My Morning Routine: Dalia Allam, VP and CMO of Abou Ghaly Motors Group at Abou Ghaly Motors

Dalia Allam, vice president and CMO of Abou Ghaly Motors Group, Abou Ghaly Motors: Each week, My Morning Routine looks at how a successful member of the community starts their day — and then throws in a couple of random business questions just for fun. Speaking to us this week is Dalia Allam (LinkedIn), VP and chief marketing officer of Abou Ghaly Motors Group at Abou Ghaly Motors.

Edited excerpts from our conversation:

Understanding people beyond what they say has shaped my entire career. As a marketing and business leader with more than 23 years of experience building brands, shaping consumer connections, and driving growth, I’ve worked at organizations like Unilever, PepsiCo, and now Abou Ghaly Motors, where I serve as vice president and chief marketing officer.

Throughout my career, I’ve been deeply passionate about going beyond what consumers say to uncover the emotions, behaviors, tensions, and cultural insights that shape the choices they make. I believe the strongest brands are built when these human insights are translated into powerful ideas and experiences that create genuine relevance, strengthen brand equity, and ultimately accelerate business growth.

Abou Ghaly Motors is a highly diversified business with a unique footprint spanning automotive, mobility and ride-hailing, energy, light mobility and motorcycles, development, and spare parts. This breadth allows us to serve very different consumer segments, needs, and industries while creating significant growth prospects across the portfolio.

The market around us is transforming rapidly. Over the past few years, we’ve seen an unprecedented influx of new brands and players, evolving consumer expectations, new technologies, and an increasingly competitive landscape. I see this as a very positive challenge and an important inflection point for us, one that creates the right moment to pause, challenge the way we’ve traditionally done things, and rethink how we compete and grow.

We have a clear mandate to shape the market ahead of us. For a business with the scale, heritage, capabilities, and portfolio of Abou Ghaly Motors, that means becoming more consumer-centric, building stronger and more differentiated brands, creating greater synergies across our businesses, and continuously evolving the experiences we offer our customers. We have tremendous potential across the portfolio, and our focus now is on unlocking that potential and building the next chapter of growth for Abou Ghaly Motors.

New mobility solutions are unlocking consumer segments we couldn’t reach before. As they emerge, we can address different needs and price points, and ultimately drive greater penetration. I believe the companies that lead the next phase will be those that see this transformation not as a disruption to manage, but as a window to redefine the market and create new avenues for growth.

I’m naturally an early riser, and I value an early start. At 6 am, I have breakfast with my kids before they head off to school at 6:30 am. My early start gives me quiet time for clarity and a sense that I’m ahead of the day rather than chasing it.

Time is one of our most valuable assets, and how we choose to use it makes an enormous difference. I start my day with a very clear to-do list, prioritized from the most important to the least important, and stick to those priorities rather than letting the day get consumed by things that feel urgent but aren’t necessarily important. I also believe strongly in working efficiently rather than simply working long hours, staying on task during the day so that I can leave at a reasonable time. For me, being effective isn’t measured by how many hours I put in, but by the quality of what I accomplish and the decisions I make.

Sports have been the one constant influence in my life. I was a professional artistic swimmer for more than 20 years, representing Egypt at the highest level as a national champion, national team captain, and Olympian at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. That journey instilled in me a deep belief in discipline, resilience, ambition, teamwork, and the relentless pursuit of excellence, principles that continue to shape my leadership style today.

Building a more professional sporting culture in Egypt became my next mission. My passion for sport later led me to establish and lead my own artistic swimming academy for 10 years. My vision extended far beyond developing successful athletes. I wanted to create a lasting impact on young athletes, developing their confidence, ambition, and belief in what they could achieve. The common thread across my career, whether in business, brand building, or sport, has always been the same: building something meaningful, unlocking potential, and creating impact that lasts.

High performance isn’t only about how hard you push — it’s also about how well you recover. Competing at that level taught me that discipline, recovery, and how intelligently you manage your energy matter just as much as effort. I try to bring that same philosophy into my life and career today.

Knowing when to switch off is just as important as staying focused during the day. I consciously break my day with moments that allow my mind to disconnect from work. My afternoons and evenings are usually spent with my children, family, and friends, time that gives me the mental space to recharge.

I’ve been fortunate to have many role models throughout different stages of my life, and I genuinely believe each one has contributed to shaping the person and leader I am today. From my family and my uncle, to people I looked up to throughout my sporting career, and later mentors and leaders in the workplace, I’ve always surrounded myself with people I could learn from and aspire to.

No single piece of advice changed everything for me. I believe we’re shaped by hundreds of conversations, experiences, observations, and pieces of advice along the way. Some stay with us consciously, while others quietly influence the way we think, lead, and make decisions.

My advice is to surround yourself with people who challenge you, inspire you, and raise the bar for who you want to become. At the same time, growth can’t come only from others. Self-awareness and continuous self-development are equally important. Becoming better requires the humility to recognize that there’s always more to learn, the openness to seek experiences and perspectives from different sources, and the discipline to continuously invest in yourself. I don’t believe we ever reach a finished version of ourselves, and that’s what makes the journey of growth so powerful.