Tag Archives: middle east countries

What is Masdar and why it is so important for our future?

Masdar is a familiar word to all of us who are concerned about the future of our dear planet Earth. But for the few of you who have never heard of it, please allow us the pleasure to introduce you this incredible project.

Masdar is first of all a company, notably a Mubadala – Abu Dhabi government owned company, based in Abu Dhabi, UAE. As stated in the company’s website ” Masdar is a commercially driven enterprise that operates to reach the broad boundaries of the renewable energy and sustainable technologies industry – there by giving it the necessary scope to meet these challenges.  Masdar operates through five integrated units, including an independent, research-driven graduate university (Masdar Institute, other units are Masdar Capital, Masdar Power, Masdar Carbon, Masdar City cfr.) and seeks to become a leader in making renewable energy a real, viable business and Abu Dhabi a global centre of excellence in the renewable energy and clean technology category. The result is an organisation greater than the sum of its parts and one where the synergies of shared knowledge and technological advancement provide this commercial and results-driven company with a competitive advantage that includes an ability to move with agility and intelligence within an industry that is evolving at great speed.
This holistic approach keeps Masdar at the forefront of this important global industry, while ensuring it remains grounded in the pursuit of pioneering technologies and systems that also are feasible. As a result, it delivers innovation to the market while deriving profits for its shareholders.”

This huge project deals with all the aspects of sustainability: research, energy, finance, architecture, urbanism. Last but not least, retail. Because of its importance in the life of all the people who will live in Masdar City and for “its contribution to the city’s appeal as a renewable energy and clean-technology hub“, retail in Masdar “will provide valuable lessons regarding commercial activities (…) increasing our understanding of how retail activities can be conducted in a sustainable manner”. The list of the companies who have already been involved in the Masdar City retail project includes Caribou Coffee, health insurance provider Daman, telecom provider Etisalat, Sumo Sushi, express delivery company Aramex, Omeir Travel, Organic Foods & Cafe and National Bank of Abu Dhabi. The first commercial building, the Courtyard Building,  has been planned to be finished by 2012, therefore there is enough time for this list to become a very long one.

In the meanwhile, many are the people who are praizing the incredible urban project designed by Foster and Partners, but to be fair, there are also critics like New York Times journalist Nicolai Ouroussof  who wrote that “…its design also reflects the gated-community mentality that has been spreading like a cancer around the globe for decades. Its utopian purity, and its isolation from the life of the real city next door, are grounded in the belief — accepted by most people today, it seems — that the only way to create a truly harmonious community, green or otherwise, is to cut it off from the world at large“.

Our point of view and what we are always stressing in our ECOFFEE projects, is that sustainability is too important for our future and each and every project that has a little bit of sustainability in it is important to raise people awareness. To be too critical towards sustainability-related projects, requiring their perfection – which at this stage is quite hard to achieve – postpones any action and creates confusion among people, these two being the worst enemies of sustainability. (Picture credits: Masdar.ae)

MENA: retail sales are still growing

Retail sales in the MENA region jumped 13.2 percent last year, making it the only region in the world to post double digit growth, accountancy firm Deloitte has said.

In its latest retail report, Deloitte said emerging markets were the most promising for consumer sales and marked the Middle East as a stand-out region.
“While global economic growth is on the mend, most of it is taking place in emerging markets, many of which are experiencing rapidly increasing consumer spending,” said Nasser Sagga, audit partner at Deloitte and Touche.
“Within the Middle East there is a number of emerging economies that meet the criteria of strong growth prospects and good demographics – Egypt and Turkey being two such examples.”

The report identified the 250 largest retailers around the world in 2010, more than 11 percent of which were based in the MENA region.
Despite seeing a significant drop in trade and tourism during the financial crisis, the Gulf remains a key a market for retailers.

A report last year by real estate consultancy CB Richard Ellis found Dubai ranked second only to London in terms of the number of global brands with a presence in the city.
In a ranking of 294 of the world’s top retailers, more than half had a presence in Dubai. “Despite continued uncertainty for some retailers across the world, luxury brand retailers have remained active and were responsible for the most new store openings,” said Peter Gold, head of Europe, Middle East and Africa cross-border retail at CBRE. (Source: ArabianBusiness.com, Photo: hadiyahrewardnetwork.com)

What we do care about

As designers & consultants who are in stores every day, we see the good, the bad, and the ugly in this business. We see what works and what doesn’t. We admire those who take the time to share with us new ideas to build beautiful stores, who really establish solid connections with us, who agree with us that it’s imperative to have a winning concept in today market.

This might be true for many generic consultants around the world. But one of the things that we’ve noticed, is that we provide one other thing that is perhaps one of our greatest values. It’s that our customers can talk to us about their business, freely and openly, and get the help they need.  

Many Retailers certainly seek out advice from a number of sources, and most commonly from vendors.  Vendors certainly have a great view of the marketplace, and they too see a lot of what goes on in the Retail space. 

But at the end, the vendor’s solution to a Retailer’s problems will be to buy their product.  It’s a little like that old saying, “To a carpenter, everything is solved with a hammer.”

For us as designers & consultants, the only thing we honestly care about is whether or not that Retailer has made money, and if they are happy doing so.  In terms of product or vendor solution, we don’t have any “hammer” in the pocket.  Yes, we can suggest but a the very end, it doesn’t matter to us which vendor the Retailer buys, as long as it contributes positively to realize our design store, collaborating and to make the Retailer money. 

Please meet us soon at:

– Euroshop in Dusseldorf on the 26th and 27th of February

– Gulfood in Dubai on the 1st and 2nd of March

The Hospitality News Magazine Middle East introduces DESITA and ECOFFEE projects

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Hospitality news magazine interviewThanks to DESITA‘s activity in the Middle East countries, I was invited to participate to a special issue of Hospitality News Magazine dedicated to the Retail coffee business. It did not come as a suprise when I found that the ECOFFEE project gained great attention – sustainability is becoming a big hit in those countries, especially when related to the Retail Food sectore. You can read the whole interview here. Enjoy!

Retail Sustainability in the Middle East Countries: the new frontier

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MEF, the Middle East Food magazine has bMEF article about the launch of ECOFFEEeen helping advance the Middle East & North African Food, Beverage, Ingredients and Packaging sectors since 1985 by acting as an information link / bridge between the highly advanced industrial countries and those in the developing world. The Retail Food market in that area is very sensitive to new products, new ideas and concepts and this is the reason why when I presented ECOFFEE I gained so much attention, as you can read here.