Ahmed SAID: Decoding Markets and Architecting Growth

Ahmed SAID has built his career around a deceptively simple business question:

How to support businesses navigate markets complexity to unlock growth?

As Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of AWE Research, SAID has spent nearly 15 years building and leading a research consultancy that positions market intelligence not as an endpoint, but as a foundation for better business decisions. Under his leadership, AWE has developed a model built around what it calls “Living Research”, combining research, consultancy, technology and storytelling to help organisations interpret changing markets and act on what they learn.

His own career provides the context for that approach. Before becoming CEO, Said moved through commercial, business development and strategic roles across research organisations, developing an understanding of both the mechanics of research and the commercial decisions that research is ultimately intended to support.

From Research to Commercial Strategy

SAID began his professional career in marketing and business environments, gaining early exposure to brand management at Unilever and Carrefour before moving into market research.

He earned a master’s degree in innovation and entrepreneurship from IAE France immediately before joining TNS Worldpanel in Paris, France.

At TNS Worldpanel, he worked across account management and marketing consultancy, developing experience in research-led client engagement. He subsequently joined Synovate, where his responsibilities expanded into business development and regional strategy.

As Regional Business Development Manager for North Africa, Said led his regional role first from Egypt and then from Morocco. He worked with senior management on business development and market strategies, new business initiatives and regional expansion plans. He also led strategic projects for key clients and coordinated research activity across multiple countries.

The experience brought together two disciplines that would become central to his later career: understanding markets and understanding how businesses make decisions about those markets.

Building AWE Around a Different Research Philosophy

In 2012, SAID co-founded AWE Research with Samar Abdelaal. He later became Chief Executive Officer in 2017.

AWE itself was founded in 2012 with an ambition to challenge conventional approaches within the market research industry. Today, the company describes itself as a research consultancy focused on understanding people, cultures, brands, organisations and markets, while delivering actionable business storytelling and customised solutions.

That positioning matters because the role of research has changed considerably. Businesses are no longer simply looking for reports containing market information. They increasingly need to understand what information means for brand strategy, customer experience, innovation, pricing, communications and growth.

AWE’s current offering reflects this broader scope, covering consumer and healthcare research, public-sector consultancy, brand strategy, innovation, customer experience, media and communication, pricing and syndicated studies.

For researchers, that broader role brings a further responsibility: explaining the implications of their findings as clearly as the findings themselves.

Leading a Regional Research Business

As CEO, Said has overseen AWE’s development from a research company founded in 2012 into one of the leading agencies in MENA, with a strong presence in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE and work covering more than 30 markets.

Beyond its core regional presence, AWE’s coverage extends across the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. The company says its team now numbers more than 300 across the MENA region and beyond.

AWE is also recognised as one of the fastest-growing research agencies in MENA. According to the company, it has achieved double-digit growth every year since it began business in 2012.

This expansion has required more than geographic growth. It has required the organisation to maintain local understanding while operating across different markets, cultures and business environments.

That balance is central to the company’s stated philosophy: local relevance, regional presence and global resonance.

Making Insight More Actionable

SAID’s commercial background is particularly relevant to this model.

His early experience in business development involved market-entry planning, client strategy, new business development and the commercial application of research. Rather than viewing research and commercial strategy as separate disciplines, his career has consistently connected the two.

That perspective is visible in AWE’s description of itself as a strategic “Thought Partner” and in its emphasis on actionable insights rather than information alone.

The distinction is important. Research can explain what consumers think, what markets are doing or how brands are perceived. Leadership begins when those findings influence what an organisation actually does next.

Technology and the Next Generation of Research

AWE’s evolution under SAID is also increasingly connected to technology.

In 2025, the company introduced CX-AWE, an AI-powered customer experience platform designed to accelerate the process of gathering and interpreting customer insight.

More recently, Said has publicly discussed the role of AI in research, arguing that technology can reduce friction in areas such as concept testing, open-text analysis and synthesis while preserving the value of rigorous research methodologies.

This points to a broader question for the research industry: how can technology make research faster without making it shallower?

For SAID, the answer appears to lie in using technology to increase the speed and accessibility of insight while retaining the human understanding required to interpret behaviour, context and intent.

Leadership at the Intersection of Data and Human Understanding

The underlying idea behind AWE’s model is that research is ultimately about people.

The company’s approach emphasises empathetic understanding of consumers, cultures, brands and markets, alongside analytics and technology.

That combination is particularly relevant in a region as diverse as MENA. Consumer behaviour cannot always be understood through data in isolation. Cultural context, local behaviour and changing expectations can materially affect how markets develop.

SAID’s career has therefore evolved around a combination of commercial understanding, research expertise and regional perspective.

The strongest research does not simply describe a market. It gives leadership a clearer basis for deciding what to do next.

A CEO Role Built on Commercial Understanding

SAID’s progression from account management and consultancy into business development, co-founding AWE and ultimately the CEO role has given him exposure to multiple sides of the research business.

He understands the client relationship, the commercial proposition and the strategic application of research. That background has become part of the leadership foundation behind AWE’s development.

His multilingual background in Arabic, English and French has also supported a career spanning different markets and business environments.

Recognition by The CEO Network

Ahmed SAID represents a form of modern executive leadership in which the CEO’s role extends beyond managing a company to continually redefining the value the company creates.

At AWE Research, that has meant building around the idea that market research should be closer to business strategy, combining evidence, technology and human understanding to help organisations navigate changing markets. AWE’s current model and regional expansion reflect that direction.

His career, meanwhile, demonstrates how commercial experience can shape the leadership of a knowledge-based organisation. From early marketing and research roles to regional business development and nearly 15 years building AWE, Said has remained close to the question that sits at the heart of his industry: how can better understanding lead to better decisions?

As AWE expands its reach and develops new tools, answering that question remains central to its work.

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