Tom De Waele on Bain & Company's Middle East ambitions

With a team of over 25 partners and 300 professionals, Bain & Company is one of the leading strategic consultancies in the Middle East. Tom De Waele, who was named Managing Partner of the Middle East at the start of this year, reflects on the ambitions in the region. 

Since joining Bain & Company in 2003 in Brussels and later moving to the Middle East in 2008, De Waele has built a strong profile across financial services in the GCC and Egypt, with emphasis on large-scale multi-year transformations and merger integrations for banks, insurance players and capital market actors.

The Belgian has also actively served prominent financial investor and private equity clients across Europe and the Middle East both on the deal-side and on a number of large post-acquisition value creation programs. His main areas of expertise include growth strategy, mergers & acquisitions including post-merger integration, end-to-end digital transformation of sales and service, simplification and cost optimisation as well as organisation.

On January the 1st 2020 De Waele, was installed as Bain’s boss for the bustling Middle East region, leading a footprint of offices in Saudi Arabia (Riyadh), Qatar (Doha) and the United Arab Emirates (Dubai). The global strategy consultancy first opened its doors in the region in 2003, and in 2008 the firm launched its Dubai office which since serves as the operating nexus for its Middle East operations.

Tom De Waele has been tasked with expanding Bain’s footprint and impact in the region. In discussion with Consultancy.org, he said that his philosophy is centred around bringing the best of Bain globally to clients in the region combined with deep insider-knowledge of the local market and an ecosystem to assist them in reaching their strategic ambitions. 

“My ambition for the next few years includes steering regional clients towards success on a regional and global level, utilising digital, big data and advanced analytics to aid and accelerate bold, future-thinking transformations,” said De Waele. 

The regional leader added that he is focused on making sure that Bain continues to be a great place to work for top business talent in the Middle East. Earlier this year, Bain & Company was named one of the top consulting firms for graduates in the UAE, and globally, the firm has bagged several accolades and recognitions for its workplace policies.

“Each member of our organisation brings extraordinary creativity and focus to our client assignments, and are carefully selected keeping in mind our company’s vision and mission.” 

Domenico Azzarello, Managing Partner of Bain & Company for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, said that he is convinced that De Waele is the right man to steer the firm to success in the region. “Tom is passionate about creating extraordinary teams within Bain and deploying these teams to address the pressing challenges of our clients. We are excited to witness Tom steer our diverse and dynamic Middle East office towards continued success.”