Deezer North Africa gets CEO

The appointment will come into full effect on 1 April. His responsibilities will include managing the streaming service’s advertising and business-to-business growth. He will also be required to collaborate with the company’s global team “to bring the company’s local strategy to life”.

The news comes months after the company berthed in the region, beating Spotify in the process. It also signed a deal with Rotana Records, said to be the region’s biggest music label.

“We are really excited to bring Arabic listeners a unique and unrivalled blend of the best exclusive Arabic music and the most popular international tracks in one place," Deezer global CEO Hans-Holger Albrecht said at the time. "We are also proud to now offer music fans the Deezer app in Arabic, with an affordable premium offer as well as the opportunity to try Deezer for free.”

“At Deezer we understand that people’s music tastes combine local and international tracks. We believe that it is important to be present locally, close to the artists we promote on our platform and to the local music fans who support them.”

The company is in the process of recruiting more staff as well as establishing a head office in Dubai. Mounir will take up the new job following an eight-year stint with broadcast company Turner. His focus was on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) as well as Turkey, Greece and Cyprus.

In 2016, for his "role in aggressively developing Turner's presence in the region and driving significant growth", Mounir was promoted to vice-president of the region. Before his time at Turner, Mounir was a TV host and producer of commercials.

“I’d like to welcome Tarek to Deezer’s management,” Albrecht said. “We’re excited to have him on the leadership team for our regional operations in MENA. "His extensive background in entertainment and understanding of local market dynamics and growth drivers will be a great asset for our ongoing expansion.”