SakherOlayyanصخر عليان

In 2013, while I was still a university student, I founded the first advertising magazine made for university students. The idea was simple: connect students with companies and local shops through exclusive student discounts and offers.

I published 4 issues, and each one reached more than 25,000 university students. To me it wasn't just a magazine. It was my first real experience in:

• Advertising
• Sales
• Partnerships
• Marketing
• Audience Development

Real marketing doesn't start with the ad. It starts with understanding the audience: what they need, and what drives them to make a decision.

In 2015, I became Head of Public Relations for the university's Student Union Council. It was another turning point.

I learned how to manage relationships, work with institutions and companies, organize events, and communicate with very different groups of people. I graduated in 2016, but by then I had already started building the hands-on experience that would shape my whole career.

During my university years, I built and managed a team of more than 120 students. I selected them, trained them, and prepared them to work in:

• Direct Sales
• Field Marketing
• Exhibitions
• Events

Companies started reaching out to me whenever they needed a ready team for a field campaign, an exhibition or an event. My role covered the full cycle:

1. Selection
2. Training
3. Deployment
4. Execution
5. Follow-up

We worked with many companies and brands, including Ooredoo Qatar, Al-Anabtawi, BIC, Bravo and others. With Ooredoo Qatar we delivered more than 14 events, and in one field campaign we hand-delivered opening invitations to more than 10,000 homes.

Marketing is not just about getting attention.
It's about getting people to take action.

My sales experience started before I graduated. I spent a year and a half in sales at the Arab Palestinian Shopping Center (P.I.C.), then moved to Galaxy Training Center, where I recruited students and promoted training courses.

I was also selected as a student ambassador for ShabaBE, the university youth program of Wataniya Mobile, known today as Ooredoo Palestine.

Every experience added a new layer to my understanding: How does the customer think? How do they decide? How do we build trust? And how do we turn interest into a sale?

On June 17, 2016, just one day after graduating, I joined Ooredoo Palestine in the Corporate Sales department. This was a completely different level: I was no longer dealing only with consumers, but with companies, institutions and decision-makers.

Over those years I built deep experience in:

• Corporate Sales
• Business Development
• Account Management
• Customer Relationships
• Negotiation
• Sales Strategy
• B2B Communication
• Understanding Business Needs

I also completed many courses, trainings and professional certifications, including PMP.

In 2018 and 2019, I was selected for Ooredoo's Young Leaders Program, which focused on leadership, management, decision-making, and seeing business from a wider perspective.

This stage moved my thinking from How do I make the sale? to How do I build the system that creates the sale? That shift later became a core part of my philosophy in building 255.

After years in sales and working closely with companies, I noticed a clear gap in the market. Businesses needed:

• Design
• Social Media
• Branding
• Advertising
• Content
• Campaigns
• Marketing Strategy

But these services were usually spread across several different providers.

What if businesses could find everything they need under one team?

On November 9, 2020, 255 Advertising & Marketing was founded and registered. We started with just 3 employees: a Graphic Designer, an Administrative Employee and a Social Media Specialist. That's where the real journey began.

From day one, I didn't want 255 to be just another company that posts content or designs ads. I wanted to build a company that brings together:

Sales + Marketing + Business Development + Creative + Technology

We worked with doctors, restaurants, cafés, trading companies, factories, retail stores, local projects, and brands of every size. I focused on building the client base, developing services, recruiting talent, training the team, field visits, managing campaigns, and building real success stories.

Over time, 255 grew from a small team to more than 20 employees, and we have worked with more than 700 local and international companies and brands.

When 255 started, I was still working at Ooredoo. I was living two roles at once: an employee growing in Corporate Sales, and an entrepreneur building a company from scratch. Managing clients, hiring, developing services and building operations, all alongside my job.

In 2022, I resigned from Ooredoo to focus fully on leading and growing 255. Since that day, my focus has been entirely on:

• Building the Team
• Building the Brand
• Building the Systems
• Building the Clients
• Building the Business

In 2023, 255 expanded into the Saudi market with a branch in Riyadh, in partnership with a Saudi partner. We worked with a number of companies and brands in Saudi Arabia, and the experience gave me a deeper understanding of Gulf markets, customer behavior, culture, and how business decisions are made there.

That same year, I became Digital Marketing Manager at Alfa Gate, a German company specializing in dental implants. The role went far beyond managing social media: I built an independent digital marketing department, trained the team on product marketing, and worked on building a network of distributors and agents in international markets.

• B2B Marketing
• International Marketing
• Distributor Marketing
• Global Market Expansion
• Team Training

The company expanded into new global markets, and this role continues to this day.

In 2024, 255 expanded to Nazareth and Nof HaGalil, working with companies and shops across:

• Nazareth
• Haifa
• Jaffa
• Acre
• Galilee

And the work went well beyond digital marketing:

• Branding
• Store Branding
• Commercial Design
• Photography
• Social Media
• Marketing Campaigns
• Visual Identity
• Physical Customer Experience

A brand isn't only what the customer sees on a screen. It's everything they see, feel and interact with.

Along the way, I helped build several beauty and personal-care brands from zero, from the first idea all the way to market:

1. Choosing the Name
2. Product Concept
3. Ingredients
4. Packaging
5. Branding
6. E-Commerce
7. Marketing
8. Sales

Some of these brands are now on the market in Palestine and Israel, with plans to expand into the United States.

Marketing doesn't start with the ad.
It starts with the product, the market, and the customer.

In early 2025, we started preparing 255 to work in the U.S. market. But I didn't want to simply copy our way of working into a new market. We redeveloped our services, processes, team structure, marketing approach and customer experience to fit American business culture and the needs of U.S. companies.

We also expanded our services to include:

• AI
• CRM
• Automation
• Websites
• E-Commerce
• SEO
• Digital Marketing
• Business Systems

In 2026, I visited the United States in person. It wasn't only a business trip; I wanted to understand the market from the inside:

• Business Culture
• Customer Behavior
• Market Needs
• Sales Process
• Business Operations

Soon after, 255 was officially registered in Texas, with the legal, tax and banking requirements in place to operate in the U.S. market. Today, 255 operates across:

Texas • California • Palestine • Nazareth