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Best High-End Hypermarket 2017 - MENA
Editor’s Note
, Welcome to the 2017 Kuwait Enterprise Awards Business in Kuwait is one to watch. It is dynamic and innovative; and the individuals who operate within this diverse country can obtain goals that others had deemed unreachable. Which is why, we have created the 2017 Kuwait Enterprise Awards. These awards are designed to recognise the exceptionally hardworking, dedicated firms and individuals from their respected industries across Kuwait.
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Contents
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Contents 04. Best High-End Hypermarket 2017 - MENA Company: Saveco 07. Best Event Production Company 2017 & Innovation Award for 360 Inflatable Projection Dome Venues 2017 Company: Gemini Worldwide 08. Best International School 2017 Company: American International School 10. Best International Luxury Hotel Resort Chain 2017 Jumeirah Messilah Beach Hotel & Spa
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Best High-End Hypermarket 2017 - MENA SAVECO is an all-inclusive-one-stop mega store within the State of Kuwait, and will soon be rolled out throughout the gulf region. We invited Founder Noor Faisal Nasar Al Qatami to talk us through the firm and how it works to achieve excellence in every aspect of its work. Established in 2013, today Saveco encompasses both online retail services and physical stores based across Kuwait. Noor discusses the company in more detail and outlines how the stores work to ensure customers receive both choice and value for money.
French Bakery for the mothers and fathers. These amenities make it an amazing shopping experience for everyone, with everything from juicing shops, perfume stores, florists, to a nut butter service where a customer can come in and make their own fresh nut butters that are available in ten different flavors, and much more.”
“At Saveco, our retail stores offer a vast range of products and services. Under the pioneering leadership of the parent company, along with high calibre Managers and dedicated employees, Saveco immediately flourished, and played a major role in becoming the leading market in organic and specialty products. Our product range includes top quality supermarket goods, home accessories, electronics, home appliances, fashion apparel, accessories and toys.
Staying ahead of the competition is vital in any business, particularly retail, and as such Noor and her team work to remain at the forefront of the latest trends, as she explains.
“Thanks to this vast array of products, Saveco is a destination store as it has something for everyone in the family. It has a toy store and play area for kids. The Food Academy for couples, kids, and cooking fanatics, as well as a restaurant, Saveco Food Kitchen, and The
“Most of our marketing is dependent on our social media accounts- Instagram nearly 300 thousand followers, Facebook nearly 30,000 followers and Twitter and YouTube. We use the Mention Service – an easyto-use media monitoring tool that lets us track social mentions, analyze competitors, find influencers, and generate leads. This also helps us to stay ahead of the competition. “The Kuwaiti community has adopted the healthy living and eating trend, which is our speciality. We are focused on diet, free from and specialty
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foods and have the largest variety of these specialty foods. It is in our motto to promote healthy living; ‘Saveco, a way of life’. “There has been a demand on online shopping in Kuwait. We have an increase of approximately 70 new customer sign ups to our website per week. Our online shopping experience is a rare commodity in Kuwait as not all our competitors have online shopping. Even though our stores operate 24 hours a day, we believe we should provide the customer with a delivery service that will fulfil their grocery requirements within their busy days, from the convenience of their homes. Saveco Online Service, an ultra-convenient option, is just a phone call or WhatsApp message away. We deliver nearly everything available in our stores within a 4 hour time frame from placing the order or the customer can choose a specific time slot and date for the products to be delivered. Through WhatsApp the customers could send pictures of products to inquire about their availabilities or even place an order.” In retail, where customer service is vital, employees are critical to
any company’s success, and the same is true for Saveco. Noor outlines how she works to ensure that her employees receive the support they need to ensure excellence for her customers at all times. “Fundamentally, Saveco’s biggest and most important asset is the Employees and management. We invest in our employees as they are all members of the Saveco Family. Every person within the entity is important and provides an additional touch to Saveco, which is why the company in return treats them with the utmost respect. We know that the strength of our business comes from our people and that developing their potential is key to our growth. A range of learning and development programs includes individual coaching, mentoring and structured courses exist at every level across the business to support our vision of growth. “Our suppliers also help in educating our staff about their product ranges. We take our employees mostly from the local market, and therefore what we get is local hypermarket employee standard, which is not
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the Saveco standard. Therefore, it is always vital to constantly teach our skilled employees and help them grow with us. We encourage our employees to move up the ladder as they gain experience with us and take more leading roles in the business. We do employee workshops and invest further in educating our employees to gain the required skills to help answer all our customers concerns in a number of languages.” It is these employees, combined with the quality the company prides itself on, that marks Saveco out as the best option for its shoppers. “The quality of our service and store is premium and is rare to find in the Middle East. We had built our stores in Kuwait as a Kuwaiti idea and entity. We have produced our own protocols and store manuals, and we are proud to say that we have received ISO 9001:2015 and ISO
22000:2005 certifications and we are HACCP certified. We do not compare ourselves with local standards, but with international standards. Our standards of hygiene are higher than hospitals in Kuwait, as we are applying strict regulations to monitor and follow up the overall building and ambient conditions. We are proud to say that our customers and suppliers have continuously stated that we have exceptional quality, and we are even more proud that we are a Kuwaiti concept. “In addition, part of what differentiates Saveco from other businesses in Kuwait is that we truly believe in excellence in customer service and we listen to our customers’ needs and requirements. We provide free delivery to our customers in Kuwait, listen and educate our customers, a huge range of Free from items for customers with allergies, a pleasant shopping experiences with excellent
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Best High-End Hypermarket 2017 - MENA
prices, a children’s playing area for a minimal fee, a member’s savings box which gives our customers with 2% rebate on purchases.” Overall, building upon Saveco’s current success and growing even further is the company’s ongoing focus, as Noor is proud to conclude. “Within the span of 36 months from 10th March 2014, Saveco has become a house hold name in Kuwait. Saveco has raised the eyebrows of its competitors and has gained the attention of international players. We are a young company, but we compete like the big firms. All our competitors’ executive management members have visited the stores from their main international headquarters in Dubai and France. The company and its leadership have won numerous awards and have been categorized as the number one in their respective industries.
“Moving forward, we have a very aggressive growth plan which is detailed in the projected financial plan. With its clear vision and fuelled with its escalating annual revenues, Saveco is constructively following its targeted business plan. The company has great potential and demand to expand within Kuwait and internationally. There are currently plans to open two to three stores in 2017 and the same amount of stores for the next two years both inside and outside the State of Kuwait.
Contact: Mrs. Noor Faisal Nasar Al Qatami, Chief Executive Officer Address: 4th Ring Road, Al Rai, Block 1, Building 18A, Nurseries Area, Kuwait Phone: +965 1821050 Email: nalqatami@saveco.com Website: www.saveco.com
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Best Event Production Company 2017 & Innovation Award for 360 Inflatable Projection Dome Venues 2017 Gemini specializes in delivering visual multimedia internationally renowned entertainment, incorporating the most advanced technologies to produce a variety of events. We invited Faisal Amir to tell us more about the success of the company. Formerly based in the UK, Gemini is without doubt one of the most recognizable faces in the events industry. The firm is an internationally renowned entertainment, multimedia designer and producer specializing in delivering customized turnkey solutions for world class events, incorporating the most advanced technologies to produce events ranging from an intimate Gala Dinner to some of the most spectacular multimedia installations around the world. Faisal outlines the range of services the firm offers and how all staff are well equipped to meet the demands of clients, embracing the motto developed by the company. “By embracing a broad spectrum of technologies, at Gemini we ensure that our staff are up to speed to provide the best possible services for all our clients, with more than 30 years of combined creative talents in the entertainment industry we push the limits and think out of the box when translating ideas and concepts into reality. Faisal is keen to point out the vast experience the company boasts within the events industry and how the firm has been able to use this experience to develop
unique and innovative solutions and products. “Gemini are the founders and co-owners of the largest stock of one-of-a-kind proprietary 360 inflatable Projection Dome venues in the world. I am very proud of our achievements and our standing in the events industry. Our firm continues to produce unique innovative events, setting benchmarks and raising standards for corporate theme related and immersive installations worldwide.” “With our vast experience in managing new media technologies and event entertainment concepts, we have been around the world interfacing with every culture, integrating today’s digital and entertainment technologies into high impact spectacular artistic expressions onto a multitude of large scale environments.” Looking ahead, Faisal tells us about an upcoming project for the company which he is clearly very excited about, as it should prove fruitful for Gemini and the events industry in the future. “Ultimately, we have a roll out plan for expansion to serve clients and the events industry better. I am delighted to announce our new operation
named Monsta which has been tailored for the delivery of unique LED and AV services for the region. It is scheduled to become operational on 1st September 2017.”
Contact: Faisal Amir Position: Founder | CEO Contact Email: faisal@geminigulf.com Contact Number: 00965 66661123 Web Page: www.geminiworldwidellc.com
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Best International School 2017 American International School (AIS) is a thriving school providing a student-focused learning environment and an organization that is known to be mission-driven and highly engaged in the wider Kuwait community. David Botbyl, Superintendent, talks us through the school and how it works to support its students and prepare them for the lives they have ahead of them. In 1992, when Dr. Kamil Al Rayyes opened AIS within the Kuwait community, his hope was to offer both Kuwaiti and international students alike an education that would lead to either local or international post-high school learning. David explains how the school works to achieve this aim through its current approach. “At AIS, we represent a diverse learning community and are continuously focused on engaging students to graduate collegeready. From Kindergarten to grade 12, learning engagements require students to think deeply about the world around them, to inquire and debate, and asks them to take action to impact their local and global communities. Students use both traditional and progressive means to demonstrate their learning. We are committed to future-readiness and have invested heavily in our information technology infrastructure to create opportunities for both staff and students to engage and collaborate intensively inside of our school, but thoroughly take advantage of networking outside of the AIS campus. “As an International Baccalaureate World School we are part of a global network of premier schools offering a rigorous and balanced program of study. We offer three of the four IB Programmes: the
Primary Years Programme from Pre-K to grade 5, the Middle Years Programme from grades 6-10, and the Diploma Programme from grades 11 and 12. Each of the programmes provides our leadership and teaching staff a framework for how we deliver our educational program. Within this framework, we are able to connect our students to the local Kuwait context to ensure that they develop an appreciation for their local customs and traditions while expanding their knowledge from an international perspective. Indeed, internationalism is a driver of our educational philosophy and a reason why our parents choose our school from a vast and growing number of options in Kuwait.”
brings students together in large conferences across the globe.
Another key factor that sets the school apart is its balanced curriculum and student focus, as David is keen to highlight.
“Kuwait offers us a rich opportunity to provide our students with a stellar education mindful of culture and tradition. We embrace the development of multiple languages and provide students with a program in support of both the mother tongue (usually Arabic) and English. Students also have the opportunity to develop proficiency in the French language.
“AIS’s reputation as a school that nurtures and achieves balance through opportunities for students within, and as an extension of, the school day through athletics and activities is the reason why we stand out in the educational community in Kuwait. We offer a wide array of athletic activities and are upstanding members of both local and international athletic associations. Our activities include academic games and Model United Nations, a globally-recognized activity that
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“Our school’s arts programs are known throughout the country with our Band program having grown significantly in both number and quality in the past five years. Our Visual Arts program is annually recognized through a culminating art show designed and led by several of our grade 12 students and we annually celebrate our commitment to the Fine Arts Night by bringing together students across the school to celebrate the arts with our families and the community.” Being based in Kuwait offers the school many great opportunities which David is keen to showcase.
“The Kuwaiti culture is one we highlight throughout the school year in programming that celebrates the Arabic language and Kuwaiti holidays and commemorations. Our annual International Day
festival highlights the learning we embrace at AIS that is rooted in mutual understanding and learning from another’s perspective. Islamic traditions and the appreciation of one’s faith is also a significant part of the student and adult experience. We have a large staff of over 350 with over 200 of those coming to Kuwait from other countries. At AIS, we take pride in offering our international staff a lens to better understand our local Kuwaiti and Arabic culture and to be positively impacted from their international experience as a result. This broad intercultural experience that we offer at AIS opens doors and has certainly led us to see ourselves as the best international school in Kuwait.” Ultimately David is incredibly proud of the success AIS has achieved so far, and foresees ever greater prosperity moving forward, as he proudly concludes. “Overall, we are extremely proud of our school and the learning experiences we offer students each and every day. We value learning and understand that to become knowledgeable, we must in turn accept the challenges that we have in our journey to become educated. The hopes and dreams of our Founder, Dr. Al Rayyes have been realized and we take both our Mission and commitment to the larger Kuwait educational community seriously.”
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Company: American International School Contact: David Botbyl, Superintendent Contact Email: superintendent@ais-kuwait.org Phone: 00965 1 843 247 ext. 522 Website: www.ais-kuwait.org
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Best International Luxury Hotel Resort Chain 2017 Jumeirah Messilah Beach Hotel & Spa is regarded as among the most luxurious and innovative in the world and has won numerous international travel and tourism awards. We invited Ahmed Jarkass, Director of Business Development & Marketing, to tell us more about how the facility in Kuwait has achieved its exceptional reputation for excellence. Jumeirah Messilah Beach Hotel & Spa has successfully established a solid reputation as a oneof-a-kind destination due to the landmark’s beachfront location, proximity to major attractions, the airport and its full range of facilities, venues and services that suit both leisure and business travellers. The resort features impressive food and beverage options serving world-class dining experiences, elegantly appointed guest rooms offering unmatched comfort and privacy, as well as Talise Spa, which provides the ultimate experience in relaxation and rejuvenation. Ahmed summarises the team’s mission to us, explaining what steps the firm takes to reach their goals. “At the facility, our mission is to remain the hospitality industry leader in the State; we offer the highest standards of services and experience to our guests. Our guests’ individual needs are our number one focus and each of our team members are trained to ensure we deliver across every touch point throughout the hotel. By ensuring we have the right hospitality leaders in place, we can ensure we are focused on offering our guests an experience tailored to their needs.”
Marking the venue out as the best possible option for guests and visitors is essential, due to the growing levels of tourism within Kuwait. Ahmed discusses the venue’s guest-focused experience as a key factor in enticing new and returning visitors. This is not the only aspect however, as Ahmed also mentions how the resort can be tailored to various family groups, along with fascinating views and pools. Not just a holiday resort, Jumeirah Messilah can also cater for corporate guests in this technology dominated generation, as well as private parties. The resort really is suitable for all types of guests. “In addition to our service and guest-focused experience, Jumeirah Messilah offers a wide range of products and services that meet the needs of all our guests. For our leisure guests, we can accommodate big and small families alike via the resort’s Residential Suites, which range from one to three bedrooms with each offering tranquil views over the hotel’s sculptured gardens and sparkling swimming pool and a feeling of peace. With panoramic views of the glittering sea and the hotel gardens, the five-bedroom villa at Jumeirah Messilah Beach Hotel & Spa gives guests an unforgettable experience. Each villa provides a private car park and plunge pool to provide
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complete privacy and flexibility to guests. “Whereas our corporate guests are catered for via world-class facilities equipped with all the latest technology to meet business needs, our small meeting rooms are ready-made for brainstorming or board meetings. Our state-ofthe-art Badriah Ballroom, which measures 1,950 square meters, is a venue for every event or occasion. We also provide guests, a detailed terms and conditions for various products and services, including stay, dine and relax. Our resort is suitable for all guest types and we strive to exceed customer expectations.” Ensuring staff are happy is integral to providing the best service within the hospitality industry. Customer service is vital and so staff must be wellequipped to deliver the best service to visitors. Ahmed talks us through the recruitment system in place at the resort, making sure team members work hard to guarantee guests will return. “It is important for us that our staff believe in Jumeirah’s vision and put our client’s needs at the center of what they do. It takes a special person to work in hospitality and at the high level of standards that we expect, and so we are very diligent during our hiring process
to ensure that we are recruiting the right person for the right role. By ensuring that we have the strongest team, we are able to deliver the guest experience that we are known for, and continue to exceed expectations each time our guests stay with us. “Management ensure that our staff are happy and is reflected upon welcoming our guests with a smile to make them feel welcomed and at home. With our guests, we strive to have them come back and enjoy the world-class service and hospitality that the resort offers.” Ultimately, already an attractive destination, Jumeirah Messilah Beach Hotel & Spa will continue to tailor its offers and services to ensure guests get the maximum value from their stay, as it establishes its position as the leading resort within the region, as Ahmed concludes. “Fundamentally, we are committed to being the industry leader and will continue to tailor our products, services, promotions and offers to suit our guests and strengthen our position as the preferred hospitality destination in Kuwait.”
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Company: Jumeirah Contact: Ahmed Jarkass Contact Email: Carol.Roncoletta@jumeirah.com Address: Al Ta’awun Street, Kuwait City, 13036, Kuwait Phone: 96596964308 Website: www.jumeirah.com
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