Christopher Hebdon, Country Manager

Christopher Hebdon

Country Manager

THE One

Location
Kuwait - Al Kuwait
Education
Bachelor's degree, Business Administration
Experience
35 years, 8 Months

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Work Experience

Total years of experience :35 years, 8 Months

Country Manager at THE One
  • Kuwait - Al Kuwait
  • My current job since August 2014

• Full accountability for financial, personnel, operational and logistic aspects of the business in Kuwait, reporting directly to the Dubai Head Office.
• Managed the business through the impacts of Covid 19 and back to positive growth.
• Completed a 2-year refit program of the portfolio in Kuwait.
• Established Online processes, delivering significant growth over the last 12 months
• Delivered significant improvements in operational standards, customer service performance, cost controls, logistics and availability levels
• Recognized for the most improved Great Place To Work team in the business.

Operations Manager at The Sultan Center
  • Kuwait - Al Kuwait
  • October 2012 to July 2014

• Coached and mentored the development of senior store managers
• Established and implemented Standard Operating Procedures within the stores across the group, coaching store managers to deliver these procedures.
• Key influence in developing and formatting the Group Operations Business Plan.
• Consultant on the operational plan for online delivery
• Delivered full store refit program
• Developed a fresh food value added convenience range.

Senior Store manager at Makro
  • United Kingdom
  • January 2011 to September 2012

• Tasked with turning around the loss-making business which was in a critical position and in a tough competitive market.
• Responsible for leading a team of 170 staff and 15 managers in a 108, 000 sq. ft store.
• Lead the store through a complete staffing restructure, stock reduction process and strategic repositioning of the business.
• Turned around the loss-making food service business, developing a format and strategy which lead to significant growth in both sales and profit.
• Developed and implemented a marketing plan to align the business and compete within the local marketplace, completing a turnaround of the business from loss to profit.

Regional Manager at Tesco Maintenance, Scotland
  • United Kingdom
  • August 2010 to January 2011

• Lead a team integrating the ‘Maintenance One’ Company, which had been purchased by Tesco, into Tesco Maintenance and managing the in-store technicians across Central and Northern Scotland
• Developed new working structures and processes for the in-store technicians, which improved coverage and utilization of the in-store technicians
• Developed new working schedules for the team which reduced weekend call out costs to third party operators by over 50% each month
• Managed the winter weather impacts across all Scotland and Northern England.

Various at Tesco
  • United Kingdom
  • February 1988 to January 2010

• Lead several new store developments, major refit projects and turned around several under-performing stores as a store manager
• Supported the development of Tesco Online, establishing operational process for delivery from stores.
• Played a significant role in the development of the City Center Metro format development in Scotland
• Carried out training and development roles, systems management, store management across all formats from city center metro stores to large hypermarket size stores and onto regional management roles.
• Key role in the development of fresh food standards across butchery, bakery, restaurants, fish, produce and delicatessen
• A lead coach in a key business leadership change program

Education

Bachelor's degree, Business Administration
  • at University Of The People
  • August 2020

Achieved Honors Award

Specialties & Skills

Delivering Results
Leading People
Strategic Planning
Business Change Management
Customer Focus
CLOSING
COACHING
CUSTOMER SERVICE
IN SALES
MARKETING
YEAR SALES
Performance management
Budgeting, forecasting
Team building
Cost control
Disciplinary and grievance

Social Profiles

Personal Website
Personal Website

URL removed due to policy violation. Please contact support for further information.

Languages

Arabic
Beginner

Memberships

British Business Forum
  • Member
  • September 2015

Training and Certifications

Retail Business Improvement Program, University of Manchester Business School (Certificate)
Date Attended:
January 2001
Valid Until:
October 2001
CAMs Level 1 Basic Arabic (Certificate)
Date Attended:
September 2013
Valid Until:
January 2014

Hobbies

  • Travelling
    • Love to travel around the globe, with a definite preference to hot countries, traveled around the Middle East, Southern Europe, Far East, and Americas
  • Online Business
    • Played a major part in establishing a successful online business run by my wife
  • Running
    • An active runner completing a 60km ultra-thon, 3 marathons and several other mid distance races for charity last year.