In Summary
- Incite is a full service market research agency.
- Established in 1994 in the Middle East.
- Initially focused on emerging markets in Africa, Middle East and the Asia Pacific region. These days the agency runs surveys across the continents.
- Services an array of industries through consumer, B2B and industrial research.
- Qualitative and quantitative expertise as well as adept in secondary research.
- Understanding of national nuances in a region that is culturally heterogeneous.
- Unforgiving and unrivaled quality assurance measures.
- Value added services: e.g. market reports, feasibility studies and survey templates.
Milestones
Incite started offering market research services in Bahrain, a tiny island state in the Arabian Peninsula with shores washed by the waters of the Persian Gulf.
Initially the agency catered to the research needs of local and regional clients. At the time, Bahrain was the financial hub for the region and consequently many studies were on behalf of leading banks and other financial institutions. Fieldwork capabilities were limited to the GCC countries (Gulf Cooperation Council that other than Bahrain includes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar).
By 1996, with relatively few research agencies in the region, demand for professional research services increased and several clients invited Incite to establish an office in Dubai.
With the expansion of field resources into North Africa, the Levant, Iraq, Iran and Yemen, Incite was able to develop its portfolio of clients and thus widened its industry exposure to include FMCG, Information Technology and Communication (ITC), healthcare, energy/utilities, horeca, electronics and petrol/gas/oil.
By 2002 Incite had begun appearing on the radar of major international research buyers whose survey needs required conducting several studies in different regions at the same time. The field management team started scaling up field resources in Turkey and selected countries in Central/East Africa and the Asia Pacific Region.
At this point Incite started working with field partners in regions outside of the Middle East in order to effectively manage large territories for fieldwork. Also at this time Incite supported several leading international management consulting firms with market feasibility studies, which increased exposure to industries such as chemicals, real estate, education, agriculture, construction and B2B services.
By 2004 Incite’s field resource team secured capabilities in the remaining countries in Africa.
The number of studies on this continent was steady, but not quite as buoyant as in South East Asia: Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and China in particular. Most of the surveys conducted in this region were in FMCG, automotive, healthcare, electronics and raw materials.
In 2006 with faster internet connections becoming available, Incite centralised its data processing in Shenzhen, China and arranged all data entry online.
It only followed that internet based data collection methods – e.g. computer-aided telephone, personal or web-aided interviewing – gained prominence. At the same time, the internet allowed clients to have better access to research operations; more often than not in real time through live reporting links.
In 2009, with the Asia Pacific region by then accounting for the lion’s share of business, Incite established its new head office in Hong Kong and senior managers relocated from the United Arab Emirates.
Principal consultants service clients from Hong Kong, supported by regional consultants based in their respective area.
In 2012 Hong Kong based Decorum Group Limited acquired a stake in Incite with the agency benefiting from a needed capital injection to sustain its growth.
So to be closer to clients in the Middle East and Europe, Incite opened a regional office in Athens, Greece. Expanded operations across the continents.