Ala Shehadeh is the Managing Director at LAPP ME, a global leader in manufacturing high-tech cables and accessories. He is an innovative entrepreneur who focuses on making an impact with his expertise and LAPP ME. He is a versatile and result-oriented businessman with over 15 years of experience in an international business environment.
Ala Shehadeh is a father of 2 and has hands-on experience in the field of technical engineering, sales, sales management, and business development. Together with the talented team of professionals at LAPP ME, he aims to strengthen their position in the Middle East Market.
Together with Ala Shehadeh, the company focuses on sustainable energy and cutting-edge industrial solutions. The company also has a social media profile on Linkedin.
Learn more about Ala Shehadeh and how he continued his business journey below through our interview.
Explain the background of you and the company in detail.
I am Ala Shehadeh, 38 years old, and a father of 2 beautiful kids.
I took the responsibility of the Managing Director at LAPP Cables Middle East FZE in January 2021. My career began 15 years back as a technical engineer and then moved to the field of sales, sales management, and business development.
Currently, I am working with a very talented team in LAPP, the Middle East, to strengthen the brand position in the Middle East market, focusing on sustainable energy and cutting-edge industrial solutions.
LAPP has been supplying in the region through its network of partners for the past 20 years. Hence the management decided to establish a regional headquarters in Dubai, UAE, in January 2006.
By establishing the office in the MENA region, management has increased the availability to ensure that the required product meets the customer’s needs. This decision has been built in order to expand into the Middle East market with a natural progression for the company. We identified a strong demand for our cabling solutions due to the current boom in the industrial and construction sectors in the region.
Today LAPP ME caters to diversified market/industrial segments, including automation, DCP, water treatment plants, steel & aluminum, F&B, and critical infrastructure (airports/ metro stations). We are also working on providing a “one-stop-shop” service that provides outsourced products as a part of a project package.
LAPP ME is located in the Head office of Dubai Silicon Oasis, a globally recognized integrated, modern technology park.
What are your goals?
Our goal is to focus on our customers more than ever to recognize their needs and be able to solve their problems even better.
What do you feel is the biggest strength of yourself/company right now?
We will systematically pursue the purpose of “Reliably Connecting the World.” We will continue representing reliability and quality in a dynamic global market environment with the solutions and services relevant to our customers’ needs.
We don’t just provide reliable power and data connections. The human side of things also plays a key role at LAPP.
We nurture a culture of caring. We take on challenges that our customers have difficulties tackling alone.
What was the path you/your company took to get to where you are today?
As the global LAPP Group, we are realigning ourselves and leaving no one behind – neither our customers nor our employees. We are working together in line with the LAPP motto “Think global – act local,” while also using the benefits offered by our heterogeneous corporate structure.
We at LAPP work very hard to serve our local customers with our products and services that match their local needs. In addition, we continually align our strategy with our customers’ needs. We have developed a unique set of offerings that match the local needs with our well-known global quality.
Why did you start (or want to be the head of) this company?
The name LAPP stands for best quality. It was an excellent opportunity for me to be part of a well-known brand like LAPP, and I wanted to take the opportunity to contribute to LAPP’s growth strategy.
What have been the biggest challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The world we live in has significantly accelerated in recent years and has become increasingly complex. The market became more VUCA (short for volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) than ever. For our company and our industry, this means that we have to adapt flexibly to developments so that we can remain successful and stable in the long run.
On the other side, our day-to-day work is becoming more agile, flexible, and above all, more digital. This has far-reaching effects throughout our lives and on our mobility.
Increasing complexity requires us to define a direction in which we will continue to move together as Lapp Middle East in line with our LAPP Group strategy.
What makes you excited about Mondays?
To wake up early and see the team after two days of rest from work.
What do you value most about your culture and vision?
Our corporate culture combines the beliefs, codes of conduct, and habits that characterize the LAPP company as a community. Cooperation based on trust, thinking beyond the limits, thinking and acting in an entrepreneurial manner, and the interests of our customers are essential elements of this.
We work hand-in-hand regardless of the respective regions, legal units, departments, or hierarchical levels –we are ONE LAPP! We stand by our customers together around the world!
Tell us about a project that forced you to be innovative and creative.
The world is changing, and so are the global industries and markets. What is still thriving today, such as the market penetration of ÖLFLEX®in traditional markets and segments, e.g., machine tool construction, could already become a thing of the past tomorrow. The mega-trends are influencing the needs of our customers, and we, too, want to align ourselves accordingly.
What are the strategies of your company, and how do they stand unique from your competitors?
Reliably Connecting the World!
We strive for growth and profitability by continuing to set the bar in the market as the most customer-centric company in our industry. Remain true to our motto.
What are the key values that helped you overcome the roadblocks/challenges in your career? Tell us something about your memorable incident in your leadership?
Persistence is a huge key to overcoming challenges, and giving up means that you will neither overcome the challenge nor learn from it. Power through challenges by asking for support, understanding your feelings, and making a plan to work through them is crucial.
The path we are now taking together will be a long one. We must not be discouraged by adversity and minor failures. We will reach our goal together in many small steps!
How do you see the company changing in two years, and how do you see yourself creating that change?
I see the industry is moving toward digitalization. In Lapp Middle East, we are focusing on our digitalization strategy. We are leading many internal efficiently increasing projects while launching our E-Shop that will be one of a kind in the Middle East Industrial market.
Where is your leadership going? What benefits do your clients get from your company in this competitive world?
From a global perspective, we have decided to focus on the following market segments with above-average growth potential over the next few years:
- RENEWABLE ENERGY
- INTRALOGISTICS
- AUTOMATION TECHNOLOGY
- FOOD & BEVERAGE
Our customers will always benefit from state-of-the-art technologies and cutting-edge solutions that focus on offering a Value-adding SOLUTION, not a product.
What are the services/solutions or products offered by your company on par with the current industry standards? Tell us something about your upcoming products or services?
In the connection technology market, we want to differentiate ourselves even more from our competitors as a solution provider for connection technology.
We have become a solution provider. We will focus more strongly on Industrial Communication(IC), ÖLFLEX® CONNECT (ÖC), and EPIC®.
In addition, we will enrich this range with additional services and thus further strengthen our customer relationships. We also aim to tailor our product portfolio to our customers and individual sectors more precisely.
Connect with Ala Shehadeh on LinkedIn.