Snell opens Middle East sales office; taps Makwana as manager

Snell has opened a new sales office in the Middle East and also appointed Dipesh Makwana as technical sales manager. Based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Makwana will provide pre-sales support for the entire Snell product range to customers throughout the Middle East region. He will report directly to Naresh Subherwal, president, Asia Pacific and Middle East for Snell.

“The media landscape in the Middle East is one of the most vibrant and fastest growing in the world. Since most networks have active HD and 3G operations, there is a world of opportunity there for Snell solutions,” says Subherwal. “With his technical expertise and strong background in delivering customer solutions, Dipesh will be able to provide the localized support Middle Eastern customers need to build future-proof operations for HD and beyond.”

Prior to joining Snell, Makwana was sports products specialist at Orad Hi-Tec Systems. At Orad, he provided project management and systems integration for customers’ sports production-related workflows and also gave input into development of the company’s tapeless production servers and sports replay servers. Previous to Orad, Makwana served for 10 years at BSkyB, starting as VT/EVS operator and moving to MCR operator, a role in which he assisted with the network’s migration to HD and served in key engineering functions. Makwana is a graduate of the University of Salford in Manchester, U.K.

“Snell has a well-deserved global reputation for delivering the media industry’s most reliable and highest quality products, with deep levels of expertise in video and television production. I’m looking forward to helping the company expand its market presence in the Middle East and working to provide comprehensive solutions to our customers,” says Makwana.