Wassim Bassem El Derbi is the Head of Marketing of Al Masaood Automobiles (AMA). In this role, he spearheads all marketing activities of the various brands that fall under the umbrella of AMA.
At AMA, Wassim is also involved in the company’s many key projects, including a research analysis for electric vehicles. He is, in fact, part of the AMA team involved in the Electric Vehicles Future Planning project. Additionally, under his leadership, AMA’s e-commerce platform, which is Nissan’s first e-commerce site in the Middle East, was launched.
He is a marketing professional with 15 years of relevant experience, during which he had taken on a variety of challenging roles within the automotive industry in the UAE. Wassim started his career in 2003 as a Marketing Coordinator at Abu Dhabi Motors, the general distributor for BMW, Mini Cooper, and Rolls Royce in Abu Dhabi. In the following year, he joined the Marketing team of Gargash Enterprises, the authorized distributor for Mercedes-Benz and the franchise of SIXT rent a car.
In 2007, he was promoted as a Marketing Manager and, by 2015, was granted the opportunity to manage the Customer Call Centre department, where he enhanced the lead management process, improved the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, and maximized marketing cost efficiency.
In 2017, after the Group’s merger and transformation, his responsibilities were extended to support Alfa Romeo and the Chinese brand GAC MOTOR.
In 2008, Wassim initiated an innovative project in collaboration with the University of Wollongong in Dubai (UOWD). Graduating marketing students of the University were invited to compete by developing the best possible product launch campaign for the C-Class Coupe as part of their graduation program. The students were required to deviate from the normal course syllabus and submit a full and comprehensive proposal on the vehicle launch. Winners enjoyed the chance to publicly launch the actual car and see their creative initiatives come to life.
In 2012, under the direction of Mr. Gargash, Wassim introduced ‘The Mercedes-Benz Challenge,’ a unique yearly sports adventure in which more than 300 contestants from across the UAE compete for a chance to win the grand prize of a brand-new SUV. The challenge was nominated in 2017 at the Middle East Event Show Awards as one of the top 5 best brand activations in the GCC and the Middle East regions. The event will celebrate its 8 th season this year.
During his career, Wassim achieved three regional marketing awards from Mercedes-Benz Middle East, namely Best Regional PR Award for the Al Ahli Club Football Association (2016); Best Regional Customer Event Award for a successful Service Week activation at Dubai Festival City (2017); and Best PR Award for “Score for Charity” CSR project (2017), in which Gargash Enterprises donated AED 1,000 to Rashid Centre for every goal scored by the Al Ahli players.
Wassim Bassem El Derbi
Head of Marketing, Al Masaood Automobiles