1. Scherzando Blaise KARASU, BA (Hons) MA!
E-mail: scherzandok@gmail.com ! ! Phone: +44 (0) 7460 125 702 !
PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY:!
A media professional with extensive project-management experience and a track record of delivering
commercially successful editorial profiles in emerging markets. Having worked across some twenty
countries and multiple regions including The Caribbean, South East Asia, China and extensively
throughout MENA. The aim of each project was research of the country's economy analysing which
sectors are of interest to foreign investors. Primarily conducted through interviews with heads-of-state,
cabinet-ministers. Then selling commercial sponsorship opportunities to the Chairmen and CEOs of
SOE’S, domestic champions and MNC’s. !
EXPERTISE:
! • Project Management!
• Sales Presentation!
• Journalistic Competence!
• Managing multicultural teams !
• Writing & Analysis !
• Assimilation of concepts in finance,
economics, business & politics!
• Relationship building with influential
stakeholders!
• Market profiling & research!
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Interview-highlights include: President of Egypt HE Hosni Mubarak, Foreign Minister HE Ahmed
Aboul Gheit, Egyptian Minister of Finance Youssef Boutros-Ghali Former Prime Minister of Lebanon
Rafic Hariri President of Iraq Jalal Talabani Prime Minister of Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)
Nerchivan Barzani King Abdullah II ibn al-Hussein II of Jordan Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani Emir of
Qatar.
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CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:!
• Developed & Project Directed an in-depth analysis of the Malaysian “Halal” economy in
partnership with The Malaysian Halal Development Corporation (HDC)!
• Implemented & Project Directed an in-depth country report on The Malawi Economy in
partnership with The USA Today Newspaper. !
• Prepared & delivered an overview of the Lebanese banking sector. Specifically a research
assignment on the ‘Alpha Group’ of the ten leading domestic financial service sector companies
for the ‘B-Here’ Lebanon - annual reports financial chapter. !
• Initiated and project-managed a report on the economy of The Kurdistan Autonomous Region of
Iraq (KRG) for The Economy Survey Corporation published in partnership with The Wall Street
Journal. !
• Developed & project managed an editorial report of the Egyptian economy. Interviewing most of
the countries public & private sector elite. Including: Prime Minister Dr. Ahmed Nazif, Dr.
Mahmoud Mohieldin and Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade Rashid Mohamed Rashid and
Sameh Fahmi Minister of Petroleum. Wrote the eventual 15-page report published in The
Economist. Grossing €750,000.!
• Freelance writer for a number of media companies, specialising in covering emerging-markets
with macro-economic, political analysis, business sector analysis, capital market research &
sector specific or country specific feature writing. Published in the following titles: Business
Week, Allgemeiner Zeitung, Wall Street Journal, Africa in Business Magazine, Foreign Affairs
Magazine, The Financial Times magazine- Investors Chronicle and The Daily Telegraph. http://

2. scherzandok.blogspot.co.uk
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CAREER HISTORY:!
Employer: Strategic Communications Laboratories, London Position: Consultant Dates: from 01/2010!
SCL Group works across the global commercial, social, political and defence sectors, offering clients its
expertise in data analytics, audience targeting, pioneering psychology and behaviour change
communications.!
• Pitched electoral methodology strategy services & directly to Artūras Zuokas Mayor of Vilnius
Lithuania. !
• Drafted Mayoral campaign election proposal to undertake a behavioural research project.
Specifically with the goal of providing psychosocial analysis of the key triggers to influence
behavioural change among the electorate and strategy for the February 2011 municipal
elections.!
• Formulated budget breakdown for our research team. Eventual project budget of €185,012. !
• Pitched Kevin McCabe.
Chairman Ferencvarosi Torna Football Club in Budapest Hungary our proprietary audience
analysis and profiling technology!
• Formulated a proposal to tackle the issue of football hooliganism amongst some of their
supporters. Costing them aprox €230,000 per-season in fines & sanctions. The objective being
to increase their attendance to 70%. Therefore saving the club a cumulative total of €1.5m -
€4m of revenue per year.!
• Prepared & wrote political speeches for The Hon Dr. Denzil Douglas Prime minister of St. Kitts &
Nevis. !
• Carried out a comprehensive rewrite of all corporate web-content. !
Employer: Oxford Business Group Position: Editorial Manager Dates: 01/2008 to 12/0008!
Oxford Business Group is a global publisher and consultancy producing annual investment and
economic reports on more than 30 countries.!
The Report Jordan & The Report Qatar !
• Developed a comprehensive analysis of Political, macroeconomic and sectoral developments
including; banking, capital markets, energy, infrastructure, industry and insurance. !
• Research, high-level interviews and writing. !
• Primary market research by sector. !
• Conducting research interviews in both private & public sector. !
• Coordinating the activities of specialist analysts in each sector.!
• Writing parts of the book, including the country profile. !
• Engaged in the production of online briefing updates. !
• Regular articles comprised analyses of key economic sectors, up-to-date statistics, data and
forecasting.
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3. Employer: QCP Ltd. Position: Project Director & Journalist Dates: 01/2007 to 10/2007!
• Initiated & developed an Egyptian project from inception. !
• Prepared initial market profile and all preliminary research. !
• Initiated & approached HE Hatem Seif El Nasr Consulate General of The Arab Republic of
Egypt in the UK. !
• Oversaw advertising sales strategy in country. Grossing €750,000. !
• Compiled all research. Wrote15-page report published inThe Economist. !
!
Employer: LBT Media PLC Position: Sales Manager UK Dates: 01/2006 to 12/2006!
Louise Blouin Media is an art magazine, website, and book publishing company. It publishes titles
including Art+Auction, Gallery Guide, and Modern Painters magazines and artinfo.com!
!
Employer: Financial Times Group Position: Associate Publisher Asia Pacific The Banker!
Dates: 12/2004 to 12/2005!
The FT is one of the world’s leading business news and information organisations.!
• Generated revenue via a range of media products encompassing display advertising, corporate
statements, special editorial supplements and financial intelligence guides. !
• Presented & closed business publishing opportunities to the major financial service companies,
government and sovereign institutions, Asian exchanges and the FTSE Global Index companies
in the region. !
• Managed a market profile across Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, Korea,
Hong Kong and China. !
• Deal closure averaged between £30 to £50K PCM. !
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Employer: Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC Position: Associate Publisher!
Dates: 12/2003 to 05/2004!
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Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC is one of Europe's largest business & financial magazine
publishers. !
• Managed duel role across Global Agenda Magazine & Emerging Market Newspaper. !
• Generated magazine revenue from promotional products, display advertising, corporate, country
profiles and Government statements. !
• Travelled extensively on sales trips to; China, South East Asia, The Baltic Republics and Nordic
region. !
• Attended Multilateral Development Bank meetings to build business relationships and ensure
Magazine circulation & distribution were allocated to all delegates. IMF & World Bank Meetings
in Washington DC. The Asian Development Bank Meetings in Istanbul Turkey and Jeju Korea. !
• Executed a country profile on Mongolia in partnership with the MCB. Personally initiated and
travelled to Ulan Bator to finalise negotiation with the Governor and close a deal worth
£120,000. !
• Deal closure of between £20 to £30K PCM. !
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4. Employer: The Columnist SA Position: Project Manager Dates: 01/2003 to 12/2003!
! • Assisted on reports syndicated within the European edition of Time Magazine. !
• Helped implement sales strategies. !
• Carried out extensive sector-research.!
• Worked with an international team.!
• Carried out many of the high-level interviews. !
• Liaised on projects grossing up to a cumulative $1.2 million. !
• Successfully played-a-role in developing & executing pro§jects in Trinidad &Tobago, Belize,
Antigua and Aruba. !
!
Employer: SPG Media PLC. Position: Content Manager & Commissioning Editor and previously
Business Development Manager Dates: 03/2001 to 12/2003
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SPG publishes 55 titles in 18 separate industry and business sectors and specialised in the publication
of business-to-business magazines in vertical markets with annual and bi-annual business and industry
titles.!
• Formulated content and commissioned for the business management and finance division
across: Finance Director Europe, Euromarket Decisions and Foreign Direct Investor. !
• Promoted after year one to a role developing new B2B publishing concepts from concept-stage
to launch. !
• Developed titles across sectors including; capital markets, telecomms, pharma R&D, shipping,
defence, nanotech and Unix operating system. !
• Display telesales executive for Euromarket Decisions published for The Federation of European
Securities Exchanges. !
• Amongst the top-ten performing sales people across the company. Grossed £250,000 sales in
1st year. !
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EDUCATION:!
2000 - MA Diploma Print Journalism University of Westminster (NCTJ accredited) 2000 (Distinction) !
1999 - BA (Hons) Economics University of The West of England Bristol!
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ADDITIONAL SKILLS:!
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• Certified courses in NLP sales techniques!
• French Intermediate!
• Full-clean driving-license. !
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Personal interests: swimming, reading, laughing, exploring, loving and learning. !
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References available upon request.!
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