Brand Owners Protection Group elects new Chairman

People — By editor on February 13, 2011 at 5:22 pm

The Brand Owners Protection Group (BPG), the largest non-profit organisation in the Gulf committed to combating counterfeit trade, has elected Mr. Abdulla Hasayen, Anti-Counterfeiting Manager at Nokia, as the Group’s new chairman. Taking the lead from Mr. Omar Shteiwi who chaired the BPG since its inception, Mr. Hasayen anticipates building on existing collaborations between brand owners and government authorities as well as an increased focus on GCC countries that the organisation has not comprehensively targeted before.

Commenting on the announcement, Mr. Hasayen said, “The BPG is an excellent platform for brand owners to streamline their activities in the area of IP protection, and we are very lucky to have such a good number of world famous brands as members in our group. The total knowledge and expertise that we have in this group are unmatched in the Middle East and Africa. Going forward, we will work together to leverage this pool of expertise to add real value to anti-counterfeiting practices in our region. This will take the form of closer collaborations both among member brand owners within the group, and externally with enforcement authorities.”

“We will also increase focus on GCC countries where we have not been very active yet, as it is important to understand what support the BPG can provide to authorities in these countries in order to safeguard consumers and economies against counterfeiting,” he added.

The election of a new chairman for the BPG follows recent activities within the organisation. In December 2010, an annual general meeting was held to elect the BPG’s second board of directors. In January 2011, the new board convened and elected Mr. Hasayen as the Group’s chairman.

Abdulla Hasayen has been managing Nokia’s anti-counterfeiting activities in the Middle East and Africa since October 2007.

He deals on regular basis with enforcement authorities in the region, including providing training for enforcement officials and inspectors on how to identify counterfeit products. Based in Dubai, he has been working closely with Dubai Customs and the Department of Economic Development to control the flow of counterfeit products.

Since joining the Brand Owners Protection Group in 2008, Mr. Hasayen has created a number of solid initiatives to fight counterfeit products in the GCC and to improve the monitoring process of enforcement authorities. Owing to his expertise and experience on intellectual property rights protection, he was elected as co-chairman in 2009. He has also been working on strengthening enforcement and monitoring practices in a number of African countries such as Nigeria and Kenya, where he coordinates these efforts with top government officials, IPR specialists and anti-counterfeiting groups.

On the appointment of Mr. Hasayen as the organisation’s new chairperson, Former BPG chairman Omar Shteiwi commented, “I am confident that I can leave the leadership to the very capable hands of Mr. Abdulla Hasayen. The BPG will certainly continue its success and witness improved implementation of intellectual property laws in all GCC States. I will of course remain at the full disposal of the BPG, its new board and all members. I wish the new board and chairman another successful year for the Group.”