bringing business to business
C-StoreForum 2020
C-StoreForum 2020
February 3-4, 2020
Hyatt Regency, Dubai
Hyatt Regency, Dubai | February 3-4, 2020
What is the key factor driving growth in the convenience sector across the Middle East, Africa and Asia?
Urbanisation? Aging populations? Smaller households? Greater disposable income? Or a more complex mixture of this and more?
We can see multichannel retailers are investing heavily in new concepts to capitalise on this trend with in-store restaurants, food-to-go, fresh, pharmacies and store franchises becoming commonplace.
With the landscape evolving at a break-neck pace, C-StoreForum is a unique event that allows you to take stock of market dynamics in just two days. Invite-only, it gives you the tools and know-how to create a more successful business, focusing on streamlining processes and developing strategies for future growth.
OpenRoom’s signature one-to-one meetings format enables people and businesses to connect, identify opportunities and explore new solutions. With networking at the heart of the event and endless opportunities to spend time with peers and partners from across the region, you’ll leave with a recipe for business success and a contact book that bursts at the seams.

Taleb Al Saleh, Director, Retail Marketing, ENOC
Chair, Taleb Al Saleh, Director, Retail Marketing, ENOC,
Chairing the conference will be Taleb Al Saleh. Taleb is the Director of Retail Marketing at ENOC. Alongside fuel stations, ENOC is behind the leading homegrown convenience-store chain in the UAE, ZOOM.

Laurent Guitart
CEO, Circle K UAE
Keynote, Laurent Guitart, CEO, Circle K UAE
Leveraging the rapidly changing convenience store: From Grocery to Gourmet
Laurent Guitart has more than 21 years of retail experience and a wealth of knowledge across all retail formats. He joined the Circle K team in 2015 with a program of change which resulted in a substantial increase in both revenues and margin, and a streamlining of supplier partners. In 2017 and 2018, Circle K was awarded Best Retail Convenience Chain across the UAE.
Laurent has continued to grow the business and has overseen a rise in customer numbers from 4.6 to 6 million per annum. He is passionate about improving the customer journey and since 2017, has initiated a cashless program across all its branches. Laurent graduated from Rive Gauche University in France and has been a resident of Dubai for the past 13 years.

Darren Smith & Robert Onion
Speaker, Darren Smith & Robert Onion ,
Refreshing the offer: Mapping the process for refreshing the Freshplus customer offer and retail brand
Darren Smith is the senior manager of retail marketing at Emarat. He has 30 years’ retail experience both in the UK and the Middle East, from hypermarkets to forecourt convenience stores. He has conceptualized and developed several retail concepts including franchise businesses.
Robert is the founder of Circle. Before setting up the company he worked in several leading brand and design agencies internationally, including in the USA and Spain. He is a regular speaker on branding and design for the fuel retail sector and a leading expert in fuel retailing in the Middle East.

Satish Zope
Head of Petroleum & Digital Payment Business, AGS Transact Technologies
Ignite Session, Satish Zope, Head of Petroleum & Digital Payment Business, AGS Transact Technologies
An expert in Retail and Supply Chain Management Technology, Satish has played a significant role across several positions he has held in his career spanning over 23 years. At AGSTTL, Satish has led many industry-first initiatives such as Fastlane, making a contribution towards the automation & digitization of the Indian fuel retail industry.
Prior to joining AGSTTL in 2010, Satish was associated with Mountain Technologies and Processbiz Technologies Inc. as the Head of Business Development where he successfully managed the growing demand for retail automation and CRM solution across the retail and oil & gas industry. He has also been instrumental in driving several innovative projects in India.
Satish is a post-graduate in Business Management from the University of Pune. In his free time, Satish can be found listening to old classical songs or playing cricket.

Tu Vu Thanh
CEO, 7-Eleven Vietnam
Testimonial, Tu Vu Thanh, CEO, 7-Eleven Vietnam
The forum was a great opportunity to connect, engage and share with industry experts and peers. We met several potential supplier partners at the event who will be able to help us grow our business. We look forward to participating and contributing in future events.

Ong Chee Jern
General Manager, Xpress Point
Testimonial, Ong Chee Jern, General Manager, Xpress Point
An insightful forum and key to understanding future trends for the CVS industry. The information and networking session were a great help for exploring new business opportunities. I would highly recommend this kind of event to any business associate that wants to grow their business in the region.

Ideas worth sharing
Ignite Session, Ideas worth sharing,
Short, sharp sessions to ignite your curiosity

45-second insights
Elevator Pitches, 45-second insights,
Giving delegates the opportunity to pitch their business to a captive audience and make themselves memorable.
Event Partners
Franke Coffee Systems
Franke Coffee Systems is a world-leading solution provider for professional coffee making. The product range includes fully automatics, semi-automatics, traditionals, capsule machines, and specialty craft brewers. Our passion for the best coffee quality motivates us to elevate the customer experience through state-of-the-art innovations.
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