25+ years of B2B leadership across telecommunications, technology, and channel ecosystems — including the executive role that scaled Etisalat’s SMB business from AED 800M to AED 1.5B in twelve months.
From 2013 he moved to Etisalat by e&, first as Head of SMB Marketing and then as Vice President of the SMB/E Division. In that role he managed an AED 6.2 billion revenue portfolio serving 150,000+ UAE entities, established a 38-partner channel ecosystem with a 750-strong sales force generating AED 3.2 billion annually, and led the SMB digital transformation across payment gateways, SaaS, data centers, cloud, M2M, and UCaaS.
Before the UAE, Dr. Rao served as CMO of Vodafone Fiji, where he led a transformation that grew turnover from $100M to $552M (515% growth) and pre-tax profits from $11M to $129M (2,800% growth) — establishing the company as Fiji's most profitable enterprise. Since taking voluntary retirement from Etisalat in December 2023, he has served as management consultant, trainer, and mentor to startups across India, the UAE, and Australia — and has authored three books on channel management, AI for SMEs, and complex corporate environments.
