WELCOME REMARKS

RETAIL CONGRESS MENA 2021

The Year of New Opportunities 27th Annual Conference & Exhibition

YOUNUS AL MULLA

MECS+R Chairman Senior Vice President - Retail International Development, Shopping Malls Procurement & Government Affairs Majid Al Futtaim Retail

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

Leasing Manager Nakheel Malls MECS+R Board Member

WELCOME

“Where focus goes, energy flows.” – Tony Robbins, American Author, Coach, Speaker & Philanthropist

In life and business, focus is important as this will determine where we are heading to. Our life is controlled by what we focus on. Just like in photography, the focus is important because without it, images can lack sharpness and detail.

We all know what the pandemic brought to every one of us. The impact was sudden and the effect is immeasurably heartbreaking. This experience taught us to become more resilient, more optimistic and more focused. With two months remaining before 2022 begins, we are seeing greater progress. Though the recovery process is a bit slow, we are blessed to witness these changes. We are delighted and encouraged to discover how other businesses like shopping centres and retailers thrive and survive in this difficult period. As the saying goes, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

With this RPM Special Retail Congress Edition “The Year of New Opportunities” it highlights various interesting stories of businesses and professionals on achieving greater success. To begin with, we are honoured to have the management team of Times Square Center as our Featured Shopping Centre headed by Nancy Ozbek. Here, they shared their strategy of how they flourished during the pandemic and boast an impressive occupancy level.

In this edition, we also bring you an article from Rebecca Arnold, Mall of Dilmunia in Bahrain, on how Mall of Dilmunia has seen an encouraging trend whereby the mall footfall numbers have been growing steadily with a month-on-month increase.

In Saudi, Ayman Alburti and Majid Algothmi from AZAD Properties announced their new development, Souq7, which brings the concept of popular souqs to international heights. Also, Alfie Gibbs, DGDA Strategic Retail Advisor introduced the Diriyah Gate project in line with the Saudi Vision 2030.

Moving to Oman, Hussain Jamal from Mall of Muscat, revealed that their mall footfall has witnessed the biggest jump over the 3 quarters, with an increase in leasing inquiries and sign-ups.

When it comes to Shopping Centre Design, Davide Padoa and Salaheldin Ahmed from Design International UK stated that 2021 is an important year for them as a large number of their recent projects have opened or will soon be completed.

These are just a few of the many promising stories that we curated for this issue. You can find more inspiring and insightful articles on this issue from Abdul Kader Saadi, Mohammad Shaaban, Charlie Morrison, Ishwar Chugani, Anthony Spary, Said Haider, Ali Chab, Frederic Fitoussi, Carlos Candal & Paul Hammond, Umesh Agarwal, Shahrokh Keshavarz and last but not the least, Shannon Alter.

Our team at the MECS+R is also excited to see and connect with you in person as we celebrate our 27th Annual Retail Congress MENA Event on December 6-7, 2021 at the Ritz Carlton DIFC.

We would like to thank all our advertisers, authors, members and readers for your continued support all these years. We hope that you will continue to be our supporters and partners as we pave the road to recovery. Should you want to be part of the upcoming issue, reach out to Mariz Matocdo at customercare@mecsc.org.

DAVID MACADAM

Chief Executive Officer MECS+R

Eng. Wail M. Balkhair

Board President MECS+R