Karim Boukarroum

CEO

Karim Boukarroum; founder and CEO of Talks identifies as a dynamic leader accustomed to navigating today’s complex marketing world. With a regional career spanning 24 years, Karim has championed strategic customer-led; results-driven experiences and he continues to guide the Talks team towards fast paced growth in order to deliver transformative new services for brands across the region.

Karim built his portfolio with Publicis Riyadh before moving into management roles at Ogilvy & Mather Group, Alliance Housing Bank and Ahli Bank. His vast experience includes clients such as HSBC, FedEx, American Express, and Coca Cola amongst many others. No stranger to industry accolades, Karim has received various creative awards for his work. Karim established Talks in June 2008.

Furthermore, Karim speaks publicly at universities, forums, and conferences geared towards Marketing, Branding, and Career Development.

Abdullah Al Ghafri

Partner

A seasoned professional with high experience in all aspects of business formation, operation, finance, and management. Leading in business development and qualifies as an effective communicator and motivator reaching organization goals.

Roopesh Bhatnagar

Chief Operating Officer

Roopesh Bhatnagar is the COO at Talks International, responsible for the overall operations of the agency and navigating key areas such as strategic planning, new business development, advisory and on-boarding, integrating communications across 360 touch points, key account brand custodianship and team mentoring.

A brand and marketing communications professional with over 20 years experience, he has helped build strong brands in Oman, KSA, India and international markets while working with McCann Erickson, Intermarkets, NPA, Oxygen, Y&R, Wunderman and Hadath-Apco. In addition, he has also worked with agency partners like BBDO, Mindshare, Ogilvy and Saatchi.

Besides the various brand categories that he has worked on, he has specifically had a close association with the banking, telecom, automotive, real estate, airline and oil & gas sector.

Roopesh has a Post Graduate Diploma in Advertising & PR from KC College - Bombay University, and an MBA with specialisation in Strategy from Strathclyde University - UK.

A Jeep guy at heart, Roopesh just needs an excuse to get his camping gear and head off-road to a mountain, desert or beach.

Luiza Fernandes

Director- Digital & Business Development

Luiza comes with 15 years of overall experience, 10 of which are in Digital Media. She joined us after a successful stint with Yahoo in their Mumbai office, as Marketplace Manager, where she led the strategy team specializing in Performance Display, Programmatic buying, and Real-time bidding. She has worked with clients across Asia Pacific in areas of digital strategy, project management, content marketing solutions, media planning, and execution.

She holds an Executive MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata (IIMC).

Luiza is responsible for key client partnerships and providing best-in-class solutions to our clients to strengthen their digital presence.

Christiane Salem

Director PR & Events

Ruby Rodrigues

Account Director

Ruby is one of the jewels at Talks. She was born and brought up in Oman and completed her schooling at The Indian Shool, Al Ghubra.

She is a creative professional with expertise in all aspects of successful marketing, advertising, event planning, and management. Excellent in managing multiple projects concurrently with strong detail, problem-solving, and follow-through capabilities.

Superb written communications, interpersonal and organizational skills. Excellent client relations and teaming skills.

Currently at Talks in charge of Business Planning, Media Buying and Finance.

Farah Hamdan

Associate Creative Director

Design addict, passionate about her work and continuously self-improving. She comes with extensive international agency experience in the region. MA in Advertising & Marketing - Media Studies.  Specialties: Advertising Branding, Graphics, Publication,  Social Media, Packaging and Labeling, Video-editing, Illustration, Web design. 

Makram Bou Mejahed

Art Director

Talented Web Designer with outstanding experience and demonstrated expertise managing high-end projects in deadline-oriented environments.

Makram has been passionate about design and creating visuals since a young age, which eventually led him to attend the School of Graphic Design in the American University of Science and Technology in Beirut, Lebanon. Striving to excel in his work, he focuses on simplicity and clarity, which he believes great design is made of.
In addition to his design work, he spends his time creating stop motion videos. 

Safa Al Jabri

Graphic Designer

Creative graphic designer with innovative ideas and a unique approach to visuals and has great understanding of marketing principles and advertising techniques in Oman. Bringing in attention to detail and a talent for creating memorable visual designs for all our clients, she is an enthusiastic team player who is committed to delivering top results. 

Ami Nichani

Senior Communication Manager

Core competence in social media management, advertising, promotional strategies, executing social media & digital media marketing, project conceptualization, brainstorming and team management. In addition to being an effective team player with exemplary multi-tasking abilities, she has extensive communications experience in multiple domains such as digital media, print media, events & celebrity management across Dubai and Mumbai.

Ruqaya Al Sinani

Communication Specialist

A graduate in the discipline of Public Relations, Ruqayah brings to the team over 3 years of experience in regulatory strategy and information compilation. A solid team player, she is a whiz at strategic communication processes that builds beneficial relationships for clients, developing and implementing marketing and advertising campaigns. Ruqayah is a stickler for perfectionism and believes in doing her job right. In addition to her work, she thrives when she’s got her nose in a book or is out on a run.

Sanita Pillai

Digital Media Manager

Digital Media Marketing enthusiast with over 3 years of experience in the digital space, keen on bringing measurable results to clients within a technology oriented ad agency. Currently working as Digital Media Manager at Talks International LLC providing Social and Digital media solutions.

Previously worked as Digital Media Strategist at Webenza India Pvt Ltd. handling clients such as Ezetap, Ecko India and Health Library.  Previously worked as a Social Media Planner in Adjetter Media Network Pvt Ltd for clients such as Manipal hospitals and Nance. 

Maryam Al Siyabi

Accounts & Admin Officer

An accounting graduate with over 2 years of experience, Maryam is efficient and organised in all she does. She is extremely handy, adept at office administration and banking. She’s our resident money lady! When not at work, Maryam loves to hit the beach with her friends and insists on family time every weekend! 

Hadeer Al Balushi

Communications Executive

The youngest of our team members, Hadeer brings a fresh approach to liaising with the media on a daily basis and building strong relationships with them and other stakeholders. Her monitoring skills go beyond generating coverage reports on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, to spotting opportunities for clients, market changes and competition activities. Hadeer holds a Bachelor’s degree in Public Relations from Al Bayan College, Oman.

Fadwa Majid

Graphic Designer

An art aficionado, Fadwa holds a science degree in environmental biology and an ICDL certification.  Fadwa brings to the table, a repertoire of excellent social media, Photoshop and Illustrator skills along. With a years’ experience of design already under her belt, she brings with her a fresh outlook on design with a focus on details.

Malik Al Jawahari

Social Media Executive

One of our youngest team members, Malik is a fresh graduate and a fabulous photographer who has undertaken the role of social media executive. He excels at digital design, has a keen eye for graphic design and dabbles with design software. In his free time, he loves indulging in sports and holds swimming close to his heart.

Hassan Ali Al Jardani

PRO

Hassan is a key contributing member, he has been an asset to Talks since joining as PRO. He is friendly, resourceful and once assigned a job, he definitely gets it done.

Twinkle Bhatia

Senior Communication Specialist

Advertising professional with 4 years of experience in offline and online marketing, demonstrating strong communication skills with an ability to provide innovative strategies to brands. Instilled with a creative mindset to utilize every possible resource to maintain productivity and excelling in managing projects with strong detail and problem solving capabilities.