Category: Past Events

The sixth edition of the Retail Leaders Circle (RLC) MENA Summit, the prestigious international organisation that unites powerful industry leaders, innovators and decision-makers who share global insights and best practice, has been hosted for the first time ever in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

The first day of the two day summit launched with an inspiring keynote from His Excellency Dr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi, Minister of Commerce and Investment, who called upon the global, regional and local sector leaders to collaborate and drive the industry forward. Opening the event with a welcome address was Panos Linardos, Founder and Chairman of Retail Leaders Circle and Executive Director of New York Institute of Management, and Nisreen Shocair, Co–Chair of RLC MENA and Group CEO Middle East of Yoox Net-A-Porter.

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The prestigious summit, which was previously held in Dubai, will see more than 50 speakers take the stage, as inspiring thought leaders came together in this innovative and dynamic framework to introduce bold new ways to shape the future of the retail industry. The first presentation was delivered by Chris Baker, Senior VP, and Head of Retail North America, Visa who highlighted industry innovations, e-commerce and the AI revolution. He also discussed pioneering omni-channel strategies aimed at delivering improved customer experience.  Other key session highlights included insights from Anita Balchandani, Partner, Apparel Fashion & Luxury UK and Colin Henry, Senior Adviser, Apparel Fashion & Luxury UK from McKinsey & Company who launched The State of Fashion 2020 report, followed by a dynamic e-commerce outlook highlighting what’s next for the industry which was led by H.E Ahmed Al-Hakbani, Governor, Saudi Customs; Ziad Al Yousef, Managing Director, Saudi Payments; Edward Sabbagh, Managing Director – MENA, Farfetch; and Majed M. Al Tahan, Founder & CEO, AYM Commerce.

Also discussed on the opening morning of the summit was The State of MENA Retail by Cyrille Fabre, Partner, Bain & Company; Retail as a Job Creation Engine with Ibrahim Al-Suwail, Deputy Governor, SAGIA, Faisal Alshaya, General Manager, KSA Alshaya Group, and Faraz Khalid, CEO, noon.

The afternoon session included discussion on Leadership in the Age of Disruption, with speakers including Patrick Chalhoub, CEO Chalhoub Group, and Ahmad AR. BinDawood, CEO, Danube &BinDawood, BinDawood Holding. As part of her commitment to serving the vision of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Arab Fashion Council, Her Highness Princess Noura Al Saud, Advisor, Fashion Sector, Ministry of Culture, took a deep dive into Saudi Arabia’s fashion and design landscape during her engaging session. The final session looked at the future and what’s next for the industry, led by Omar Almohammady, Group CEO, Fawaz Alhokair Group and Nilesh Ved, Chairman & CEO, Apparel Group.

More than 400 VIPs, partners, media and delegates, attended the inaugural event in Riyadh. The summit offers an unparalleled networking opportunity for the retail community to engage with business leaders and public figures and fosters strategic collaborations through the unique open format. The latest innovations in the retail industry were also showcased at the Innovation Zone, which featured short presentations from participating companies, offering them a platform to highlight their latest innovations that aim to shape the future of the industry. Additionally, the Summit hosted closed-door interactive roundtables to deep dive into key challenges facing retailers and discuss solutions.

“Rapid growth development, unique retail opportunities combined with significant economic reforms are transforming the retail sector in Saudi Arabia, making it one of the most exciting and dynamic markets in the world,” said Panos Linardos, Chairman of Retail Leaders Circle. “Bringing the global industry leaders together for the first time in Riyadh has highlighted the huge, untapped growth potential of the Kingdom. Digitalization and disruptive business models are constantly changing our fast-paced world, and the key for retailers and brands is to keep pace with these changes. The summit is showcasing the opportunities that exist in the rapidly changing retail landscape in Saudi Arabia and the vast requirements that are needed to meet the needs of the consumer in the future.”

Technology has changed the retail landscape presenting new opportunities for retailers to take their business to a wider audience through e-commerce. However, those technological advancements also entail challenges for the brick and mortar retailers. Sessions tackled those challenges with “Re-imagining the Shopping Center of the Future” and “Rethinking Physical Retail to Survive and Thrive”.  One session focused on the evolving dynamics between retailers and landlords, as retailers rethink their portfolios and modify their use of stores in the future. Another session discussed how physical retailers can adopt agile strategies that will deliver growth, exceed customer expectations and tap into new consumers in the process.

As experience becomes more important for consumers, retailers need to remain relevant and offer consistent interactions across all touchpoints.

The second day of the summit will take a deeper look at consumer behaviour and explore how retailers can meet their customers’ expectations. In addition, key sessions will discuss technological transformations, diversity and inclusion in the retail industry.

Joining the 2020 Summit as headline partners is the Saudi Telecom Company (STC), the retail conglomerate, Fawaz Alhokair Group, the world’s leader in digital payments, Visa, along with the multinational technology corporation, Microsoft. Gold Partners include Facebook, Granada Center and Kinan, while Silver Partners include BinDawood Holding, Red Sea Mall, Sahat and Axis Communications. In addition, key consultancies including, PwC, Mckinsey & Company, have committed to partnering with the event as knowledge partners to share their expertise to advance the retail sector.

The Retail Leaders Circle MENA Summit 2020 has welcomed more than 50 globally recognised speakers, as well as experts and policy makers, to discuss and examine the changing regional retail landscape, best practices to catalyse growth action through deep dive thought leadership and strategic moves.

[wptabs][wptabtitle]Overview[/wptabtitle][wptabcontent]

Retail Leaders Circle, a trusted and influential community of prominent retail leaders, is committed to provide the world’s retailers, brand owners and suppliers with the intellectual and social capital they need to succeed.

What Makes RLC MENA Unique

Inspiring Thought Leadership Provide an innovative and dynamic framework where thought leaders and visionaries inspiring all participating parties to introduce bold new ways on shaping the retail direction of the future.		Strategic Collaboration Create and support partnerships by offering a unique and open format where leaders collaborate to best leverage their unprecedented combination of influence and expertise.
Incredible Networking Foster exclusive networking of leading thinkers, business leaders and public figures who engage in privileged discussions and form a community that helps RLC MENA to push its mission forward.		Inspirational Keynotes This unique event is infused with an atmosphere of connecting, sharing, and learning. You’ll hear fresh voices put forth innovative approaches, and established experts debate market opportunities.

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[wptabtitle]Why Attend?[/wptabtitle][wptabcontent]

Individual Benefits

• Become part of an exclusive circle of retail leaders.
• Gain actionable insights and reflect on the latest industry thinking.
• Network with the best retail minds and industry peers.
• Debate and benchmark with retail innovators and thought leaders.
• Discover new strategic concepts and retailing imperatives.
• Drive the discussions shaping the industry’s future.

Company Benefits

• Make your organisation more agile and competitive for the future.
• Gain new resources and ideas to execute an industry-wide impact.
• Understand your company’s strengths and weaknesses.
• Avoid possible errors or losses by learning from others stories.
• Uncover inefficiencies based off the ideas offered from our retail experts.
• Heighten your company’s strength in leading through different cultures.

[/wptabcontent][wptabtitle]RLC In the Press[/wptabtitle][wptabcontent]

RLC in the Press

Opinion: Adapt or die – how to save the Middle East’s retail space

On the eve of the Retail Leaders Circle MENA, the industry is looking at how best to embrace technology to remain relevant.

The retail industry in the Middle East today is facing the threat of disruption due to a plethora of technological innovations. With the rise of e-commerce and omnichannels, the introduction of Aramex’s Shop&Ship, and the increased focus on personalised customer experiences that meet the changing consumer expectations and behaviour, retailers must now compete at every touchpoint.

Read more: http://www.arabianbusiness.com/comment/392654-opinion-adapt-or-die-how-to-save-the-middle-easts-retail-space

Retail Leaders Circle MENA: Customers are key to the future

The ability of retailers to put the customer at the front and center of their business will determine the industry’s future success, according to the region’s leaders speaking at the Retail Leaders Circle MENA in Dubai. This summit, that took place on March 6-7, saw 100 industry delegates benefit from the insights of the region’s retail experts and business heads.

Retail leaders circle MENA: key industry summit brings region’s retail leaders together to unlock the future of the industry

As the retail industry in the MENA region undergoes seismic shifts driven by a post-oil economy, changing consumer behaviour and the digital realm becoming the new norm, this year’s Retail Leaders Circle MENA takes on critical significance for all sectors of the industry.

Read more: https://www.zawya.com/mena/en/story/Retail_leaders_circle_MENA__key_industry_summit_brings_regions_retail_leaders_together_to_unlock_the_future_of_the_industry-ZAWYA20170212052025/

Industry leaders to descend on Dubai for the 4th Retail Leaders Circle MENA summit

Retail Leaders Circle (RLC), a pioneering industry summit bringing together global, influential and visionary industry leaders, will host its annual MENA summit on March 27th-28th, 2018, at Dubai’s Four Seasons Resort at Jumeirah Beach.

Read more: http://www.mediaoffice.ae/en/media-center/news/17/12/2017/dubai-chamber.aspx

[/wptabcontent][wptabtitle]Speakers in 2018[/wptabtitle][wptabcontent]

2018 Speakers

	Patrick Chalhoub, Joint CEO Chalhoub Group, UAE
	Barbara Kahn,Chaired Professor of Marketing Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, USA
	Vijay Talwar, President Footlocker.com, Eastbay, USA
	Faraz Khalid, Chief Executive Officer, Noon
	Arnaud Reytan, Head of IT & Transformation Kingfisher
	Alexis Lecanuet, Managing Director Retail Consumer Goods, Travel & Automotive, Accenture
	Nisreen Shocair, Chief Executive Officer TSC Broadcast, HSE24
	Tim Greenhalgh, Chairman & Chief Creative Officer FITCH, UK
	Cyrille Fabre, Partner Bain & Company
	Bart Denolf, CEO Franchise Sacoor Brothers
	Ramy Fares, Head of Retail, Travel & Hospitality Microsoft Middle East & Africa
	Mansour Hajjar, Chief Operating Officer Fashio Chalhoub Group, UAE
	Nitin Sanghavi, Professor of Retail Marketing and Strategy Manchester Business School
	Tarek Mansour, Partner McKinsey & Company
	Norma Taki, Partner, Retail & Consumer PwC
	Charbel Sarkis, MENA Head of Retail, E-Commerce, Telecom and Technology Google
	Marcus Freeman, Group Chief Finance Officer Chalhoub Group
	Marwan Eskandarani, Business Development Director Kamal Osman Jamjoom Group
	Ben Chesser, Chairman Apparel Group, UAE
	Andrew Williamson, Head of Retail, MENA Jones Lang LaSalle
	Sharif El-Badawi, Partner, 500
	Abdellah Iftahy, Associate Partner, McKinsey&Company
	Ramzi Solh, Chief Executive Officer, Commercial Development King Abdullah Economic City
	Khaled Talhouni, Managing Partner Wamda
	Sanjay Manchanda, Chief Executive Officer Nakheel
	Panos Linardos, Chairman NYIM
	Philip Bahoshy, Chief Executive Officer Magnitt
	Philip Matta, Co-Founder & CCO Hypermedia
	Walid Mansour, Managing Partner MEVP
	Rashid Doleh, Co-Founder & Managing Partner M Squared
	Enrico Gardumi, Co-Founder & Managing Director Retaily
	Khaled Al Jasser, Chief Executive Officer Arabian Centres
	Jayne Rafter, Publishing Director RLI
	Cameron Mitchell, Chief Executive Officer, Cinemas Majid Al Futtaim

[/wptabcontent][wptabtitle]Advisory Board[/wptabtitle][wptabcontent]

Advisory Board

Patrick Chalhoub	Marigay McKee
Said Daher	Mortimer Singer
Morgan Parker	David Pilnick
Robin Lewis	Marino Maganto
Michael Moore	Andres Siefken
Steve Mormoris	Stacie Henderson

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Photos from Retail Leaders Circle March 2018

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Unleash your best with I CARE Leadership

You are at a time in your career when you want to truly unleash the potential you know you have for the benefit of yourself, your team and your organisation – to undestand what delivers success and then to do it in a way that works in any organisation. I CARE leadership lets you do that.

This program is aimed at leaders who wish to take their capability to a truly world class level to set themselves and their teams apart from the rest as a great place to be and for you to be seen as a role model for excellence and delivering future success. Through leveraging your current experience, new leading edge thinking and interactive exercises and peer-to-peer debate you will gain insight into delivering an inspirational environment via I CARE leadership – a new and powerful integration of rational business thinking and the power of trust and belief in the future. This delivers not only high performance but enhances customer focus, optimises risk, builds the brand, enables innovation and change and boosts efficiency.

About Chris Roebuck

Visiting Professor of Transformational Leadership, Cass Business School, Senior Leadership Lecturer, New York Institute of Management Best-Selling Author of the acclaimed book “Lead to Succeed”

Chris Roebuck is Visiting Professor of Transformational Leadership at Cass Business School, London. He was formerly Global Head of Leadership at UBS, where his work is part of a Harvard Business School Case Study and has worked with HSBC, KPMG and London Underground and advised many other organisations.

Earlier in his career Chris served with the Corps of Royal Engineers in the British Army and is the inventor of the “pipe fascine”. Chris has been on the HR Most Influential Thinkers list annually since 2010, been interviewed over 250 times on TV with a total global audience now over 1bn. He has also been quoted in many top global publications on leadership issues including Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Financial Times, Times of India, Business Week, Time Magazine and many others.

Retail Leaders Circle, a trusted and influential community of prominent retail leaders, is committed to provide the world’s retailers, brand owners and suppliers with the intellectual and social capital they need to succeed.

What Makes RLC MENA Unique

	Inspiring Thought LeadershipProvide an innovative and dynamic framework where thought leaders and visionaries inspiring all participating parties to introduce bold new ways on shaping the retail direction of the future.
	Strategic CollaborationCreate and support partnerships by offering a unique and open format where leaders collaborate to best leverage their unprecedented combination of influence and expertise.
	Incredible NetworkingFoster exclusive networking of leading thinkers, business leaders and public figures who engage in privileged discussions and form a community that helps RLC MENA to push its mission forward.
	Inspirational KeynotesThis unique event is infused with an atmosphere of connecting, sharing, and learning. You’ll hear fresh voices put forth innovative approaches, and established experts debate market opportunities.

Photos from Retail Leaders Circle March 2017

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Develop a new Leadership Mindset.

You are at the center of your people and it is time to take up the leadership challenge and create a winning, results-driven, goal-oriented team – one that will provide superb performance, relevant across all industries. This program is aimed at those individuals who are ready to create a coherent unit that can meet any challenge, any time! It will take them on a journey to understand what gets them super performance from people and how that can then be aligned with their organizational objectives. Through robust leadership frameworks, interactive exercises and peer-to-peer debate you will gain insight into the mindset of creating a high performance culture, and learn to tap into your own strengths to influence and lead with impact. You will explore different facets of leadership, such as how to inspire and motivate teams, build commitment and leverage your team’s experience to deliver the next level of high performance.

About Chris Roebuck

Visiting Professor of Transformational Leadership, Cass Business School Senior Leadership Lecturer, New York Institute of Management Best-Selling Author of the acclaimed book “Lead to Succeed” Chris Roebuck is Visiting Professor of Transformational Leadership at Cass Business School, London. He was formerly Global Head of Leadership at UBS, where his work is part of a Harvard Business School Case Study and has worked with HSBC, KPMG and London Underground and advised many other organisations. Earlier in his career Chris served with the Corps of Royal Engineers in the British Army and is the inventor of the “pipe fascine”. Chris has been on the HR Most Influential Thinkers list annually since 2010, been interviewed over 250 times on TV with a total global audience now over 1bn. He has also been quoted in many top global publications on leadership issues including Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Financial Times, Times of India, Business Week, Time Magazine and many others.

Invest Your Day with Brian Tracy and Learn

Learn how to grow your sales and profitability in any market.

Your business is designed today to get you the exact results you are getting right now. If you want to get different results in the future, you have to change your business model, your profit model. Because of rapid changes in products, services, customers, competitors and markets, most business models today are out-of-date and no longer working.

In this powerful, practical 1-Day Workshop, you will learn how to:

• Design and organize your business for maximum sales and profitability
• Deal effectively with crises, problems, turbulence and disruptions of all kinds
• Analyze and improve your business model in 7 different areas
• Create a value offering that positions your product as the best choice for your customers
• Identify the unique added value that only you can offer in today’s market
• Develop a marketing plan to attract a steady stream of gratified customers
• Build distribution channels to produce and deliver your products/services with the greatest efficiency and the lowest costs
• Develop new distribution channels and new products for new markets
• Develop new distribution channels and new products for new markets
• Build loyalty, support and repeat business with each customer
• Identify multiple ways to increase revenues in every part of your business
• Learn a powerful model for reinvention and innovation that you can use over and over

This seminar/workshop is hands-on and highly interactive. At the end of this seminar, you will emerge with a complete plan to transform your business into a highly profitable organization.

Brian Tracy has worked as a consultant and trainer for more than 1000 large companies in 70 countries. He has given more than 5000 seminars and workshops for more than 5,000,000 people.

He is the author of 70 books on business and personal success that have been translated into 42 languages. He has produced more than 800 audio and video learning programs that are used by more than 10,000 small and medium-size businesses.

In this seminar, you will learn how to survive and thrive in any market, increase your sales and improve your profitability.

Whether you want to integrate better processes and innovative thinking into your organisation, or teach these skills to clients, Brian Tracy will provide you with the knowledge, methods and resources you need.

About Brain Tracy

Brian Tracy is Chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International, a company specializing in the training and development of individuals and organizations.

Brian’s goal is to help you achieve your personal and business goals faster and easier than you ever imagined.

Brian Tracy has consulted for more than 1,000 companies and addressed more than 5,000,000 people in 5,000 talks and seminars throughout the US, Canada and 69 other countries worldwide. As a Keynote speaker and seminar leader, he addresses more than 250,000 people each year.

Leadership and Employee Engagement

Dr. Marshall Goldsmith is the world authority in helping successful leaders achieve positive, lasting change in behavior: for themselves their people and their teams. In this fast-paced interactive workshop, Dr. Goldsmith will begin with a unique discussion on the challenges that come with success in leadership and demonstrate how to use ‘what to stop’ in coaching.

Participants will get to practice feedforward – a postive, focused tool for learning that has been effectively implemented around the world. Marshall will share his proven process for leadership development, coaching and team building that is backed by award-winning research involving over 86,000 respondents. He will then describe the Alan Mulally – Ford – case study and show how this incredibly successful CEO led one of the greatest corporate turnarounds of the past decade. After lunch, Dr. Goldsmith will discuss why we don’t become the people that we plan on becoming. He will describe how Triggers influence our lives at work and at home.

Participants will learn how to use a new model for life planning, coaching and organizational assessment. He will then discuss previous work on employee engagement and show how the key variable to success is the person – not the program. Finally, Marshall will share his new breakthrough research on daily questions and show how the application of active questions can lead to increased personal responsibility, effectiveness and engagement.

About Marshall Goldsmith

Dr. Marshall Goldsmith has been recognized again as one of the top ten Most-Influential Business Thinkers in the World and the top-ranked executive coach at the 2013 biennial Thinkers50 ceremony in London!

Dr. Goldsmith is the author or editor of 34 books, which have sold over two million copies, been translated into 30 languages and became bestsellers in 12 countries. He has written two New York Times bestsellers, MOJO and What Got You Here Won’t Get You There – a Wall Street Journal #1 business book and winner of the Harold Longman Award for Business Book of the Year.

Dr. Goldsmith’s Ph.D. is from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management where he was recognized as the Distinguished Alumnus of the Year. He teaches executive education at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business. He is one of a select few executive advisors who have been asked to work with over 150 major CEOs and their management teams. He served on the Board of the Peter Drucker Foundation for ten years.

www.marshallgoldsmithdubai.com

Scaling Up Business Growth Workshop, with Verne Harnish

The world-renowned Scaling Up Business Growth Workshop gives you proven tools and strategies to achieve greater:

Alignment: Get faster results with less effort when you can inspire your entire team to follow your rock-solid plan.

Accountability: See your company’s reputation (and revenues) soar as employees fulfill 100% of all promises with no more excuses.

Acceleration: Light your revenue records on fire and gear up for a legendary year of business growth. (You’ll want to keep this executive workshop a secret from your competitors.)

 

About Verne Harnish

Verne is founder of the world-renowned Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) and chaired for 15 years EO’s premier CEO program, the “Birthing of Giants”, held at MIT. Founder and CEO of Gazelles, a global executive education and coaching company with hundreds of partners on six continents, Verne has spent more than 30 years educating entrepreneurial teams.

The “Growth Guy” syndicated columnist, he’s also a regular columnist for Fortune magazine. He’s the author of Scaling Up, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits and, along with the editors of Fortune, authored The Greatest Business Decisions of All Time, for which Jim Collins wrote the foreword. Verne chairs annual Growth Summits in North America, Europe, and Asia and continues to teach in the MIT-based executive program he founded.

Residing in Barcelona, Spain, he’s married with four children and enjoys piano, tennis, and magic as a card-carrying member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians.

Approximately 200 executives from across the UAE attended the “Talent Leadership” workshop that took place at the JW Marriott Marquis Hotel in Dubai, UAE

During this “first time” event, internationally renowned leadership expert, John Mattone, addressed the key topics of Talent leadership, Development of future leaders and succession planning. A key element of the workshop were case studies, group activities and interaction amongst the speaker and the attendees, making it a truly hands-on experience.

Photos from the event

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