We got a chance to interview Safa Mohamad. She is the acting Managing Director at GAV LLC. Safa was part of building an innovative solution for business development and growth. Apart from that, she also has a high interest in public speaking and even discussed opening a company for public speaking or consultancy in the future.
As Safa describes, GAV LLC is a business consulting and services company that provides innovative solutions in financial, business strategy and marketing perspectives. Learn more about Safa Mohamad, GAV business ideas, and her role through our interview below.
Could you tell us something about your career journey?
I started out my career as a graphic designer after graduating from the Scientific College of Design. I trained in different places, before joining Gate10. I joined Gate10 as a graphic designer, specialized in branding. Then was promoted to be a social media team leader for 6 months, but that didn’t work out for me because my passion wasn’t in social media. My passion for business and management led me to be more curious to learn about it. So, with the support of my group CEO, to learn and be more exposed to business world I became his executive to absorb all the tactics I need with an aim to be a business development manager after 2 years. Parallelly, I started my MBA in business management to have academic and practical knowledge.
Being a quick learner was a perk for me. In addition, being his executive coordinator gave me a chance to have insights into all these companies and different roles that I held. One of the roles was working as a project manager for one-year training program for establishing new marketing and branding strategies for 20 SMEs in collaboration with Riyada. I handled a role also as a strategic planner was supported to build the skill of understanding the market, what kind of gaps the CEO must pay attention to and what models should we work on to pull the business and take it to the next level. I was also exposed to a situation where I must identify and seize the opportunities internally and externally. Being a group CEO executive coordinator was full of challenges and stress, however it was a short cut way for me to maximize and benefit from the skills I have the most.
Tell us something about Gav.
During me handling the group CEO office. Him and 2 of his friends decided to establish a company called GAV. GAV is basically a partnership between three Partners, that run their own companies in different specialization. Hence, GAV is a joint venture of Gate10 a world winning marketing and advertising agency, Amwal, which is a financial management company and value investment a strategic and project management company.
Thus, information identification was crucial if it’s going to be a successful joint venture company providing different services as one. So, I was involved from the first stage to conduct the research with 2 of my colleagues and figured out that almost 80% of the issues for small and medium enterprises have gaps in those various perspectives, strategic planning, financial management and marketing as well. We started to discover the market, see the potential in the market, and see what kind of business model we should proceed with over the past 2 years.
GAV wasn’t moving as smoothly as interpreted, because of the market fluctuation and the new business model it tries to build, and since the partners has to focus on running their other business, they decided to put someone to manage GAV to move the company forward. Hence, they suggested that I become the Managing Director of the company, since I was involved from the initial stage, and my achievements, experience skills and character is exactly what GAV needs.
Afterwards I had to finalize the business model of GAV based on the trails and data we got during our first two years paring in mind that we must be flexible enough to cope with the market demand and changes.
Doing so, I presented to the partners a business model that is broken down into 3 different perspectives.
First is consultation and coaching programs, to think and speak the language of marketing, strategy, and finance as an entrepreneur.
Second, is building our own solution or products that address issues or gaps
Third model is building customized business models and prototypes for business to accelerate their growth through partnerships
What inspired you to get into graphic design?
Basically, I didn’t think much about it in the beginning. I started in the commerce college. I didn’t like commerce back then and didn’t choose graphic design as a passion. However, once I started, I became unstoppable. I believe that whatever I do, I must get it done the right way. I didn’t know I was good, but I was one of the best in the college. Although I discovered that I really like graphic design and am good at it, I didn’t want to pursue it as my career plan. Instead, I wanted to keep it a skill and passion that support me in my business career.
What are your goals?
I am thrilled to be a professional coach and public speaker. I was getting training sessions within my field. However, I decided to start my own path of leadership and communication. I aim to become a public speaker regarding matters like leadership, self-development, soft skills and emotional intelligence. Furthermore, I am one of the people who want to leave a mark. I have to get things done. I really care about the people I work with and care about their mindsets if we share the same values and morals. My goal is to partner with people who have the same passion and ambition and build great things I haven’t decided yet, but whatever my goals are, I keep achieving them. I started thinking about my goals in the next 5 years. but keep developing and improving is a continues goal.
How would you describe your leadership style?
There are 4 types of leaders: inspiring, motivating, accurate and disciplined leadership style. I think we are in a very rapidly changing and accelerating market. Hence, I have to be flexible because one leadership style won’t be enough. I want to use the right style at the right time with the right people. It’s all about the people and team. Every team member has different characteristics and different ways of solving problems, that I have to empower and deal with in a different way.
Could you tell us about your services and upcoming plans?
As I said earlier, GAAV is a business development company with innovative solutions providing an equal Innovative ecosystem for different Industries and sectors from strategic planning, marketing, and financial management.
So, we create your strategic action plan and go for your financial management, whether it’s about accounting, risk management, analysis, etc. Then we redo the marketing activities from promotion to pushing it in the right place using the right channels in the market. We go for the marketing strategy, communication strategy, branding, and even preparing marketing materials.
Basically, we provide 3 different perspectives services under one umbrella, however when it comes together linked and built upon each other it provides the perfect infrastructure for the business to grow much faster and sustainable.
Would you like to share your views on Women’s entrepreneurship?
From my perspective, I like women’s entrepreneurship. However, I always prefer to have a male partner who have the same vision and values to be my business partners, during my career I worked hand to hand with entrepreneurs and they were like a family, we supported each other all the way, we celebrated our victories together, and we stood by each other during the crises. One of my main influences is choosing the right partners and working together to achieve combined goals.
I always prefer to invest my energy skills knowledge experience, hand to hand with a partner who cover other perspective in business and support each other. Women can support the right partner more than they can do anything else. And as the example says, behind every great successful man, a very great woman.
The second thing is you can’t completely depend on a partner of anyone in life, life comes with significant uncertainty. I must be prepared for any situation. There are lots of changes that keep happening around, and that change can be in us too.
And I believe that God created men and women not to compete but to complete each other. If we find the right recipe, we can build a successful balanced society
Connect with Safa Mohamad on LinkedIn.
Find GAV LLC on LinkedIn