Who We Are
We created True Taste with one purpose: to help ambitious food-producing SMEs bring their brands to the Middle East — without needing to build a regional presence. True Taste is a UAE-based food industry catalyst founded by a team of seasoned FMCG and F&B professionals with decades of hands-on experience across the Gulf and wider Middle East. We understand the region's complexity, its speed, its opportunities, and how challenging it can be for small and mid-sized manufacturers to enter and scale sustainably.
Elias Sejean
Partner and Comercial LeadElias is a senior FMCG executive with over 25 years of international experience across the Middle East, Africa, Russia, and Asia. He has a strong track record in building brands, expanding distribution networks, and driving consistent year-on-year growth across retail, foodservice, and QSR channels.
His career includes leading regional and global expansion at McCain, scaling a US dessert brand from $800K to $7M across 11 markets, and delivering significant portfolio growth at IFFCO.
Elias is known for his relationship-building skills, pragmatic leadership, and ability to secure deep customer partnerships — including with McDonald’s, Kudu, and Yum — earning multiple global awards for excellence and a “Yes Attitude.”
Partner and Strategic LeadKarim Estephan
Karim is a commercial growth and transformation leader with over 25 years of experience building and scaling consumer businesses across the Middle East and Africa. He has managed multi-country P&Ls of over $1 billion, led high-performance commercial organizations, and delivered multiple business turnarounds and double-digit growth at scale.
His expertise spans go-to-market architecture, distributor model transformation, revenue management, integrated business planning, and commercial digitization.
Across roles at Mars, Red Bull, ARC International, Al Rostamani Group, and most recently as Chief Commercial Officer at Al Douri Group, Karim has consistently delivered measurable impact — from +60% market growth to multi-million-dollar cost efficiencies. He is recognized for his strategic clarity, integrity, and ability to build winning teams and sustainable commercial systems.