The energy drink market is growing faster than ever — beverage veteran Ahmed Elafifi (LinkedIn) chalks that up to an increasingly faster pace of life, with more and more people needing a quick energy fix to push them ahead. Elafifi, who’s had a storied career in the beverage industry, from launching Red Bull in Central and Eastern Europe and Asia to heading Coca-Cola in multiple countries, is now bringing his passion for beverages to Dubai, and zeroing in on the energy drink market.

Elafifi is leading the global rollout of a newer entrant to the energy drink market, Gorilla Energy, from its new regional HQ in Dubai, and is working to tailor the brand to a younger and more diverse demographic, using the tool he knows best: marketing.

Elafifi is the subject of this week’s My Morning Routine, which 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. Edited excerpts from our conversation:

EnterpriseAM: You’ve spent decades in the beverage industry, and it seems you’re not done with it yet. How did you end up in this industry? Is it a passion of yours or a matter of happenstance?

Ahmed Elafifi: I studied as a design mechanical engineer in the American University in Cairo. I only worked as a design engineer for one year in Italy, and then came back to Egypt to look for a design job there, but found none. I ended up going to P&G, where some of my friends had been working, and ended up in their marketing department, which they were just setting up at the time.

I absolutely fell in love with brand management and marketing. It was a little bit like an MBA for me — I learned about business, marketing, how to manage brands. I moved to Henkel afterwards, and managed some big product launches in Egypt, after which the company moved me to the headquarters in Düsseldorf to manage their second biggest brand, Somat. That marked the beginning of my European and international career. I later started my beverage career with The Coca-Cola Company, became marketing director there at the time for Eastern Europe, and ended up with the company for 17 years, became the CEO of Coca-Cola in Poland, and then of Coca-Cola Egypt.

In between, I worked with Red Bull for eight years. I was responsible for the launch of Red Bull in 60 countries across Central and Eastern Europe and all of Asia, including Russia, China, India, Turkey, and even Egypt. The founder, Dietrich Mateschitz, of Red Bull — who passed away less than two years ago — was my boss for those eight years, and really became a role model.

I also co-founded a relaxation drink company called Tranquini. It was my own startup, and was inspired for the large part by Red Bull’s journey, and I partnered with some very high-profile investors. We launched in a lot of different countries, and I later sold my stake in it and left it for my co-founder to manage from New York.

E: How did your journey with Gorilla Energy start, then?

AE: I actually worked with the shareholders of Gorilla for the eight years I had spent at Red Bull, because they were Red Bull’s distributors in Russia and Central Asia. After 10 years working with Red Bull, they decided it was time to level up and instead of distributing for another international brand, create a similar journey with a brand of their own. So in 2012, they launched Gorilla.

They made their big can, great flavors — after partnering with one of the biggest flavor houses in the world, Doehler — and they became a market leader in Central Asia.

When I announced I’m leaving Coca-Cola, they called me up and asked me to join. We created our holding company in Dubai, and formed the leadership team here. We launched in Turkey, then the UAE a few months ago, and we're now preparing to launch in some exciting countries.

E: What’s next for Gorilla? Does the choice of setting up the regional HQ in Dubai mean you’re focused on the region?

AE:We’re planning a global rollout, and we have a very clear ambition. We believe younger consumers — Gen Z and even Gen Alpha now — don’t want to live the lifestyle of or consume the brands that their parents did, so I think it's now time to have a new generation energy drink.

I believe what you can achieve with marketing is very important. But how you do that is changing — the old marketing toolbox is dead. The time of the big brands talking at the consumer is finished; now, it’s more about talking with the consumer, and connecting with them at a more human level.

That’s what we’re trying to create with Gorilla — it’s more of a movement. At the launch event in November, we made sure to find athletes and influencers who are doing something interesting, from Drift competitors to people who do calisthenics, MMA, parachuting, or even rapping and breakdancing. Energy can also be about startups and entrepreneurs — so it’s less about the flashy advertisements and sponsorships and more about telling the right stories that can inspire people.

And when it comes to Dubai… Dubai goes big, fast, and forward, and that’s a perfect match for Gorilla.

E: What ensures that energy drinks will remain a staple for younger generations in the future? Are there any trends that could disrupt the industry that you’re keeping an eye on?

AE: People are becoming more health-conscious, and they’re looking for something that’s more natural and healthier. And we believe that energy drinks should also move in this direction. What we’ve created has nothing artificial in it; it uses natural fruit juices to create the flavors, and has no artificial colors.

We're also looking at making energy drinks more functional; for example, everything with protein is growing fast now — so there are opportunities to address more of what consumers need with our energy drinks.

E: When it comes to your mornings, how do you kick off the day?

AE: I like to start my mornings as calmly as possible. I’m a big believer that you have to start from the end picture of success, so I spend my morning thinking about what I want to accomplish in my day, and then I usually go to the office for my meetings and calls. And then for me, evenings are really important because I’m more of a night person. The nighttime is when I like to spend time thinking about the future and about big ideas.

I also used to be a professional handball player and now absolutely love bicycling, especially in Dubai. I feel there are two sides of Dubai: one that you see and experience in the car and the other from your bike; that whole area of Kite Beach and Dubai Creek, as well as the crescent on the Palm and the Marina, is just a completely different view of Dubai. This is also when I listen to all my audiobooks and podcasts.

E: And we always like to ask: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received?

AE: It’s one of the many amazing interactions I had with the late founder of Red Bull, Dietrich. We were having a discussion about business, and he looked at me and said, “you know, Ahmed, this is the time that I think we should take a step back and fly higher.”

He gave me this advice and he said, “when you fly too low, you hit every building, every tree, but when you fly high, you have the entire sky ahead of you.” That’s a piece of advice I’ve really been following ever since. Whenever I feel too entangled or bogged down in everyday things and challenges, I remind myself to take a step back and see the bigger picture. It keeps you very grounded because then it keeps you focused on that end picture of success.

Ahmed’s recommendations

His energy drink of choice: Gorilla Ultimate.

What he’s reading: I really enjoy Naguib Mahfouz and classic Arabic literature. But I also listen to a lot of podcasts and books about business, personal development, and leadership.

His favorite place to eat: I discovered this one because I was really missing Egyptian food — Hadoota Masreya.

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