KONE Middle East & Africa Leadership Team

Headed by Samer Halabi, Regional Managing Director, our Leadership Team for KONE Middle East and Africa, ensures the smooth operations, business development and support for our customers in the region.

SAMER HALABI

Regional Managing Director

Leading KONE’s business strategy today is Samer Halabi, a mechanical engineer who graduated from Aleppo University, and who enjoys 21 years of experience, 18 of which he spent with KONE.

Since the beginning of his journey with KONE, Halabi moved across different departments. Such exposure gave him deep insights on various aspects of the industry, allowing him to currently take charge of P&L management, business development, budget planning and the alignment of all operational activities within KONE’s guidelines and objectives.

During his roles as Exports Manager and Associate Sales Manager, his performance was part of the reasons why KONE is what it is in the region today. And in his last stop - Managing Director in Doha - before assuming his current position, he spent 3 years taking KONE to new levels within and beyond the region.

It is no surprise then that Halabi acts as the face of KONE in the region for both customers and stakeholders.

Halabi has received various trainings in leadership and innovation from the UK and Switzerland.

ARNOLDUS LE ROUX

Supply Chain Director

A former management consultant with well-established companies such as PWC and IBS Business Consulting Services, industrial engineer Arnoldus Le Roux joined KONE in 2013. His last stop before KONE was Honeywell, where he assumed operational and functional leadership roles.

Throughout his long years of experience, he defined and implemented operational, supply chain and sourcing strategies, driving cost reduction initiatives within the Construction, FMCG, Industrial, Central and Local Government sectors across Europe, Middle East, India and South Africa.

Ever since he came on board, Arnoldus has done an outstanding job in supporting the various frontlines in KMEA in building a competitive advantage; by optimizing their end to end supply chains and improving customer satisfaction. He is now in charge of Strategic Sourcing, Logistics and Facilities across the region.

In addition to his Industrial Engineering degree, Arnoldus holds a Master’s degree in Information Technology, a Certificate in Production and Inventory Management (CPIM APICS) and has recently completed his Executive MBA from Cass Business School, London University.

In his free time Arnoldus enjoys all kinds of sports, spending time with family and friends and the great outdoors.

GEORGES HABIB

Regional Service Director

In 2017, Georges Habib joined KONE as the Service Director for Middle East and Africa, covering both Sales and Operations.

Habib joined KONE after a long career in the industry, working for international competitors in the MEA region. Throughout his 20 years of experience, he was assigned several managerial roles in different departments; from installation operations, to service and new sales.

Habib is now leading our service culture of customer mindset, ensuring the best people flow experience there could be.

Georges holds a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering. He loves spending time with his family and dog, and enjoys outdoor sports activities.

GHADA OTHMAN

Marketing and Strategy Director

Ghada Othman joined KONE in 2018 as the Marketing and Strategy Director for KONE Middle East, Africa and Turkey. The sophisticated business leader graduated with a degree in Sales and Marketing from the American University in Cairo.

Ghada spent the past 20 years partnering with CEOs, managing directors and senior leadership teams across 25 countries as a business growth strategist. She helped in designing, monitoring, steering and optimizing go-to-market strategies that increase market share, brand awareness and profitability for their organizations, thus dominantly positioning them in the global market.

During her time with Newell Brands Middle East, the market disruptor managed to expand the business model from export markets to developed markets. Ghada was also able to achieve record ROIs by country through continual monitoring of yearly budgets, investments and the development of distributor setups in each country. Moreover, during her three years with Carrefour, she paved the way to actualize Carrefour’s ambitious growth targets by single-handedly establishing the Carrefour private-label department in Egypt and mapping strategy growth plan.

Her ambition does not stop at her own career. For two years now, Ghada has been utilizing her business expertise in empowering, inspiring and developing the mindset and skillset of 1M businesswomen to lead and grow their organizations through her role as President of INSEAD Women in Business Club, UAE.

Ghada has the ability to transform organizations she works with. And today, the highly experienced and accomplished business development consultant is using her unique skillset to help KONE Middle East, Africa and Turkey deliver on its ambitious plans to lead the people flow market in the region for years to come.

MOHAMED SAMAHA

Director of New Equipment Business

Mohamed Samaha joined KONE in 2004. Before leading the New Equipment Business for KONE Middle East and Africa, he moved between different roles in the areas of sales, business development, export distribution, general management and acquisition.

Samaha is now primarily responsible for developing and implementing the New Equipment Business strategies in the region to achieve short- and long-term business goals.

KUSTI MÖRTENHUMER

Head of Legal

Kusti Mörtenhumer; Head of Legal for KONE Middle East and Africa, joined KONE in 2014, bringing with him a wealth of expertise. Prior to joining KONE, Kusti filled several legal posts in Pöyry; the global consulting and engineering firm. His last was General Counsel for the Energy Division, where he was also responsible for the group’s legal affairs in Asia Pacific and North America.

Mörtenhumer was assigned the Head of Legal for KONE Middle East and Africa in 2019. Preceding that role, he was responsible for the legal support for KONE units in Central and North Europe.

Kusti holds a Master’s degree in Laws from the University of Turku, Finland, and a Master’s degree in Economic Sciences from Åbo Akademi University, Finland. In his free time, Kusti enjoys a variety of sports, woodwork, the outdoors and spending time with his family and friends.

PEKKA KORHONEN

Modernization Director

Pekka Korhonen joined KONE in 2000. Since then, he has occupied several leadership positions in KONE’s global organization. Korhonen was one of the key people developing KONE’s New Services and Solutions to help create the best people flow and user experience within buildings. His most recent position before becoming KONE’s Modernization Director for the Middle East and Africa, was Head of Business Development, Modernization and Tendered Repair Business.

Pekka is currently responsible for developing and implementing strategies and programs that are aligned with the short and long-term modernization business objectives in KMEA. He is also responsible for supporting KONE's Winning with Customers strategy via NSS business in KMEA.

OLAF KRAMER

Head of Customer Solution Engineering (CSE) and Advanced People Flow (APF) Consulting

Mechanical engineer Olaf Kramer has been with KONE for more than 20 years. He enjoys vast experience in the vertical transportation industry. His expertise extends to successfully managing various areas of the industry, including engineering, sales, operations, business development and consultancy services.