Hotelier Awards 2017 shortlist: Finance Person
There are six shortlisted candidates within the Finance Person of the Year category for the 2017 edition of the Hotelier Middle East Awards; find out who they are!
If you'd like to meet last year's winners of all categories, click here to find out more...
Click through to find out who has been shortlisted this year... and take a look at last year's event in the video below!
Ahmed Amin El Sharkawy, finance & business support manager, InterContinental Al Jubail
Ahmed Amin El Sharkawy has worked on substantial total savings as of July YTD 2017, which was accomplished by his championship to IHG Cost management initiative "Finance Open Connect Tool" within sux hotels in KSA East and Jeddah (including his base and task force hotels) via supporting the management of these hotels to achieve great savings vs last year. As area champion in KSA East Hotels for the IHG internal audit system (CSA), he tcontributed in achieving remarkable assessed score for his base hotel and for his region; these results were above the regional and global benchmark. He also successfully completed critical tasks such as 2018 budgeting, 2017 forecasting.
Indranil Chowdhury, director of finance, Taj Dubai
Indranil Chowdhury moved to Taj Dubai in early 2016. He has played a key role in improving cash flow in the turn-around of Taj Dubai to show a 100% growth in EBDITA, which is a measure of a company's operating performance. With over 30 years of finance expertise, he has also been successful in achieving a delta saving in all operating costs at Taj Dubai. Chowdhury also competently eliminated all manual intervention, replacing this by automation, thus being able to rationalise manpower.
Mohamed Farouk Ali, finance & business support manager, InterContinental Riyadh
Mohamed Farouk Ali started his career with IHG in 2008 as assistant director of finance in-charge at InterContinental Port Galib, Egypt and he joined Intercontinental Riyadh in 2013. His efforts have resulted in an improved hotel TGOP result. He also improved hotel CSA audit score from below par to superior level over the span of three years. He also drove a hotel saving plan showcasing substantial results.
Salah Khalil, director of finance, Mövenpick Hotel & Apartments Bur Dubai
Salah Khalil has held this position since 2010. Over the past 12 months, he contributed positively towards the GOP by reducing a major sum from fixed costs, positively restructuring the finance department and saving costs from the apartments’ full renovation.
Suresh Menon, director of finance, Mövenpick Hotel Jumeirah Beach
Suresh Menon has been with Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts for just over 10 years, and was a pre-opening member of Mövenpick Hotel Jumeirah Beach. Menon helped raise the hotel’s GOP year on year through a well-executed profit protection plan. He helped improve the Net Promoter Score (NPS) in the annual Employee Engagement Survey year on year. He has supported the development of three employees who have successfully transferred to the corporate office and sister hotels to take on higher positions.
Umid Allayorov, director of finance, Jumeirah at Etihad Towers
Umid Allayorov joined Jumeirah at Etihad Towers, Abu Dhabi in November 2015. He re-structured the finance department, improved efficiencies and reduced manning He implemented new systems such as a smart cash deposit machine which reduces the general cashiers' daily tasks by more than 50%, a third party online payment gateway which improved the cash collection process & improved guest satisfaction, an online banking system, fast & efficient payments to vendors which also reduced the AP manual work. Allayorov improved cash flow and working capital over the last 12 months.