“Without reservation, recommend their services”
“Fawaz AI Hokair Real Estate is one of the largest Retail Real Estate Developers / Managers in the Middle East, representing 11 major properties and approximately 600,000m² GLA. We are also an affiliate of Fawaz AI Hokair Retail, the regions largest fashion retail company, representing over 60 international brands (including Inditex and GAP) through 1,200 retail units.
We have been conducting recruitment in association with RMC continually for 3 years now, and have successfully interviewed and recruited some of the premier talent from the international market.
It has been our experience that RMC has been able to source and deliver senior management resource from around the world, predominately from Europe, in line with our specific requirements and on a timely basis.
RMC, under the guidance of James Logie, took efforts to understand the Middle East marketplace, have visited and researched the environment and been able to judge the suitability of candidates to a finite level, ensuring efficient use of time and resources in finding appropriate candidates.
It is my considered opinion that in my eight years tenure in the region that RMC has been the most diligent, and thereby the most successful with our organisation in meeting the groups needs, and would therefore, without reservation, recommend their services to others.”
Simon Wilcock
Chief Executive Officer
Cenomi Group ↗
Pioneering Leisure & Shopping in KSA
As the mall management arm of Fawaz Al Hokair Real Estate, Cenomi (formerly Arabian Centres) owns and operates the largest network of shopping centres and complexes in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).
But it wasn’t always this way.
Against a background of a rapidly developing retail sector in KSA, a pronounced skills-gap at all levels and across most operational disciplines naturally developed. In this context, developing and managing effective operational teams is not at all straightforward and demands exceptionally strong leadership and direction of senior executives. Identifying senior executives with the technical, commercial, and managerial skills to succeed in this environment was large part of the challenge handed to RMC.
Just as it is today, the issue of retaining talent in fast-growing economies is also an issue, and is a major challenge for companies in KSA. Candidates arriving from the west are frequently under-prepared for the major cultural differences they face on arrival, and subsequently sudden resignations can be frustratingly common. Preparing candidates for the true realities of living and working in KSA was identified as key to improving retention levels, and so became a critical part of the brief.
RMC invested in a series of visits to KSA and the region to spend time within the Al Hokair business, carefully learning its culture and values whilst experiencing at first hand those of the Kingdom itself. By doing so, RMC was able to effectively ensure that candidates had realistic expectations of the opportunity, the company and the environmental issues they would face on the ground. We ensured that they went in with their eyes wide open and retention of key senior talent became less challenging as a result.
RMC has successfully placed a significant number of senior European executives into the ranks at Cenomi, including the appointment of the General Manager of the Kingdom's largest retail destination and Deputy COO to jointly deliver ambitious growth and development targets.