About us

History

Founded in London in 1972, the company originally known as International Marketing and Economic Services was the brainchild of Don Moore, a management consultant with extensive experience in both the private sector and with international agencies.

Throughout the 1970s, the company was involved in a wide range of international projects throughout the world, working for an exceedingly diverse client base including both multinational companies and organizations such as the Commonwealth Secretariat, the United Nations, the European Commission, Cuba-export, and the China External Development Corporation. At that time, the range of services offered embraced economic forecasting, investment promotion and product development in addition to the market research and consultancy which is the company’s core business today.

IMES first Middle East project was a study of the market for mango juice in several countries undertaken in 1975. But as the price of oil rocketed, IMES clients began to focus greater attention on the petro-economies of the Arab world. So while IMES continued to undertake projects worldwide (the firm has worked in 120 countries), the 1980s saw ever more business in the Middle East. To supplement work for private clients, the company also began to produce published syndicated studies: the first study of the soft drinks market in Saudi Arabia was published in 1983, with the first published dairy study following two years later. Now updated every year, these studies are still used throughout these industries today.

By the early 1990s, over half of IMES revenues were related to the Arab countries, but this was severely disrupted by the First Gulf War. IMES diverse international base enabled the company to maintain its growth through major projects in South East Asia, China, the Caribbean and elsewhere, while continuing to work as much as possible in the Middle East. And as stability returned to the region, the decision was taken to open a local office. After a long search for a suitable local partner, an office was opened in September 2001 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in conjunction with Dr. Abdullah Basodan, a leading Saudi businessman.

In the same year, the company’s name was formally changed to IMES Consulting.

In early 2004, the Board of IMES Consulting undertook a major strategic review of operations, which by that time included a head office in London and subsidiary businesses in the USA, Ireland, Russia, Singapore and Saudi Arabia. The Board concluded that given IMES experience and established reputation and client base, the Middle East offered the most exciting long-term prospect for business growth. On this basis, the decision was taken to relocate IMES operational headquarters from London to Dubai Media City. This move was undertaken in October 2004.

Biographies

Brendan Nolan Managing Director

Brendan Nolan

Managing Director

Brendan Nolan is the Managing Director of IMES Consulting in Dubai. Brendan is directly responsible to our clients for all aspects of our practice in the GCC and region.

He has lived and worked in the Middle East since 1995. Brendan was recruited from Ireland by Almarai Company to come to Riyadh as General Manager-Marketing in 1995. He spent ten years working and living in Riyadh with Almarai as General Manager-Marketing (8 years), and then General Manager-Business Development (2 years)

He joined IMES Consulting in January 2005. IMES Consulting has been in continuous business since 1971. IMES moved its HQ to Dubai from London in 2005. We are Middle East market analysis and commercial specialists

Much of our work is related to the GCC & MENA markets. B2C & B2B products areas include Poultry, Quail, Dairy, Juices, Hot Beverages, Shrimp, Seafood, AgTech, Beef & Sheep Meat, Flour Milling, Animal Feeds, Processed Meats, Fruit & Veg, Dates, Grocery Retailing, Foodservice, Soft Drinks, Fruit & Veg, Dates, Preserves, Decorative Flowers, Fish & Aqua, Dairy Ingredients and Bakery. We’ve also been involved in sectoral development studies and FDI attraction to GCC and East African countries

An important part of our work relates to working on export and sectoral development in countries with a strong agriculture base – whether in the Middle East, Europe or Asia.

Our route-to-market work in Saudi and across MENA has looked at B2C as well as B2B work. Recent work includes work for dairy, poultry, fruit & veg and chilled meats into Retail, HORECA and Food Processing.

Kieran O’Brien

Director

Kieran graduated with a First Class Honours Degree in Civil Engineering from University College Cork (Ireland) in 1984 followed by a Master’s Degree in Engineering Science. He began his career with multinational building products company CRH and worked in both business development and internal consultancy roles in the UK, Ireland and Spain, before returning to studying. In 1992 he completed an MBA at the prestigious Cranfield School of Management in the UK.
Joining IMES, Kieran quickly became the preferred consultant for projects on behalf of several leading multinational clients and worked on major strategic projects all over the World. He was rapidly promoted to Senior Consultant and subsequently led the successful development of IMES practice in Ireland. In 2000 he was appointed to the Board of IMES and has been instrumental in the company’s development. In 2004 he relocated to Dubai in order to support the opening of IMES new operational headquarters, although for family reasons he now splits his time between Dubai and Cork.
Kieran is a Member of the Institute of Management Consultants and the Marketing Institute of Ireland.

Ken Hepburn

Senior Consultant

Born in Scotland, Ken graduated with a BA in Economics from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh during 1977. The same year, he embarked upon a long career in Sales and Marketing with Dr Ian Sangster & Co. in Kingston, Jamaica. Having gained experience there in the formulation, bottling, packaging, distribution sales and marketing of a range of rum-based liqueurs, he moved on to join drinks giant International Distillers & Vintners (IDV) in the UK – working on the marketing of the company’s flagship brand, Smirnoff vodka.

In 1983 Ken joined the Wellcome Foundation’s International Division to market the company’s range of pharmaceuticals, over-the-counter (OTC) medicines and FMCG products in the countries of the Arabian peninsula.

In 1998 Ken joined London-based MSI and developed brands for Contraceptive Social Marketing programmes in the developing world.

Ken joined IMES in 2002 and has since worked on a diverse range of projects for a variety of clients in key Middle East markets.

David Edwards

Director

Born in Wolverhampton, England, David completed an Honours Degree in Business Studies before starting his career in the marketing of building materials for the English China Clays group. He joined IMES for the first time in 1985 and during a four year period as a junior consultant with the company, he worked extensively in both the Middle East and South East Asia on topics ranging from breakfast cereals to light emitting diodes. For a one-year period during this time he acted as investment adviser to the Government of Mauritius, including training local personnel. After five years with IMES, David left to pursue his career with Visa International, the World leader in consumer payment systems, where he held various marketing positions. He was eventually appointed Vice President – Marketing Operations for Europe, Middle East and Africa. His major achievements during this time included a re-launch of Visa’s Gold Card programme and introduction of the Global Customer Assistance Service. In 1996 he was invited back to IMES as a shareholder and director. Despite his senior position in Visa, David felt that IMES offered still greater potential and so rejoined the company. He was subsequently appointed as Managing Director on 1st January 2000 and his since been responsible for driving IMES strategic direction, and in particular the total focus on the Arab World. In support of this, David and his family relocated to Dubai in 2004. In 2004 David was elected a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and in 2006 was made a Freeman of the City of London and elected a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Marketors.

Join Us

IMES Consulting does not currently have any vacancies for full-time employees. However, we are always on the look out for suitable people to join our list of Associate Consultants able to undertake occasional research and consultancy assignments. Requirements are:

First degree in a business discipline, or preferably a higher degree (MA, MSc, MBA)
a minimum of five year’s business experience, ideally in B2B market research or consultancy
fluency in English, and ideally Arabic
excellent literacy and numeracy
high level of self motivation and self reliance

Our consultants work under the supervision of a Director and take responsibility for completing assignments to a Client’s satisfaction. Typical projects involve a period of fieldwork in the target market, followed by a report and presentation to the client, often at very senior level.

If you are interested in working with IMES please send your c.v. for consideration to us at enquiries@imesconsulting.com

IMES CONSULTING

SERVICES

Consultancy
Market Development
Research

CONTACT US

IMES Consulting (Middle East and North Africa) FZ LLC
PO Box 487177 Dubai, UAE
Mobile: +971 50 501 3108
Email: enquiries@imesconsulting.com
bpn@imesconsulting.com