Profile

Sherif M. Elsherif

Managing Director - MENA
Olayan Food Services Company

• For over 30years, Sherif lived and breathed the running of international, as well as home grown, franchise brands for one of the largest retail food companies in the MENA region. His experience in transformation and turning around under-performing businesses to achieving their potential, and in ensuring year on year growth for the Brands under his leadership, positioned Sherif as a formidable force in the industry. • In Kuwait Food Company (Americana), as a COO for the restaurants division, Sherif was managing more than 1,800 restaurants, around 20 international and local brands with over then 43,000 employees in 13 countries in MENA. • In Olayan Food Services, as a Managing Director for the restaurants division, Sherif is managing 3 International Master Franchised Brands in the region. • Amongst his key strengths are his abilities to motivate and lead teams to deliver stretch targets, zero in on identifying opportunities and solving bottlenecks with speed and agility. With his all-round experience in operations, marketing, finance and management, Sherif lends a unique perspective to the industry by having led numerous negotiations to acquire and sell various brands within the portfolio. • Sherif’s expertise in the business is further compounded by his experience as used to be a Member of the Karam Beirut KSA Board, his previous role as a Consultant for Mizuho Gulf Capital Partners Ltd and other boards in different industries. • Sherif speaks French and English fluently, and Arabic is his mother tongue. He majored in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Business Administration from the American University of Cairo, Egypt. With a quest towards life-long learning, Sherif is a certified Life Coach and well known for his sage counsel to many.