Saeed Izadi, current head of Singapore and India operations will head the Middle East office, with Ammar Hina taking on the role of business development director for the MENA region.
NEP Group, the technical production partner supporting content producers of live sports and entertainment, has opened a new office in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to meet the growing demand for its services, strengthening the company’s investment and presence in the Middle East.
Located across from the Khalifa Park in Abu Dhabi, NEP Middle East FZ LLC (NEP Middle East) will provide a wide range of outside broadcast solutions, including both on-site and remote production services, to enable clients to bring live sports and entertainment to audiences around the region and worldwide.
NEP is expanding on its already extensive experience and work, ranging from covering UAE National Day celebrations and New Year’s Eve concerts, to many sporting events including Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 and 2022, the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s T20 World Cup and T10 Cricket, and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Fight Island. In addition, NEP’s Creative Technology business provides a full set of live event audiovisual solutions to clients throughout the MENA region.
Saeed Izadi, current head of NEP’s Singapore and India businesses, has been appointed President of NEP Middle East. He will oversee business strategy and operations for all three business units.
NEP also announced that Ammar Hina has joined the company as Business Development Director for the MENA region. Hina brings more than 16 years of industry experience to lead business development and operations NEP Middle East, serving as the key contact for clients, major events and cross-divisional initiatives. Throughout his career in broadcast and TV production, he has worked on some of the prominent franchises in the sports industry, from FIFA World Cup, FIFA Club World Cup, AFC Asian Cup, UEFA Champions League, and European Qualifiers to the English Premier League live programming.
He joins NEP most recently from the UAE Pro League, the organising body of the ADNOC Pro League and professional football in UAE. There he served as Director of Broadcast & TV Production, where he formulated and oversaw the execution of the broadcast strategy for all competitions, identified market opportunities for content development and distribution channels, managed outside broadcast service provider and media rights holder relationships, and reported on viewership, fan experience, and stadium and venue development.
Speaking about the role, Izadi said: “I couldn’t be happier to welcome Ammar to NEP to spearhead our efforts for this very important market. His expertise is enabling us to build a strong team locally while delivering superior service and innovative solutions for our clients located in the Middle East as well as international clients looking to share the events taking place in this great region with the rest of the world.”
Hina added: “Being in the Broadcast and TV production industry for many years, joining NEP Group is a huge step for me on both career and personal levels. In my previous experiences in the industry and around the globe, whenever NEP is mentioned, it means ‘Quality & Clarity’. I always believed that NEP’s presence in the MENA region is needed, and NEP can set higher production standards in MENA. I am very excited to be part of NEP Group!”
