Our Team
Our Team
Meridian Partners is deliberately boutique. When you engage us, you work directly with our founder — not a junior.
Ziad Jabre
Founder & Managing Director
Ziad Jabre is a dynamic global commercial leader with 24 years of experience driving strategic growth in Travel Retail, FMCG, and Luxury markets across the Middle East, APAC, and Europe.
His expertise spans P&L management, market entry strategies, and cultivating distributor partnerships — consistently delivering double-digit growth. He has personally built GTR functions from zero at two organisations, established Al Fakher as the first shisha tobacco brand in European travel retail, and managed retail distribution across 45 global airports.
Trilingual in Arabic, French, and English — essential in the relationship-led markets of MEA, Europe, and the Levant.
Years in TR, FMCG & Luxury
Volume growth built at Al Fakher
Profit growth
Global airports managed at Mars
Shisha at Dubai Airport
Regions: MEA · Europe · APAC
Experience
Career Track Record
Mars Inc
2004 – 2016
Dubai · Veghel · Beirut · Riyadh
Regional Director ITR — MENA & Indian Subcontinent · Global Sales Development Manager · Supply Chain Team Leader
- Regional Director ITR — MENA & Indian Subcontinent – doubled business to €12.4M
- Global Sales Development Manager — Valrhona €4M, 45 airports
- Supply Chain Team Leader — Levant
Patchi UAE
2016
Dubai
Acting General Manager
- Full UAE P&L, including factory management
- Established TR department from zero
- Secured Cartier contracts across Gulf & Levant
- 8% retail sales growth
App Development
2016 – 2017
Dubai
Founder (Self-Employed)
- Mobile app for tracking credit card savings and loyalty programs
- Monetisation model with banks via lead generation and data sharing
Al Fakher / AIR
2018 – 2021
Dubai
Head Global GTR
- Built GTR from zero
- 341%+ volume & 577%+ profit in under 2 years
- #1 shisha brand at Dubai Duty Free
- First shisha brand in European TR
Al Fakher / AIR
2021 – 2022
Dubai
Head GTR & Levant
- 30%+ post-pandemic recovery growth
- 22% volume growth in Levant
- 33% revenue & 36% profit increase
- 2022 F1 Air Global Award
Al Fakher / AIR
2022 – 2024
Dubai
Regional Director APAC & GTR
- 108% profit growth in GTR
- 37% APAC growth
- Secured India's leading Paan company partnership
Al Fakher / AIR
2024 – 2026
Dubai
VP GTR & Heritage Markets
- 26.7% GTR profitability boost
- 18% Heritage Markets growth
- New distributor partnerships in UAE and Qatar
Boutique Means Senior Access
You always work directly with Ziad. No handoff to juniors. No 40-brand portfolio where your brand gets lost. Every engagement gets our full attention.
Work directly with Ziad
We work with a select number of brands each year. If you'd like to explore whether we're the right partner, we'd be glad to hear from you.