Global media intelligence agency CARMA has acquired Argento Strategies, a boutique Dubai-based business intelligence and strategic communications consultancy, as it deepens its media analysis capabilities to offer clients more insight and actionable intelligence.

Argento Strategies’ founder Fares Ghneim joins CARMA as Managing Director, Insights and Analysis with the task of creating a new division that builds on the company’s existing media analysis offering while adding strategic depth and broadening the product offering.

“CARMA’s mission has always been to provide busy executives with the tools and information needed to make better business decisions. Fares and the capabilities he developed at Argento Strategies allow us to build on that foundation to enhance our offering and equip our clients with the intelligence to navigate the challenges and opportunities of doing business in today’s fast changing world,“ explains CARMA CEO Mazen Nahawi.

The restructured Insights and Analysis division will build on CARMA’s unique model incorporating curated research and media analysis to deliver more accurate and relevant client insights.
“Exploring how to usefully mine and create value out of the massive amounts of data generated by the digital transformation is crucial for any organization today,” Fares Ghneim says. 

“CARMA is distinctive in that it not only provides the tools to monitor and capture information, but also the critical thinking needed to interpret the data and convert it into actionable insights. I very much look forward to working with CARMA’s team of analysts to build and expand the company’s offering in this area.”

Fares joins CARMA with more than two decades corporate affairs experience combined with a rigorous, data-centric approach to developing strategic communications solutions. Fares has consulted for public and private sector clients across the GCC and has held in-house roles heading corporate communications at the Abu Dhabi-based Masdar alternative energy initiative and managing communications and external affairs for oil major BP in the Middle East and South Asia. 

Fares has also worked with the Economist Intelligence Unit as an analyst for the Middle East and North Africa region and as Congressional Liaison Officer with Jordan’s diplomatic mission in Washington DC. He has a Master’s degree from the Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and speaks Arabic, English and German.