I'm Prateek.
I like making things work.
I'm Prateek Saxena, Group General Manager of Al Zaabi Group in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. My working life has taken me from industrial engineering into business leadership, with a growing curiosity about what we can build with AI.
Explore my story
It started on the factory floor.
I studied Industrial Engineering at Purdue, then began my career at John Deere and Bose. I was interested in how things worked up close: the process, the numbers and the small decisions that affected the whole.
My responsibilities have grown since then, but that curiosity has stayed with me. Today I lead strategy and operations across Al Zaabi Group's businesses. I still want to understand what happens on the ground, because that's where a good idea has to prove itself.
The work that brought me here.
I've worked on manufacturing processes, operations analysis, corporate strategy and group management. Each move has given me a wider view of a business, and a better appreciation of how much the details matter.
May 2021 - Present
Al Zaabi Group
Group General Manager
I lead the group's strategy and operations across 11 sectors. My responsibilities bring together growth, operating discipline and digital and AI transformation across the portfolio.
That breadth keeps the work interesting. I need to see the group as a whole while understanding the different realities of the businesses within it.
2017 - 2021
Al Zaabi Group
Operations & Strategy Manager to Deputy General Manager
I joined the group in operations and strategy, working across multiple companies before progressing to Deputy General Manager. This was the bridge between my earlier strategy work and the broader responsibility of leading a diversified group.
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Corporate Strategy Officer
My work covered the strategic and financial operations of five companies, spanning infrastructure construction, capital-market investments, manufacturing, venture capital, real estate and trading.
It broadened my view beyond an individual process or department to the decisions that shape an entire business.
2009 - 2010
Bose Corporation
Operations Analyst
At Bose, I worked in operations analysis. It was an early opportunity to bring my engineering education into a business setting, with the focus on understanding operations through the numbers.
2009
John Deere
Process Engineer
I began on the manufacturing floor as an industrial engineer. Working close to the process gave me a starting point I still value: before trying to improve something, take the time to understand how it actually works.
The education behind my perspective.
Engineering gave me a foundation. Management study helped me look further across a business. I keep returning to the classroom as the questions in my work change.
INSEAD
Certificate in Global Management
Executive study that broadened my perspective on managing and growing businesses.
2005 - 2009Purdue University
B.Sc., Industrial Engineering
The foundation for how I think about systems, processes and the people working within them.
INSEAD
Executive Education: AI & Digital Transformation
I continued my learning through:
- Transforming Your Business with AI
- Digital Transformation
- Strategy in the Age of Digital Disruption
CMA studies
Certified Management Accountant (CMA)
In progressI'm currently pursuing Part 2 of the certification, adding to the financial side of my management experience.
I want to know what happens next.
I enjoy thinking about where a business could go. I'm equally interested in the work that follows: who takes responsibility, what the numbers tell us, and whether the team has what it needs to move forward.
That's the connection I keep coming back to. A strategy becomes useful when people can act on it. A report earns its place when it helps someone make a better decision. Technology matters when it makes the work easier or the result better.
At Al Zaabi Group, I work across healthcare, automotive, real estate, building materials, contracting and manufacturing, as well as trading, retail, e-commerce, food and beverage, and education. The variety is a constant reminder to understand the business in front of me before deciding what it needs.
I also share moments from the group's work with brands including Birla White, part of Aditya Birla Group, alongside Henkel Polybit, Saint-Gobain, Bosch Professional, Asian Paints and Jaquar. You can explore the photographs and announcements in my partnerships collection.
AI has made me a builder again.
I'm interested in what happens when someone who knows a business problem can begin building a tool to solve it. That's the idea behind Vibe Coding in a Suit, and why I write about briefing AI agents from an operator's point of view.
The more I explore, the more interested I become in everything around the model: the context it receives, the tools it can use, the permissions it needs and the checks that tell us whether the result is sound.
In After the Prompt: The Operator's Harness, I explore harness engineering: building that surrounding system. I also write about Self-Improvement Protocols (SIPs), so agents can learn from mistakes while people retain oversight. These are questions I'm still working through, and writing helps me think about them more clearly.
A few places to begin.
I write about the questions that follow me from work: how businesses run, how people make decisions, and what new technology changes in practice. If you're new here, these three essays are a good introduction.
Vibe Coding in a Suit
My starting point for building internal tools with AI, from the perspective of someone running a business.
I Don't Code. I Brief Agents.
How I think about giving AI agents a clear brief and staying responsible for the outcome.
After the Prompt: The Operator's Harness
Why useful AI needs more than a prompt, and what belongs around the model.
You'll find more in my Journal, along with a professional logbook. My frameworks turn some of that thinking into practical steps, and the definitions explain terms I use along the way.
Good conversations are a start.
If something here connects with a challenge you're working on, I'd be glad to hear about it. You can get in touch about business, advisory, speaking or board conversations, or find me on LinkedIn.
For an event introduction or a photograph, my media kit has a short biography and downloadable portraits.