Rachad Hajjar

- Participating in multiple shopping mall development projects including the construction of Beirut City Centre, design of Waterfront City Centre and assessment of new potential malls

- Monitored the implementation of Beirut City Centre, a shopping mall of around 63, 000m2 GLA located in Beirut - Lebanon:
o Coordinated between the different parties of the project
o Monitored the project financials including construction cost, lease income and profitability
o Reviewed multiple design issues including lighting, signage, roads network and others
o Negotiated multiple procurement packages
o Conducted several analysis including catchment area, traffic, utilities cost and others
o Reported the project status to senior management
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- Currently monitoring the design development of Waterfront City Centre, a shopping mall of around 63, 000m2 located in Dbayeh - Lebanon

- Conducting pre-development assessments related to potential new shopping malls including: due diligence, catchment area analysis, definition of design criteria and merchandising mix, feasibility study, project financing and others

- Assisted the landlord of a 750, 000m2 plot located on the northern coast of Lebanon in the development of a mixed-use project
- Participated in the definition of the development strategy (i.e. partnership, phasing, others)
- Analyzed multiple aspects of the project including catchment area and master planning
- Prepared feasibility studies for potential anchor projects

- Assisted the CEO in monitoring and developing the different activities of ABC

- Launched the 2nd phase of the expansion of ABC Dbayeh department store through the development of design criteria, feasibility study and the appointment of consultants and contractors

- Participated in the assessment of potential new shopping centers through the preparation of feasibility studies and several analysis such as JV structure and implementation approach

- Defined and implemented ABC strategic planning system ensuring coherence between the corporate strategy, yearly work-plans and budgets prepared by the different business units

- Conducted several analysis related to the existing business (i.e. target rent by tenant, energy consumption, others)

- Followed-up on behalf of the CEO on multiple projects including: co-branded credit card, operational excellence, enhancement of the customers experience and others

- Managed the 1st phase of ABC Dbayeh expansion and renovation project
- Managed an in-house engineering team responsible for design and construction management
- Handled the project planning, coordination, cost management and contract administration
- Managed and respected the project schedule despite the faced complexities (i.e. works in an operational store, frequent design modifications, aging building, tight schedule / budget)
- Coordinated with consultants, contractors, owner and ABC departments
- Handled the cost management process including budget preparation and variance analysis, tendering process awarding more than 150 packages, variation orders and payments
- Guaranteed ABC rights by monitoring the contracts’ execution and management of claims
- Ensured a proper handing-over of the assets to ABC Operations
- Organized and monitored the implementation of more than 200 tenants
- Conducted all financial and qualitative analysis related to the project (i.e. feasibility study, financing structure, impact of space allocation on revenues, impact on parking space, other)

- Setup and managed the Financial Planning Unit responsible for strategic retail planning
- Managed a team of retail analysts who designed and implemented ABC strategic retail planning (strategy definition - merchandise and assortment planning - performance analysis)
- Sensitized and trained the buyers on pre-season strategy definition and postmortem reviews
- Designed and implemented merchandise and assortment planning procedures and tools
- Optimized the retail performance through the design and implementation of multiple monitoring processes and simulation tools:
- Increased the gross margin by defining markup guidelines and markdown optimization tools
- Ameliorated the space allocation through a close tracking of the performance by zone
- Ameliorated the pre-season sellout through a better monitoring of the supply chain
- Defined a regular and dynamic performance follow-up system enhancing the coordination between the buyers and sales teams and allowing quicker in-season corrective actions
- Conducted feasibility studies before the introduction of new brands and shop-in-shops
- Identified the industry Key Performance Indicators allowing benchmarking analysis

Designed as a freelance consultant a business process reengineering project for the organization and management of nature reserves declared by the Lebanese Ministry of Environment (ref. SISPAM project)

- Conducted a business process reengineering project to support ABC Ashrafieh Mall opening
- Optimized and documented business policies and procedures related to the retail activity covering buying, supply chain, selling operations and financial activities
- Defined the information system needs and coordinated with external IT consultants for the configuration and implementation of a new ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system
- Implemented the new management system through extensive change management initiatives
- Optimized the use of the company’s resources increasing its capacity (i.e. increased the warehousing capacity through a better space organization, zoning and planning)
- Reduced the processing time of multiple activities through automation and cancellation of redundancies (i.e. costing and pricing calculations, distribution and replenishment, etc.)

- Participated in multiple projects in strategy, business process reengineering (BPR), change management and institutional audits in different industries including construction, airfreight, public sector, insurance and banking
- Prepared financial and qualitative analysis for business assessment and acquisition projects
- Optimized and documented multiple processes in the context of BPR projects
- Trained clients’ key employees on new management systems in the context of change management projects
- Conducted extensive desk research, client interviews and data processing initiatives