Event Director - West & North Africa (Arabic Speaker)

DMG Events group; Dubai; On-site; AED 400,000 - 520,000; Full time

Job summary

dmg events in Dubai/Cairo is seeking an experienced Event Director to lead the Construction Division’s portfolio in Nigeria and Egypt. You will own the P&L, shape growth strategies, and work with Sales, Marketing, Content, Operations and Finance to drive revenue and market leadership.

You will identify opportunities, manage partnerships, and ensure the events remain the leading platforms for construction and built environment sectors in the markets.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in business, marketing, events or related field.
• 7+ years in exhibitions/events with portfolio leadership responsibility.
• Experience in multi-market environments (Africa/Middle East preferred).

Responsibilities

• Lead overall event strategy for Nigeria and Egypt, ensuring long-term growth and competitive positioning.
• Own full P&L and monitor revenue, costs and profitability with monthly forecasting.
• Drive sales, sponsorships, and marketing for the market portfolio.
• Build and manage relationships with governments, associations, partners, and key industry players.
• Lead cross-functional teams across Sales, Marketing, Operations, Content and Finance.
• Adapt event brands and value propositions to local needs and opportunities.
• Ensure timely reporting of KPIs and maintain high standards of delivery.

Skills

P&L management

Multi-market experience

Leadership

Stakeholder management

Business development

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Marketing, Events, or related field

Tools

Salesforce

Job description

Dubai | Cairo

About us
dmg events is an international exhibitions and publishing company. We attract more than 425,000 visitors to our global portfolio of 80 exhibitions each year. Through our global events, our aim is simple. We want to accelerate business through face-to-face events, which is why we work so hard to bring people together, creating opportunities for them to network, learn and do business. dmg events is part of the Daily Mail Group Trust (DMGT). DMGT Manages a diverse, multinational portfolio of companies with total revenues of £2bn, that provide businesses and consumers with compelling information, analysis, insight, events, news, and entertainment.

Job Purpose: To lead, grow, and deliver the Construction Division's event portfolio in Nigeria and Egypt, driving long-term commercial growth, market leadership, and industry impact.

The Event Director holds full P&L accountability for the allocated events and is responsible for the successful development, positioning, sales performance, marketing, content, stakeholder engagement, and operational delivery of the portfolio.

The role acts as the strategic leader for both markets, ensuring alignment across Sales, Marketing, Operations, Content, and Finance while adapting event brands, value propositions, and growth strategies to local market requirements. The Event Director is responsible for identifying new growth opportunities, strengthening industry partnerships, and maintaining the position of the events as the leading platforms for the construction and built environment sectors in Nigeria and Egypt.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES:

Event strategy and Leadership

• Leads overall event strategy, ensuring long-term growth, relevance, and competitive positioning; uses data, market insights, and commercial understanding to shape event direction.
• Develops annually a 3-year plan for each event/market outlook and develops the event strategy in line with the guidelines of the event delivery playbook.
• Ensures cross-functional alignment across Sales, Marketing, PR, Content, and Operations, maintaining focus on commercial, audience, and delivery priorities.
• Sets and leads events meetings to ensure cross-functional alignment.
• Driving sustainable event growth, audience impact and commercial performance.
• Manages organisational complexity and competing priorities confidently.

P&L management

• Owns full financial performance, including local and international revenue delivery, cost control, and profitability.
• Provides accurate and timely reporting of event KPI’s and forecasts.
• Liaise with finance for financial reporting requirements.
• Set, adhere to, manage and deliver the event P&L.
• Monitor ongoing performance against budget through monthly review of revenue and costs using the budget tracker.
• Establish monthly forecasting process to determine likely show result in budget tracker.
• Achieve revenue and contribution budget/forecast.
• Ensure billing and collection is done in accordance with contract.
• Ensure debtors are collected in accordance with contract and in full prior to the show.

Commercial leadership

• Lead sales and sponsorship performance across Nigeria and Egypt.
• Works closely with the local and international sales teams, partners, and agents to achieve revenue targets.
• Executes the agreed sales and sponsorship strategy for the event.
• Takes part in meetings with key customers.
• Monitors sales performance and ensures up-to-date reporting in Salesforce.
• Delivers agreed revenue targets by value and volume.

Stakeholder and Partner management

• Builds and manages strategic relationships with governments, associations, local partners, and key industry players, ensuring both positioning and commercial outcomes for the events in the respective markets.
• Establish advisory boards and maintain strong market visibility.

Brand management & Market adaptation

• Ensures the event brand is aligned with the wider portfolio strategy and effectively adapted to each market, including positioning, messaging, features, and value proposition aligned to local industry needs.
• Oversees development of locally relevant marketing campaigns, content programmes, and show features to maximise audience engagement and commercial success.
• Drives audience growth, exhibitor retention, and event positioning as leading platform in each market.

Marketing

• Oversee the development of the marketing strategy and marketing objectives for the event.
• Works with Senior Marketing Manager to increase visitor numbers and quality and improve the overall look and feel of the event.
• Ensure the event website is always up-to-date and aligned with the overall brand standards.
• Oversees database development in conjunction with database department.
• Identify and develop new event profiles, launches, or vertical extensions within the portfolio markets based on market gaps and demand.

Operational Delivery

• Oversee the operational preparations for the event and ensure these are delivered at a high standard and with eye on customer satisfaction.

QUALIFICATIONS, EXPERIENCE, & SKILLS:

Minimum Qualifications and Knowledge:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Marketing, Events, or related field
• Strong understanding of B2B exhibitions (construction/infrastructure preferred)
• 7+ years in exhibitions/events with portfolio leadership responsibility
• Proven experience managing full P&L and multi-channel sales (direct, agent, partner)
• Experience in multi-market environments (Africa/Middle East preferred)

Job-Specific Skills:

• Strong commercial and strategic acumen
• Expertise in market-driven brand positioning and event development
• Ability to manage local partners, agents, and stakeholder ecosystems
• Ability to lead cross-functional teams through alignment and influence
• Strategic leadership and long-term thinking
• Strong influencing and stakeholder management
• Leadership maturity and ability to operate in complexity
• High resilience and sound judgement under pressure
• Strong ownership mindset and accountability
• Ability to build collaboration, consistency, and performance across teams

Native Arabic speaker with excellent communication skills in Arabic and English