Case Details
Hadia Ghaleb: From Influencer to Bootstrapped Entrepreneur
Hadia Ghaleb is a leading fashion influencer in the Middle East. The Hadia Ghaleb network has 7 million followers across major platforms including TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
The case provides details of Hadia Ghaleb’s personal journey and her rise as a leading fashion influencer and a bootstrapped entrepreneur. As an influencer, her journey illustrates the economics of influence and sheds light on the unsettling impact of the arrival of AI influencers. It also offers a rich context for analyzing a brand’s marketing mix and internal consistency across dimensions, as well as for understanding the risks and benefits of a founder- and influencer-led brand. In parallel, Hadia Ghaleb’s pivot from a service-oriented business model to a product-oriented one presents a strategic canvas for students to analyze the rationale behind the pivot and identify the different operational, financial, and marketing risks associated with each model.
Learning Objective:
1. Provide a conceptual understanding of the principles and theories behind social media marketing.
2. Analyze the role of influencers in social media marketing and compare and contrast with other social media approaches such as organic brand content, paid advertising, and user-generated content.
3. Examine the application and integration of influencer marketing in cohesive brand-building and marketing.
4. Explore the strategic challenges and opportunities of “founder as a brand” and influencer-led brands.
5. Formulate growth strategies for a founder and influencer-led brand.