with Michelle’s way of working?

Colin: It's the innovation, you know, it's the collaboration. I said to Robert, when I visited the office in Brussels, that I'd checked things out on Glassdoor. And he gave me a very quick, um, funny answer actually. I said to him, "people seem to be really happy working for Giftify. You know, I noticed from Glassdoor that actually people have put some really great reviews on that. And obviously I've only been in the office for a short period of time, everyone's really smiling. And, and that's, it's that for me is fantastic. How do you achieve that?" And he said, "oh, we pay them", and I went, "okay!". Which is a great answer.

But seriously, he said, "look we nurture a culture of good communication and collaboration", and I could really pick that up actually from the atmosphere in the office; everyone genuinely seemed to be enjoying their work.

And I wanted to be part of that. And you know, I've covered the Middle East for a number of years. And I think it's [Giftify] a product and a service that could really benefit, this marketplace, because they're very much focused around customer service and, and, and product and service. So, that's what interests me and what intrigued me about the role.

Shannon: So what is your favorite thing about gift cards, you know, as a product, as a service, as a marketing technology solution? Like if you had to say off the top of your head, favorite thing about gift cards: Go!

Colin: I love the different use cases. And what I mean by that is everything to do with the marketing within the malls including the incentive programmes: employee and customer programmes for retention and reward. So I think it's the use cases that interest me; the technology involved, that's what I enjoy about it. I've worked in the cards business for a very long time. And I've really found a niche here within the payments industry that I absolutely love.

I love working with shopping mall owners. You know, their creative departments are fantastic. So, gift cards, it's a good mix between payments and marketing. That's what I like the most - that innovative mix.

Shannon: With all that experience, I've got to ask: what do you think makes Giftify stand out from the crowd?

Colin: Oh, certainly their technology and their service offering.

The fact is that everything's all kind of under one roof. Many companies claim that they do the same one when, in fact, they don't. They do elements of things and then they outsource a lot of things to complete the service. I think the fact that we have everything in house at Giftify is a huge advantage to us. I think that makes gives Giftify a stronger proposition to potential clients.

Shannon: So how would you like to see Giftify evolve, then?

Colin: I'd like Giftify to be the number one service provider here, across the whole of the Middle East and to explore other markets like SouthEast Asia. So yeah, I want to launch programmes here, across the Middle East, particularly places like Saudi, because again, they are very luxurious and unique. Qatar as well, of course.

Shannon: And do you think that them being luxurious means that the owners would find a gift card to signal a lack of affluence? Or do you think that instead, it's the case of fantastic, underdeveloped marketing opportunity?

Colin: Yeah. I mean, look at the UAE: it’s a wealthy nation with a conspicuous culture of luxury consumption. So, cost is a factor, but less of a factor perhaps than other parts of the world. They see it as necessary cost for them, of course, but it's also really all about customer engagement, and the mall promotions drive footfall, et cetera.

Shannon: When I worked in retail, doing marketing for a company here in Belgium, one of the things that we sometimes struggled with in terms of brand promotion was promotion without "cheapening" the product. And so that was my curiosity, going into those luxurious malls. Like, do they see it as an opportunity or do they see it as a risk?

Colin: These guys actually are interested in even higher-end cards for their clients.

Shannon: So VIP service?

Colin: Absolutely. They're very interested in that segment. I've had a few prospects say to me, "can you guys do a gift card made of gold?" And yes, our supplier can do this. Everything comes at a cost, and cost is relative. So they, you know, they want a luxurious card in terms of look and feel. They want a Mastercard or a Visa product. And they want the acceptance as well. They don't want any kind of tension at retailers. They don't want kind of retailers saying, 'is this card legitimate since it’s not a known scheme?' So that's also an important aspect for them as well. They don't want any kind of tension between the mall and the merchants. They want the acceptance to be simple and efficient.

Shannon: So what milestones are you hoping to see evolve in your first four weeks at Giftify and then your first four months? So what's gonna be the story of Colin and Giftify in the early days?

Colin: In the first four weeks, I want the business to be established in terms of the legal entity and opening a bank account here in Dubai. And I want to start having the critical kick-off conversations: with our partners, our third party partners here in Dubai, the processing partner, the manufacturing partner, and Mastercard and Visa. I want all those guys to know exactly who Giftify are and what we do. I also want my pipeline to know exactly who we are, that we're here, what our intentions are, and what we can offer them.
So that, for me, is really the most important piece: getting the entity set up with the local authorities. And once we do that, it's time to get the message out there to the market, that Giftify is here on the ground and that we're ready to take over and shake things up.

Shannon: You make that sound so simple! So I've got to ask: what motivates you?

Colin: Being around people, you know, whether that's just interacting with people in a commercial setting or personal setting. That actually leads to one of my 'bug bears' with the gift card market: digital cards. I'm sure there's a market for it. And of course I think they can work in tandem or compliment one another, but we're social beings, right? I’m really very interested in the psychology of gifting, you know?

So, sending someone a redemption code is a completely different journey to actually giving someone a physical gift. And for me that distinction is really important.

Shannon: Ok, here it is. Final question: what advice would you give someone who's looking to get into doing what you do? By that I mean, business development for a product you really care about.

Colin: Know your customer, know your market and, don't expect to start a role on Monday and have achieved success by Friday. You have to put in the hard yards.

I learned the payments business from the inside, and from the ground up. I understood technology, I understood compliance and risk and fraud. So my advice is learn your trade, be patient - and particularly on the prospecting and sales aspect. And remember that prospecting is just one part of what we. You just have to learn to be patient. It's never a "no", it's just a "not now".

So yeah, just be patient.

Shannon: All right. Those were all of my questions. Thanks so much, Colin! Looking forward to working with you here at Giftify!

Colin: It was fun! And I'm so ready to make a start!

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