Founder’s Message:
Building Authentic Brand Expansion Across the Middle East and Africa
A Founder-Led Vision for Cultural Brand Growth
BBM Licensing was founded to address a structural gap in how global brands approach expansion into the Middle East and Africa. Too often, licensing is treated as a transactional exercise, focused on contracts, royalties, and speed, while overlooking the cultural, regulatory, and market dynamics that ultimately determine success or failure.
As founder of BBM Licensing, Amer Bitar leads the firm with a clear conviction:
Brand licensing in the Middle East is not a deal; it is a long-term market-entry strategy that requires cultural intelligence, disciplined governance, and local credibility.
BBM Licensing was built to support brands, cultural institutions, and investors who recognize that sustainable growth in the region demands more than distribution, it requires alignment with local values, consumer behavior, and partner ecosystems.
From Market Insight to Market Leadership
My professional work sits at the intersection of brand strategy, licensing, and cross-cultural market development. Over the years, I have advised and collaborated with global brands, rights holders, cultural organizations, and regional partners seeking to enter or scale across the Middle East and Africa.
What consistently differentiates successful market entrants from unsuccessful ones is not brand awareness or capital; it is strategic patience and cultural fluency.
Markets in the Middle East operate on trust, reputation, and long-term relationships. Licensing structures that perform well in North America or Europe often underperform in the region when they are transplanted without adaptation. BBM Licensing was designed to bridge that gap by translating global brand equity into locally relevant, commercially viable market strategies.
Brand Licensing and Cultural Localization
Beyond advisory work, I am deeply engaged in thought leadership around brand licensing, cultural localization, and market-entry strategy. My work challenges the traditional view of licensing as a passive revenue stream and reframes it as an active growth discipline, one that must be embedded within broader business, brand, and risk strategies.
Key areas of focus include:
-
Cultural localization and semiotics in brand communication
-
Market-entry frameworks for emerging and transitional markets
-
Governance, partner selection, and long-term brand stewardship
Through industry publications, conferences, and research-driven insights, my objective is to elevate how licensing is understood and executed, particularly in culturally complex markets where misalignment carries material risk.
The Mission Behind BBM Licensing
BBM Licensing exists to help global brands expand with clarity, credibility, and cultural alignment.
Our mission is not to maximize short-term licensing deals, but to:
-
Protect brand integrity in new markets
-
Build resilient, long-term partnerships
-
Enable commercially sound expansion across the Middle East and Africa
We work selectively with organizations that value strategic depth over speed and view licensing as a market-entry and brand-building tool, not a shortcut.
This founder-led approach ensures that every engagement is grounded in experience, local intelligence, and disciplined execution.
Looking Ahead
As global brands increasingly look toward the Middle East and Africa for growth, the need for informed, culturally grounded advisory support will only intensify. BBM Licensing will continue to invest in research, thought leadership, and ecosystem development to support brands navigating this complexity.
Expansion into the region is achievable, but only when strategy leads, culture informs, and execution follows.