WELCOME REMARKS

Featuring:

MESHAAL BIN OMAIRH

GROUP CEO

AL OTHAIM INVESTMENT CO.

The Rebirth of Retail in Saudi Arabia

“As one of the market-leading mall operators in the Kingdom, Al Othaim intends to become the region’s 1st choice community shopping and entertainment destination for both tenants and shoppers.”

P14

ROSHN

Integrating Retail & Communities in Saudi Arabia P16 HAMAT HOLDING Announces New Expansions in 2022 P18 CITY CENTRE BAHRAIN

Building a Digital Future

ON THE COVER

MESHAAL BIN OMAIRH

Group CEO Al Othaim Investment & Co.

YOUNUS AL MULLA

MECS+R Chairman Dubai, UAE

ENG. WAIL M. BALKHAIR

MECS+R Board President Saudi Arabia

KAMEL SHABAN

CEO, SOLO MECS+R Board Vice President

JUBY JOSE

Head of Marketing & Specialty Leasing DALMA MALL MECS+R Board Treasurer

ALESSANDRO GAFFURI

CEO & Founder CELS Group MECS+R Board Member

DUAIJ AL RUMAIHI

Mall Director, Bahrain Shopping Malls City Centre Bahrain MECS+R Board Member

GOGI GEORGE

GM - Development & Leasing Lulu Group International - Oman MECS+R Board Member

MOHAMMED AL QAED

Manager, Property Management SEEF Properties MECS+R Board Member

SAMAR AKKOU

Senior Leasing Manager Nakheel Malls MECS+R Board Member

WELCOME

“The start of something NEW brings the hope of something GREAT…Anything is Possible.” Let’s welcome 2022 by celebrating our success in 2021!

A Big Thank You for attending our 27th Annual Retail Congress MENA Event and the Shopping Centre & Retailer Awards held in December. After two years of not meeting together in our live event, we were blessed with your support. We are grateful to have enjoyed the window of opportunity to host our RECON Conference. The importance of the time to meet our industry friends and colleagues is immeasurable. We were able to catch up face to face again during the 2-day event where we laughed, talked, and connected with one another. In 2022 we are planning more of our important face to face events regionally.

Through our communication and collaboration over the last two years, we have learned that we are better and stronger. In hindsight we excelled in 2020 and 2021. As a strong organization, we can now move from strength to strength to bring people together to continue to share information, knowledge and experiences.

We continue to grow our leadership, our circles of influence, our alliances, and our results at the MECS+R. Everything and everyone is connected locally, regionally and globally.

Today, we are proud to release the Q1 Retail People Magazine Issue of 2022 themed “NEW BEGINNINGS.” We encourage you to read this edition from cover to cover.

We are honoured to have a long-standing supporter and partner, Al Othaim Investment Co. featured. Mr. Meshaal bin Omairh, the Group CEO of Al Othaim Investment Co. is our cover story. Meshaal highlights the future plans of Al Othaim as they become the region’s 1st choice community shopping and entertainment destination for both tenants and shoppers.

We are fortunate to have amazing support again from our members who have authored very relevant stories about the latest trends in retail and shopping centres. Metaverse is grabbing headlines. Surbhi Dedhia gave her insights on how Retail Industry and brands leverage through Metaverse while Vanessa Hinton speaks about how Metaverse will affect the retail industry.

In Shopping Centre Update, Lee Talbott from Riyadh shared how ROSHN is integrating retail and communities in Saudi Arabia. Hamat Holding announced new expansions in 2022. Duaij Al Rumaihi highlights how City Centre Bahrain prides itself on delivering the latest digital experiences to their customers. Dubai Outlet Mall announces opening timelines for its expansion this year. It will be the largest Outlet Mall in the world.

In this issue we featured articles from Zaib Shadani who provides a list of the social media trends to watch for. How to maintain a leadership position in social media in 2022. Meanwhile, Nathalie Beydoun delivered her thoughts on shifting trends being the key to a successful retail business.

From Yardi, technology keeps advancing. Said Haider explains AI and how it is used in Real Estate. David Fuller-Watts stresses that collaborations are key to creating world-class retail destinations.

On a lighter note, Phil McArthur penned an article about how the shopping centre and retail industry has expanded and transitioned during the past years. Phil reminds us why MECS+R exists and as a founding father how and why the organization was originally formed.

We also feature RECON event photos and recognize the winners of the MENA Awards 2021.

Finally, we have an exclusive interview with Mohammed Al Mazrouie, the 2021 Gold Winner Award for the Retail Professional of the Year.

We hope you enjoy reading this issue as much as the team at MECS+R have enjoyed bringing it to you.

Once again, thank you for supporting us on every issue of our Retail People Magazine

DAVID MACADAM

Chief Executive Officer MECS+R

Eng. Wail M. Balkhair

Board President MECS+R

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