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QA22_AG_Al Meera_Yousef Ali Al Obaidan

QATAR - Industry

Yousef Ali Al Obaidan

CEO, Al Meera

Bio

The CEO of Al Meera, Yousef Ali Al Obaidan brings extensive experience to his position, having previously held several senior executive roles across Qatar’s largest establishments. Under his leadership, Al Meera Group has witnessed robust performances and made tremendous strides, including rapid expansion into various parts of Qatar, introducing innovative technologies to enhance operational procedure,
and improving customer shopping experiences. A graduate of finance from California State University and a holder of Master of Arts in integrated marketing and communications, his career spans portfolios in Qatar’s business and investment sector.

Al Meera’s initiatives in line with Qatar National Vision 2030’s sustainability goals include eco-friendly initiatives such as partnerships with recyclers and reverse vending machines.

Al Meera was involved in the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Overall, how beneficial was this event for Al Meera?

We were extremely proud to participate in the World Cup at an early stage. We had worked closely with FIFA and signed an agreement with the FIFA licensees to sell World Cup merchandise for the event as early as May 2021, and exclusively for select merchandise. To ensure the success of this national event, we took part in meetings regularly with government entities to anticipate and resolve potential issues, such as a lack of certain services or products. Together, we identified certain areas where fans may not have access to a supermarket for their daily needs and subsequently built 10 strategically located temporary branches that sold all their possible daily needs as well as official FIFA merchandise. We are extremely proud of this. Moreover, we extended the working hours for all the stores to accommodate the different times fans and visitors conduct their shopping.

Can you outline Al Meera’s digital transformation journey?

Digital transformation is one of the main drivers of Al Meera. With that being said, we are very proud to open the first checkout free store in Qatar. We have been in talks with many companies around the world in search for the best and most effective solutions and technology available in the market. We strive to continue introducing new digital experiences in the retail industry in Qatar. Overall, we are pleased to adapt the best technology to accommodate our customers’ needs in the future. We aim to set a positive example as a publicly traded company through exercising caution, and, therefore, every decision we make aligns with financial prudence and ensures a satisfactory return on investment for our stakeholders.

How does Al Meera remain aligned with the sustainability pillar of the Qatar National Vision 2030?

Al Meera is involved in many initiatives in line with Qatar National Vision 2030. As Qatar’s national retailer with the widest accessibility, we continue to introduce new initiatives to facilitate environment friendly practices for our customers. A few examples of our initiatives include our partnership with a local partner that recycles all the paper and cardboard across all branches and the introduction of a reverse vending machines in 2019 across select branches, making it easy for customers to recycle their plastic bottles and aluminum cans while being rewarded with loyalty points. We are working to implement more initiatives as well as, such as the e-waste stations, to raise greater awareness about the importance of these initiatives in the community. We are collaborating with a consulting firm with the aim of evolving from a shareholding company to becoming part of the ESG or organized listed companies. This could potentially attract significant investments from ESG-focused funds to Al Meera.

Al Meera is the biggest retail chain in Qatar, with almost 70 branches. What strategies does Al Meera use when expanding the company?

On a local scale, it is essential to ensure that the financial viability aligns with social responsibility principles during expansion. We recently opened new stores in a remote area called Al Karaana, a small town with a small population. These are smaller retail outlets to serve smaller communities outside of Doha. In coordination with municipalities and government entities, it is important to keep up with urban development and ensure that everyone has access to their needs in their neighborhood. This is only one part of our expansion, as we are currently building three similar new stores. We also have plans for several new branches that vary by size, depending on the community needs. We are extremely ambitious in terms of growing the business, expanding to new areas as the population grows and new neighbor-hoods continue to grow in population, with intentions to extend our reach in Oman as well, following the recent addition of two branches, bringing the total number of branches in Oman to seven

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