AppsArabia is run by David Ashford.
David has a diverse background: a British national, born in Singapore, with a 20 year career in UK that has included brief stints in USA, Australia, France and Italy.
His professional background is equally diverse. He was sponsored through university by management information & billing company, Harpur, and went through a graduate trainee programme with them before starting in the marketing department with various product development roles. David then worked as Business Analyst at media agency Optimedia before becoming Head of Information Systems for the parent company, the global advertising agency group Publicis.
In 1997 David started down a more entrepreneurial path. He co-founded 7 start-ups including Uovo, a leading UK digital agency which achieved over $10m annual revenues within 4 years and was then acquired by a French public company. Clients include Abbey National (Santander), Argos, British Airways, British American Tobacco, BT, Coca Cola, Electronic Arts, Hewlett Packard, Inmarsat, Intel, Lloyds TSB, Mothercare, OnMedica Group, Oracle, Pentax, PRG Powerhouse, Renault, Sage, The Conservative Party, Virgin v.Shop, Virgin Megastore, Warner Bros Studios and Whirlpool.
He was also a private investor in some early stage businesses, most notably net-a-porter, the online fashion store which was acquired by Richemont in April 2010.
David has undertaken many projects as an e-business consultant, such as being part of the turnaround team of a UK retailer acquired by a New Zealand private equity firm, as well as overseeing e-commerce process and technical improvements for a wide range of online retailers including Rapha, the premium road cycling clothing company.
As well as scouting for M&A opportunities for a US entrepreneur and serving as Global Marketing Director for a management consultancy, David became a partner at corporate finance consultancy Bean Partners and looked after (mostly) technology based start-ups looking to raise funding.
But when David met Matt Brooke-Smith, the smart young founder of leading UK iPhone app development agency Future Workshops, David asked to join the team. As Commercial Director, he helped established strong growth while making it his priority to develop his understanding of the business of app development.
David remains passionate about apps – for online as well as mobile – and moved to Abu Dhabi to join the twofour54 team early in 2010 with the specific task of establishing and running AppsArabia. He honestly believes that he has the best job in the world!
David graduated with BA (Hons) in Pure Maths from Liverpool University and has an MBA from Henley Management College.
