Leadership & Team Management
Building clear teams, creating ownership and giving people what they need to perform when the pressure is on.
OPERATIONS · GROWTH · LIVE EXPERIENCES
MINHAJGOUDA
Building Growth.
Leading Operations.
Delivering at Scale.
01 / PROFILETHE PERSON BEHIND THE PRODUCTION
Commercial mindset.
Production instinct.
Operational discipline.
Director of Operations at Backstage Scaffolding, leading business growth, company-wide operations, client relationships and delivery across the Middle East.
I’m Minhaj Gouda, an operations and live events leader with 15+ years of experience across the Middle East and Asia.
My career has been built where business and delivery meet. I started close to the production floor—solving problems, managing complexity and delivering under pressure—and have grown into roles spanning operations, commercial strategy, client leadership, teams and business growth.
Today, as Director of Operations at Backstage Scaffolding, I lead operations across the company while helping drive the wider Group forward. That means strengthening how the business performs, developing client relationships, opening new opportunities and making sure the operation behind the work is as strong as the work itself.
Across concerts, festivals, government programmes, cultural productions, brand experiences and major event infrastructure, I’ve worked in environments where timelines are fixed, expectations are high and execution matters.
I bring commercial thinking to operations, operational discipline to growth, and a production mindset to getting things done.
HOW I MOVE BUSINESS FORWARD
01
Growth
Turning opportunity into stronger relationships, new business and long-term momentum.
02
Operations
Putting the right people, structure and controls behind consistent performance.
03
Clients
Building trust from the first conversation—and turning strong delivery into lasting partnerships.
04
Delivery
Taking complex ideas from decision to execution with clarity, control and accountability.
02 / SELECTED WORKTHE MOMENTS THAT HAD TO LAND
Work that
had to deliver.
Fixed deadlines. Live audiences. Complex moving parts. No room for operational drift.
A selection of projects where planning, judgement and execution had to come together when it mattered.
01 / 06Festival production / Multi-stage delivery
Wireless Festival Middle East
Led production for the inaugural Middle East edition of Wireless Festival on Yas Island, coordinating multi-stage delivery, artist requirements and audience operations. The challenge was to bring an established international festival into a new market while protecting its pace, identity and production standard.
![BLACKPINK WORLD TOUR [BORN PINK]](/optimized/black pink/BlackPink_MiddleEast-001.jpg)
02 / 06Touring concert production / Technical delivery
BLACKPINK WORLD TOUR [BORN PINK]
Directed production across Riyadh and Abu Dhabi for BLACKPINK WORLD TOUR [BORN PINK], managing the technical and operational demands of a major international touring production. From staging and LED to lasers, FX and pyrotechnics, the focus was precision: two markets, complex requirements and two live moments that had to land exactly as intended.
03 / 06Live show production / Cultural programming
Maraya Concert Series
Produced a series of artist-led performances at Maraya in AlUla, shaping each production around the artist while working within one of the region’s most distinctive venues. The approach was simple: protect the performance, respect the setting and make every show feel considered rather than repeated.
04 / 06Opening ceremony / Scenic + technical production
Expo 2020 Dubai Opening Ceremony
Managed scenic and technical delivery for the Expo 2020 Dubai Opening Ceremony, coordinating complex builds, suppliers and show-critical systems within a major global production. At that scale, delivery comes down to integration—every team, system and decision working towards one fixed live moment.
05 / 06Stadium spectacle / Live show delivery
Lusail Super Cup Opening Ceremony
Directed production for the Lusail Super Cup opening programme at Lusail Stadium, bringing large-scale entertainment into an 80,000-capacity match-day environment. Show, stadium and technical operations had to move as one—delivering a major live spectacle around a fixed sporting moment.
06 / 06Entertainment programme / Event operations
Qatar Live 2021
Delivered Qatar Live 2021 during the FIFA Arab Cup period, transforming the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center into a large-format live entertainment environment. Led production across staging, technical systems, audience experience and execution for a programme built around major regional artists.
03 / PROJECT ARCHIVEBEYOND THE SPOTLIGHT
More from
the floor.
Additional work across live production, media, technology and complex event environments.
04 / CAPABILITIESTHE WHOLE OPERATION
Built for the
whole operation.
I work across the commercial, operational and delivery layers that turn ambitious ideas into strong businesses and successful projects.
Large-Scale Event Production
Leading complex live productions from brief and budget through build, show and final delivery.
Business Development & Strategy
Turning market knowledge, relationships and opportunity into stronger positioning and meaningful growth.
Budgeting & Commercial Control
Protecting margin through disciplined budgeting, forecasting, procurement and resource decisions.
Client & Stakeholder Management
Staying close to clients, partners and decision-makers from the first conversation through final delivery.
Creative Execution & Risk Management
Testing ambition against buildability, safety, time and budget—without losing what made the idea worth doing.
Cross-Border Operations
Building delivery models that work across different markets, teams, suppliers and operating environments.
Event Infrastructure
Planning event infrastructure around capacity, movement, safety, build logic and the realities of live use.
Concept & Build Strategy
Turning early creative thinking into executable scopes, systems and site plans.
05 / EXPERIENCETHE CAREER BEHIND THE WORK
From the production floor
to business leadership.
A career built by moving closer to the decisions that shape the outcome—first delivery, then teams, clients, operations and growth.
01
Director of Operations
Backstage Scaffolding
June 2026 — PresentMiddle East
- Lead company-wide operations across core services and live events, connecting commercial priorities with people, resources and delivery.
- Drive growth across the wider Group through client development, new opportunities and stronger operational performance.
- Manage key client relationships from initial conversation through delivery, shaping solutions that work both commercially and operationally.
- Strengthen systems, accountability and cross-functional execution to improve performance and support scale.
02
Head of Operations
Apex Event Services
June 2025 — May 2026Middle East
- Led regional operations across client servicing, project delivery and business development for event infrastructure projects.
- Built relationships with regional and international agencies, creating new opportunities across the Middle East.
- Developed structural solutions around in-house capabilities, balancing creative intent with engineering, site and commercial realities.
- Connected client ambition with certified technical execution across concerts, festivals and government activations.
03
General Manager
PHNTM
November 2021 — April 2025Middle East + Singapore
- Led production operations across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Singapore.
- Shaped business and operational strategy while managing teams across creative, production and technical disciplines.
- Developed long-term client relationships and repeat cross-border collaborations.
- Built the operating structure required to deliver complex work consistently across multiple markets.
04
Production Manager · Freelance
Five Currents
August 2021 — October 2021Expo 2020 Dubai Opening Ceremony
- Managed scenic and technical production, supplier coordination, schedules and on-site execution for one of the UAE’s most significant global productions.
05
Events Planner
MyWhoosh
November 2020 — April 2021Abu Dhabi, UAE
- Led event planning, budgets, supplier coordination and activations across physical and digital touchpoints.
06
Production Manager
Red Event Services
March 2019 — March 2020Dubai
- Delivered brand experiences, gala events and corporate productions, managing crews, budgets, suppliers and live operations from planning through show.
06 / CONTACTTHE NEXT CUE
Projects. Partnerships. Opportunities.
Let’s buildwhat’s next.