WE are a next generation marketing partner that helps startups and emerging brands to overcome challenges at any stage of growth.
Our focus is on creating growth plans that are tailored to your business goals & objectives. We immerse ourselves in your business, use data for solutions, and employ 'zero-based planning & trading' to prioritize your needs over agency interests.
We emphasize the interdependency of brand and performance, while measuring it growth across short, medium, and long-term perspectives.
We have a deep understanding of the cultural, social, and economic factors that impact the business landscape in the region.
Our mission is to nurture the digital ecosystem in MENA by developing and growing the next generation of Digital-first brands.
Our Approach
Our approach to growing Digital-first brands is based on ASAAS - which is the Arabic word for "foundation." Calibrate's ASAAS framework ensures that we have a data-informed actionable plan that solves business challenges.
ASAAS
Assess
We seek to understand your goal, then deep dive into industry and consumer landscapes using our 50-point checklist to form a comprehensive view of what is required to achieve your goal.
Strategize
What will it take to reach your goal? We develop pragmatic yet innovative strategies to overcome challenges and get brands growing. We're not about selling services but offering actionable solutions.
Advance
Laying the groundwork is critical to successfully bringing the strategy to fruition. From technical setups to detailed audits to briefing sessions, we work seamlessly across our team of specialists and your organisation to manage the project end-to-end.
Activate
It's showtime! Whether it's launching your new store, campaign or tech rollout, we run a quality check to ensure everything is launching as planned. Once live, we work to establish a baseline for your brand and monitor and optimize on a daily and weekly basis, providing you with key updates and recommendations along the way. We're all for transparent communication, so you know exactly what's going on with your brand and why.
Scale
Every business is unique, so we work to establish proof points of success for the brands we work with before we start scaling. This results in a cost-efficient way of evolving the strategy and action plan while mitigating risks. We also go out of our way to find solutions to unique challenges, such as exploring untapped channels, investing in commerce tech or tapping into our extensive partner network.
Our specialist teams are in UAE, KSA and Egypt, working with online brands across the MENA region.
Waseem Afzal
Founder and CEO
Nagham Akileh
General Manager
Muhammed Ali Jamadar
Partnerships and Operations Lead
Rohan Ahuja
Growth and Strategy Lead
Karunaa Gandhi
Group Director- Business Growth Enablement
Muhammad Jawad Rashid
Senior Growth Manager – Digital & Performance
Abdul Wahab
Growth Manager – SEO & Content
Mitchell Finlayson
Growth Manager – Integrated Media
Waseem Afzal
Founder and CEO
Nagham Akileh
General Manager
Muhammed Ali Jamadar
Partnerships and Operations Lead
Rohan Ahuja
Growth and Strategy Lead
Our Partners
We are certified by industry partners, ensuring best practices in everything we do. We are also trusted by agency and consulting partners, enabling their teams to further expand their service offerings by tapping into our team of specialists.
Waseem is a commercially driven media business leader with 16 years of regional tech/digital/commerce/media leadership experience in agency roles across multiple sectors. Prior to starting his entrepreneurial journey, he held senior leadership positions at TikTok and OMD, with a successful track record in evolving existing capabilities as well as incubating several emerging media & non-media solutions such as nOMD Create (Creative/Social/Influencer marketing hub), OMD Transact (full-service e-commerce unit), Data & Tech capabilities, among others.
Nagham is an award-winning marketer and e-commerce strategist with 16 years of experience, 20 industry awards, and numerous industry-firsts under her belt. She has previously held several leadership roles at OMD and Aramex, with a proven track record in growing and amplifying brands like PepsiCo, Shopbop, Daniel Wellington, Henkel, and Shop&Ship. Nagham holds a Masters Degree in Strategic Marketing, coupled with certifications in Business Strategy, Product Strategy and Brand Strategy, among others.
Mali has 13 years of digital marketing experience with a track record of results-based performance in B2B/B2C resulting in over 30 industry awards. His expertise spans omnichannel marketing and business intelligence, and has held digital leadership roles at Boehringer Ingelheim, Turner and OMD. Mali holds a BBA in Marketing and is Six Sigma Certified.
Mitch holds a Bachelor's degree in Communications, majoring in Journalism, and is Apple Search Ads certified. Mitch specializes in traditional media planning, performance marketing and creator partnerships.
Abdul has over 12 years of digital marketing experience, dedicated the majority of it to honing his skills in SEO. His expertise lies in crafting ROI-driven SEO strategies tailored to the MENA region. Abdul's experience spans various industries and has worked with renowned brands such as Namshi, Damac Properties, and Zurich Insurance. Abdul holds a Bachelor's Degree in Marketing, is a Google Analytics Power User, and is Hubspot SEO Certified.
Jawad holds a Bachelor's degree in Software Engineering and has over 6 years of hands-on experience in growth hacking and digital marketing. As an entrepreneur himself, he specializes in developing actionable plans for SMEs and emerging brands. His track record is marked by a consistent ability to achieve tangible growth and results, even in fiercely competitive digital environments.
Rohan has over 15 years of industry experience in the Middle East helping global brands and local startups grow and achieve their marketing and technology goals. He was previously the Strategy & Technology Lead at Brand New Galaxy. Rohan holds a Bachelor of Science Degree and is Google, Amazon and Appsflyer certified.
Karunaa is an ACCA Fellow member with over 20 years of UAE experience in finance and business operations for healthcare and digital media domains. She has worked as CFO for a Dubai-based healthcare startup, as Financial Advisor to a Dubai-based government hospital CEO, and as Finance Director at several startup digital media companies.
