Author Archives: Website Administrator

Ramsey Assal | Associate

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Ramsey is an entrepreneur, venture capitalist and accomplished business manager, with over 30 years experience in the Middle East and the United Kingdom in the property development and the gourmet restaurant industry and supply chain operations.

He has held a number of senior leadership roles in the Supply Chain & Logistics industry in the Middle East and the United Kingdom and specializes in food distribution. Key achievements in this area include the creation, and subsequent management of the McDonald’s supply chain supporting over 200 restaurants in the Arabian Gulf.

He re-structured and subsequently managed the McDonald’s supply chain in the United Kingdom – supplying over 1,200 restaurant from 3 regional distribution centers. He negotiated and established a long-term Middle East joint-venture partnership with a multi-billion dollar US-based logistics company and takes pride in having conceptualized, financed and built a number of state-of-the-art multi-temperature warehouses supporting the supply chain of a number of food suppliers and distributors in the UAE.

In addition to his corporate accomplishments he has been successfully involved with a number of commercial and residential property developments in the United Kingdom and is a seasoned Venture Capitalist with interests in a number of businesses in diverse industry verticals across multiple geographies.

He is personally involved with one of his more recent investments – The Landsite: a unique digital hub designed for professional services in the real estate market.

Ramsey was born in the Middle East and has been a Dubai resident since 1966. His mixed Arabic and English heritage provides him with a unique and in-depth understanding of the business environment and dynamics in the region.

Ramsey, has been a member of the Accelerate Evolution team on an Association basis since 2016 and offers clients, in addition to his leadership and management experience, a unique perspective on the power and influence of digital communities and marketplaces.

Jonathan Guyer | Senior Associate (Alum)

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Jonathan has over 30 years of Middle East and Africa experience built up whilst working in a, predominantly, supply chain and logistics context for some of the world and region’s best-known food, dairy & fresh as well as fast-moving consumer goods companies. He joined Accelerate Evolution on an Associate basis in 2015.

Jonathan brings highly relevant industry experience from multiple geographies and cultural environments, and is well placed to promote how best to gain the maximum value from this increasingly complex must-win environment.

He has been operationally involved with warehousing, transportation and freight in his earlier career whilst he moved into more comprehensive supply chain management roles, both operational as well as project based prior to dedicating his skills to advisory and consulting.

Jonathan has been in the Middle East region for over 15 years, with a significant amount of his time spent in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – indeed in his last corporate assignment he served as the Group Head of Supply Chain for one of the largest dairy companies there. Prior to his time in the Middle East Jonathan was based in South Africa.

His regional exposure, rigorous commitment to data-driven analysis, remarkable ability to pursue and deliver tangible results and his dedication to imparting his knowledge and skills to those organizations that benefit most from it make him a most valuable member of the Accelerate Evolution team.

Peter Roest | Managing Partner

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Peter is known as a high-energy, steadfast and highly experienced senior level executive with strategic vision and hands-on leadership experience in managing complex operations in emerging market environments.

He has over 25 years of experience gained in operational leadership and management roles in large blue-chip multinational organizations in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, logistics and automotive industries.

Peter joined Accelerate Evolution towards the end of 2015 and whilst he enjoys engaging with client organisations and delivering value by finding solutions for their challenges he is also responsible for the ongoing development and the day-to-day management of the practice.

In addition to his role at Accelerate Evolution Peter is the COO of a UK-based Technology Start-up where he currently provides guidance and support during the final stage development of a unique mobile shopping application whilst he is  responsible for the development and implementation of a global go-to-market strategy and the early commercialization of the product.

Peter has a proven ability to build and lead teams in times of transformational organisational change and blends a dynamic, determined and empowering management style with decisive action. He delivers results by effectively connecting people and processes. He is an inclusive leader who establishes and communicates clear targets and motivates teams to focus on delivering value and ultimately customer satisfaction.

His key technical skills are in the fields of Strategy Development, Integrated Business Planning, End-to-End Supply Chain, Business Transformation & Change Management, LEAN & Operations Excellence and Business Process Reengineering.

He has strong Middle East & Africa cultural affinity having had the opportunity to work in regional leadership roles for a selection of large regional and multinational organizations in the supply chain & logistics, automotive, pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors since he first arrived in the Middle East in 1997.

Peter is a Six Sigma and LEAN practitioner and has a Bachelor of Engineering from the Institute of Automotive Engineering in the Netherlands where he specialised in Supply Chain Management. He is also a Postgraduate from the University of Humberside & Lincolnshire in England where he specialised in European Business Studies.

The organisations Peter has worked for include:

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Availability:

  • Interim/Project Management: Available
  • Advisory: Available

 

Creating Sustainable & Profitable Consumer-Centric Retail Environments

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Retail & Mall Management

“Creating Sustainable and Profitable Consumer Centric Retail Environments”

 

The rapid pace of change in the region creates significant opportunities, challenges and complex decisions for both the retailers and mall developers. In this highly competitive environment, it is key to research and plan strategically to focus on performance, sustainability, growth and maximize ROI.

At Accelerate Evolution, defined by our spirit of enterprise and shared sense of initiative, the team has in-depth knowledge and practical “hands-on” experience & understanding of the processes that underpin a successful retail or mall management operation. Working with our global and regional network, we create bespoke solutions and strategies that suit your needs and budget and accelerate your success.

We work primarily in the GCC & broader MENA region with established businesses, retailers, developers and start-ups and our focus is on delivering a professional and broad scope of services providing a compelling customer experience with a personal touch.

Our comprehensive range of services cover:

Retail Operations Management

  • Brand Representation
  • Logistics & Distribution
  • Franchising Assistance
  • Leasing
  • Retail Operations
  • Retail Strategies
  • Visual Merchandising
  • Marketing

Mall Management

  • Client Representation
  • Site Analysis (Circulation, way finding & navigation, sight lines, opportunities and challenges)
  • Leasing Strategy (Space planning, tenant mix, adjacencies, revenue estimates, layout/unit configuration, BOH requirements)
  • Retail Leasing
  • Leasing documentation, processes and administration
  • Tenant Handling
  • Tenant coordination
  • Marketing

We also provide Interim Management solutions to support your day-to-day retail or mall management operations.

Please click here to find out more about our Retail & Mall management service offering.

Andy Bradbury – Founder & Partner

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Andy has 20+ years of ‘hands on’ senior management experience in business operations and is a globally networked, multicultural leader experienced in developing, enhancing, and expanding Businesses across the M.E.N.A., E.U. and S.E.A. regions.

Andy specializes in Strategy Design, Change Management and driving product distribution expansion and operational excellence for life sciences, FMCG, energy and retail businesses. Andy is recognized for his ability to drive change and enhance business operations.

One of Andy’s more notable career assignments was to manage the Joint Venture relationship between a leading pharmaceutical company and the organization that had been established to primarily take care of the operational management and performance of a finished goods re-packaging plant located in Canlubang, Laguna Philippines. Prior to this assignment Andy was the client-facing lead for the 3PL engaged by a large UK-based pharmaceutical manufacturer and responsible for the project co-coordination and to operationalise the contract for Warehousing and Distribution services for the GCC region.

Andy was also instrumental in the establishment of the regional supply chain footprint for a large British retail organization in the MENA region. This included setting up and building a fashion product supply chain and warehousing operation, cold-chain food distribution and managing exponential growth of the business.

Andy established the Practice in 2012 based on his fundamental values and global management experience with a vision to impart this experience and knowledge to develop solutions and deliver significant value to Client organizations in the MEA region.

Since he created Accelerate Evolution, Andy has been involved with a number of advisory, interim & project management assignments. These engagements range from providing hands-on change management support during significant office footprint rationalization projects for organizations in the legal and insurance business through sales development engagements at logistics organizations to strategy development work for government organizations.

Andy has personally been engaged on an interim & project management basis overseeing the construction, and the project management of the operational fit-for-purpose readiness activities for a number of warehousing facilities in Saudi Arabia and the UAE working with prominent Saudi and UAE based business entities and multinational organizations alike.

Andy has a depth of experience and knowledge at all levels of management that allows him to quickly identify challenges and drive remedial changes in a fast and efficient manner.

To complement his unquestionable senior management experience, Andy also studied for and gained a Masters Degree in Professional Consultancy, an industry wide recognized professional qualification, in London, UK.

Andy’s hobbies and interests are a reflection of his personality. As a qualified SCUBA Diving Instructor he gains a great deal of personal satisfaction by imparting his knowledge onto his students. Andy also enjoys kite surfing, which demonstrates his natural ability to perform under extreme pressure.

Some of the companies Andy worked with:

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Stuart Waters | Senior Associate

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Stuart has over 20 years of practical people management and development experience attained within the Telco, IT, O&G, Finance and Travel sectors. He has worked in geographically dispersed environments across China, Philippines, UK and UAE, dealing with both insourced and outsourced workforce scenarios.

Having worked in numerous multicultural, multilingual environments, Stuart’s keen eye for process improvement, natural flexibility and “sleeves rolled up” approach have proven essential assets to achieving successful outcomes in often challenging circumstances.

Stuart’s key skills include the ability to recruit, train and manage the ongoing professional development of a variety of work forces, ranging from unskilled workers to highly technical staff, ensuring they remain effective, fit-for-purpose members of the team at all times. More recently in the UAE, Stuart has become increasingly involved with a number of projects focused on driving localization of the workforce within large MNCs. Stuart is passionate about this hugely interesting challenge and believes it is one that all companies across the GCC must embrace today if they are to continue to be regionally successful in the future.

When not on his soapbox, Stuart is a keen Petrol Head. He has many classic car restorations under his belt and is now turning his hand to the world of 4X4s…..when he has the time. Of course, being a father to a 3 year old means that time is always in short supply!

Paul Canham | Senior Associate

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Paul has over 20 years experience in running supply chains and implementing supply chain solutions in various size organisations in MEA, UK, Western Europe and Asia Pacific. Paul’s key skills include business process design, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and key market-facing processes of Consensus Sales Forecasting and Distribution Requirements Planning (DRP).

Paul thrives on implementing robust, practical solutions for clients using his balanced combination of People, Process and Systems skills. Paul’s focus is helping clients to evolve disparate departments and functions into teams that work together to unlock supply chain benefits in a structured and repeatable way.

Paul’s biggest achievements professionally include implementation of supply chain system solutions in Australasia for an FMCG client and integration change management following a merger for a blue-chip multinational across MEA.

His proudest moment recently has been going back to basics with a pharmaceuticals client by developing a simple but extremely powerful mechanism for identifying capacity bottlenecks in factories across the globe from Cairo to North Carolina to Cape Town. Indeed this latest deliverable maintained Paul’s reputation earned with the client of “If anyone can, Canham can…”

Whilst Paul has not thrown himself out of a plane voluntarily or tunnelled any closer to the centre of the Earth than necessary – preferring instead to improve his DIY and parenting skills at weekends in that order – Paul’s colleagues and acquaintances know he has a cutting sense of humour and brings a smile and camaraderie to any assignment.

Articles published by Paul include:

Prevent or Cure, “Minimising Inventory-holding Risk in the Pharmaceuticals Supply Chain”

Paul is currently on a long-term assignment at the Nawah Energy Company in Abu Dhabi

Myra Searle | Associate (Alum)

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Myra has 30+ years of UK & International experience in retail and mall management and has worked in the Gulf region since 1995.

Myra has extensive knowledge in store operations, regional training, franchising, brand representation, commercial real estate, theme park retail, shopping centre management & leasing.

Myra worked her way up within the retail industry and held senior Management positions for several blue chip companies such as Alders, Burberry and BHS and has worked in numerous countries on franchise assignments and business development.

Myra first arrived in the Middle East in 1995 as Gulf Operations Manager in Kuwait for M.H.Alshaya, one of the region’s leading retailers, for whom she handled brands such as Oasis, Oshkosh and Liz Claiborne & BHS.

In 1998, she joined Jawad, another major retailer, based in Bahrain, and later that year relocated to Dubai to set up a new franchise fashion division for the company’s brands, including Wallis, Adams, Richards, Monsoon, Accessorize and Miss Selfridge.

Later, requested and appointed by the Government of Dubai – Real Estate to run one of its shopping malls, overseeing all leasing and legal documentation, tenant relocations, advertising and marketing, fit out inspections, trouble-shooting, as well as manage the leasing of residential and commercial office space within the development.

In 2004, Myra was appointed Senior Vice President of Retail for the Ilyas & Mustafa Galadari Group, assuming responsibility for the retail management of the Mall of Arabia (4 million sq ft GLA), Wadi Walk (1.2 million sq ft) and the IMG World of Adventures Theme Park. This entails all aspects of design development, licensing and lease documentation, attending major toy fairs & liaising with licensed suppliers, product purchasing & manage client relations.

Her responsibilities also included managing the leasing & buying teams, attending licensee meetings and liaising with the architects and project teams & ensuring licensing terms & intellectual property rights are met.

Strategy & Business Transformation

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Strategy & Business Transformation

“Playing to Win – Developing a Winning Strategy”

 

Every day, companies compete with other companies to survive and succeed. Competitors have the same goal: to win. This is why management needs to think carefully about how to get ahead – businesses need to develop winning strategies.

It’s hard to do this. If the strategy is wrong (and this includes not thinking about strategy at all), a business will fall behind its rivals, and it may never recover its position. However, get strategy right, and an organization can pull ahead of the competition.

So, how does one develop a winning strategy? The Five Step Strategy Model framework used by the Accelerate Evolution team helps decision makers to select the right strategic approach for their organization. They can then make operational choices that support their strategy.

Our extended range of management support activities in Strategy & Business Transformation include:

Strategic Planning & Management

  • * Strategy review and audit
  • * Strategy development
  • * Strategy execution roadmap development
  • * Strategy deployment/execution support
  • * Business Start-up support – incl. of business plan development and  management support

 

Business Transformation

  • * Conceptualise transformation
  • * Current status assessment
  • * Design of future state
  • * Business case development
  • * Transformation roadmap development
  • * Develop/Manage transformation project
  • * Change management

 

Contact us to find out more about how we can help your organization transform its operations and develop a Winning Strategy.

Business Operations Management

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Business Operations Management

“Achieving operational excellence through connecting People, Processes and Systems”

 

Ensuring People, Processes and Systems are working together in harmony to achieve positive and sustainable results, is fundamental to the long term success of any organization. Our Associates support organizations who have temporary operations management requirements on an interim basis.

We deploy interim COO’s, CEO’s and functional managers in a variety of businesses to fill gaps and to provide support and bandwidth in times of heightened activity.

Accelerate Evolution Associates also help businesses with building Operations Excellence programs, driving Continuous Improvement projects and implementing ERP systems both in project lead roles as well as on a subject-matter-expert basis.

A selection of our specialty areas of expertise in Business Operations Management include:

 

Operations Management

  • * Production, Operations, Service & Maintenance Management
  • * Interim COO/CEO
  • * Customer Service support

 

Advisory & Project Support

 

Click here to contact us to discuss your Business Operations Management requirements.