World Retail Congress - leading retailers gather to discuss global franchising boom

Mohammed Alshaya, chairman of one of the Gulf's leading retail franchise groups, M.H.Alshaya, is one of the key presenters taking part in the special session on the "Reality of Franchising across the Globe". He will be speaking shortly after Alshaya opened its first H&M franchise outlet in Qatar.

Anchoring the session alongside Mohammed Alshaya will be Ben Gordon, CEO of one of the UK's most successful international retailers, Mothercare.

Their fellow contributors in the session will be; Alex Cara, director of Spain's fast-growing Cortefiel Group, Artur Grynbaum, Vice President of Brazil's biggest retailers, O Boticário, Massimo Piombini, Vice President Global Sales at international luxury brand, Bally Group, Ashish Sen Sama Vice President Consumer Sales at fashion brand, Mexx and Chris Wormald, Partner, Eversheds. They will all discuss the advantages and disadvantages of various business formats, how to select the right partners and establish the best structures to harness the benefits of franchising and expand global market share.

The session will be chaired by Michael Poynor, Managing Director of Retail Expertise, an international retail expert with executive experience at retailers such as C&A and Asda and who now also acts as Chief Retail Advisor to PWC. Whilst at Asda he was one of the two man team behind bringing in George Davies to launch the successful fashion brand 'George' for the UK supermarket chain.

Speaking about the session, he commented: "With both franchising and the emerging markets due to form two key themes for discussion at the World Retail Congress later this month, I would encourage all retailers that are currently considering opportunities for international growth to attend."

Mohammed Alshaya, Chairman, M.H. Alshaya Co. comments: " I am delighted to participate in this session, not only to advise on some of the challenges that we have faced, but also to come together as an industry with key policy makers to discuss how we can work together to overcome them for the future."

The World Retail Congress is a unique event created in cooperation with the retail industry, which will bring together the world's leading retailers to address and debate the key issues. With delegates drawn from 40 different countries around the globe, and a prestigious line up of 125 of the world's retail leaders, it will provide the sector with a clear and coherent voice that will be heard by the key influencer groups such as politicians and policy makers.

Beyond the business streams and plenary sessions, the Congress will boast sector and country pavilions dedicated to business critical issues, and the launch of the World Retail Awards, the first ever global awards focused on retail excellence, which will take place during the Congress at a gala dinner.

The congress is organised by Emap Communications, with Visa the Congress headline partner and KSA (Kurt Salmon Associates) as Awards headline partner. Co-sponsors are CBRE, Deloitte and Oracle.