Through our MENACOM Career Chat series, we will be speaking with former MENACOM Jordan employees about how their experiences with the group have shaped their lives and careers.
For this edition of MENACOM Career Chat, we spoke with Helen Al Uzaizi, who worked with MENACOM Jordan from 2003 to 2011. After studying law and working for two years at another marketing communication agency, Helen joined MENACOM as an Account Manager for Y&R (now VMLY&R), before shifting into business development, and eventually into the role of Deputy Country Manager for Wunderman. Since leaving the group in 2011, she has traversed an award-winning entrepreneurial journey, with a focus on social development and community impact. As the Founder and CEO of BizWorld UAE, she has helped provide entrepreneurial education to more than 10,000 kids, aged 8 to 15, in the UAE, Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. Over the course of her career, Helen has received countless high-profile awards and accolades, including being named one of the 50 Most Influential Women in the Arab World, one of the Top 100 Smartest People in the UAE, and being awarded the Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Young Business Leaders Award (to name just a few). She also serves as an advisor and board member for numerous social enterprise and community impact organizations, including PACES, Oasis500, and the Social Enterprise Project.
How did your career at MENACOM begin?
I was initially recruited by Wunderman in 2003, but then Y&R won the Royal Jordanian account, and before I could really start at Wunderman, I was moved over to work with Y&R as an Account Manager. To be honest, at first I was very nervous about going to Y&R, because I had heard that it was a really tough environment. When I joined, it was completely different than what I expected.
Of course, the work was very demanding: there were many expectations in terms of standards and delivery. Up to that point, I’d only been working for about two years, and my previous job had a very different dynamic.
Working on the RJ account was definitely challenging, but it gave me the opportunity to start slowly shifting toward the strategic planning side of things. As time progressed, I began to handle more of RJ’s strategic planning, and I found that I was more interested in this side of the business than the account management side of things. Account management is very task-oriented, whereas I preferred looking at the bigger picture.
Around that time, Y&R introduced the Brand Asset Valuator (BAV), which is a strategic tool for measuring the strength and potential of a brand. I was one of the people chosen to lead our adoption of the BAV, which involved using that data to enhance our strategic planning.
With my interest in the planning side of the business, I eventually moved from account management to business development, which combined account handling and strategic planning. Working in business development was probably my favorite phase of my career at MENACOM, because I was always doing something new and interesting, always meeting new people, and always being challenged. I also had the chance to work across all communication practices, from public relations to direct marketing, so it really was the best experience.
I then moved to Wunderman, where I worked as Deputy Country Manager, which was also really, really interesting, and I was able to continue learning a lot. Then, in 2011, I left MENACOM to take a job at the Jordan River Foundation, because I was eager to move into doing more social development and community impact work.
What were some of the biggest lessons you learned from your time at MENACOM?
So, at different stages of my career at MENACOM, I was working under different leadership, and from each of them I really learned a lot. Until today, there’s one mantra I picked up from my time there that I use constantly, which is: if you’re on time, you’re already late. I still make it a point to always show up a few minutes early to everything.
Another lesson I picked up was that, any time you met with management, you had to have a notebook with you. After all, if you were meeting with them, you were going there to take a task or to get feedback—whatever it was, you needed to come prepared, with a notebook and pen. Now, any time I go into a meeting, I always have a notebook or an iPad or a laptop with me—and I expect the same from my team.
The idea of under-promising and over-delivering is another core lesson from my MENACOM days that has stuck with me big time. During my time with the group, I also learned to try to find solutions to problems, without running straight to management at the first sign of trouble. We were empowered enough to take matters into our own hands, and to make our own choices and mistakes. That really teaches you how to problem solve, and how to come up with solutions to any problem.
Looking back now, I think my time at MENACOM was probably the most interesting and engaging phase of my entire career, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
What advice would you give to current MENACOM employees, or young people who are interested in a career in the advertising and marketing communication field?
Soak it all in. Complain less and do more—not because we need to shut up about our frustrations, but because the things that are a bit tougher, the things that are more challenging, those are the things that make you stronger, that give you thicker skin and make you more resilient. Ultimately, they’re the things that make you stand out.
I remember, when I was looking to shift into a new career path after eight years at MENACOM, people kept telling me, “Oh, you’re graduating from the MENACOM school—anyone would want to have you.” The reputation was that, if you were able to survive and excel in the demanding environment of the group, then you must be a strong character, and you must have learned a lot. To this day, I think the group has a really strong reputation, and there are many positive associations with having worked at MENACOM.
I also think that the advertising and marketing communication industry, in general, is something I would advise just about anyone to work in, at least once in their career—especially early on. It offers such a full view of the business world, like you won’t get in any other industry. It’s the only industry where—if you allow yourself to dig in—you gain an understanding of sales, of business development, strategy, branding, external and internal communication… and what better way to make you a full, holistic leader.
So my advice to MENACOM employees—and to anyone in the industry—would be to put in the time, do the work, and you’ll reap the rewards.