Yasir Arfat, Head of Retail Operations & Projects

Yasir Arfat

Head of Retail Operations & Projects

Iqbal Foods INC

Location
United Arab Emirates - Dubai
Education
Higher diploma, Post Graduate Diploma, Marketing & Sales Management-
Experience
24 years, 11 Months

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Work Experience

Total years of experience :24 years, 11 Months

Head of Retail Operations & Projects at Iqbal Foods INC
  • Canada - Toronto
  • My current job since June 2023

• Manage daily operations including financials, customer service, human resources, IT systems, marketing, and sales
• Member of Strategy committee to finalize site selection, feasibility studies, store layout, asset ordering and implementation
• Collaborated with executive team members to develop long-term business plans and strategies
• Review Financial Performance- Budgeting & P&L Accounting statement and use financial performance data to increase profitability
• Implement and manage operational plans, playing significant role in long-term planning, including initiative geared toward operational excellence
• Manages Ecommerce department (Instacart, Uber and our own online platform)
• Managing CAD$ +145 million annual sales turnovers from 4 existing stores, Amazing fresh food driven stores: Sales contribution is +49%
• Achieved cost-savings by developing functional solutions to problems.
• SOP Preparation and Implementation
• Mentoring, coaching and talent pool, always on lookout for talent within organization, has ability to spot future potential in team and then nurture that to
.

fruition

Vice President-Operations at DukkanTek DMCC
  • United Arab Emirates - Dubai
  • October 2022 to March 2023

• A venture capital funded start-up and scaleup business in the region.
• The platform offers advanced cloud-hosted POS (Point of Sale) software allows business owners to keep track of transactions, monitor sales, generate reports, and calculate profit margin.
• Its unique Inventory Management (IM) helps track stock, manage stock value, organize the inventory, manage fast-moving products, and generate reports for analysis.
• Managed daily operations of the organization including financials, customer service, human resources, IT systems, marketing and sales.
• Analyzed data to identify areas for improvement in operational efficiency or cost savings.
• Collaborated with executive team members to develop long-term business plans and strategies.

Senior Manager (Retail Operations, Ecommerce & Projects) at Urban Foods LLC-Dubai Holding -Dubai
  • United Arab Emirates - Dubai
  • August 2018 to July 2022

• Involved in the start-up and scaling of Urban Foods - a grocery retail arm for Dubai Holding
• Opened 19 different sizes of stores from 190 to 4500 Sq.mt.
• Brought 60%+ of the stores to positive EBITDA within 2 years of operations.
• Comprehensively involved in brand development, store layouts, and store design across multiple banners and formats. As a result of developing these customer-friendly layouts, store dwell time was reduced by 15% yet, Average Basket increased by 20%.
• mazing fresh food business driven stores: Sales contribution is +40%
• Member of Strategy committee to finalize site selection, feasibility studies, store layout, asset ordering and implementation.
• Manages team of Area Managers, Store Managers, Loss & Prevention Manager, Health and Food Safety Supervisor.
• Designed and implemented the e-commerce strategy for the business for the near, mid, and long term. Resulted in immediate capture of market share whilst optimizing cash flow requirements.
• Launched iAuditor app, a cloud based mobile application, Introduced digital audit checklists (Operations store visit, Health and Food Safety, Cash Audit & Loss and Prevention.
• Planning effective strategies for financial well-being of company.
• Created talent pool- Area Manager, Store Managers, Section Manager, Supervisors, 52 positions are filled by promoted internally by creating development plan.
.

Operations Manager- Falconcity Markets at Almoosa Investment Group LLC
  • United Arab Emirates - Dubai
  • December 2017 to July 2018

• Launched a new supermarket called Falconcity Markets, which opened its first store in Falconcity, 1, 400 Sq.mt from the shell and core.
• Prepared business plan for group and sign off on first submission.
• Project planning, design, and preparation of design (Civil, MEP, store layout, asset ordering from various sources).
• 150 Suppliers Commercial agreement signed in 2 months.
• Implemented process improvement to shape organizational culture, optimize procedures for higher efficiency and help company evolve and grow.

UAE Operations Head- Geant at Fucom LLC- BMA International
  • United Arab Emirates - Dubai
  • September 2011 to November 2017

• Responsible for business development in UAE region, opened 9 new supermarkets under my leadership, store sizes 320-2800 Sq.mt.
• Market share increased by 400% by opening new potential stores and improved sales in existing stores, reduced operating cost and thereby increase net profit.
• Implement and manage operational plans, playing significant role in long-term planning, including initiative geared toward operational excellence.
• Advanced productivity KPIs to achieve key business goals and objectives.
• Analyzing and evaluation of customers buying behavior and implementing new strategies to grow business and evaluation of customers buying behavior and implementing new strategies to grow business.
• Conducting retail management training session, personnel development, and motivation
• Plan use of human resources, organize recruitment with Human Capital and placement of staff required.

Head of the Department-Nonfood at HyperPanda
  • United Arab Emirates - Dubai
  • September 2009 to September 2012
Department Head- FMCG -Geant at Geant Saudi Limited
  • United Arab Emirates - Dubai
  • September 2005 to September 2009
Store Manager at Fucom International LLC
  • United Arab Emirates - Dubai
  • March 2005 to August 2005
Shop Manager - Last Chance Supermarket at Fucom WLL, Sana International
  • Bahrain - Al Muharraq
  • October 1999 to March 2005

Education

Higher diploma, Post Graduate Diploma, Marketing & Sales Management-
  • at Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan
  • June 1996
Bachelor's degree, Bachelor in Mathematics (Hons.)-1994
  • at Jamia Millia University
  • May 1994

Specialties & Skills

Stakeholder Management
Growing Revenue
Commercial Strategies
Business Operations Management
New Business Development
• Strategic Planning and Execution
• Business Development and Market Expansion
• Operations Management and Optimization
• Commercial- Merchandising Specialist
• Revenue Growth and Profitability Enhancement
• Customer-Centric Approach
• Team Leadership and Motivation

Languages

Urdu
Expert
Hindi
Expert
English
Expert

Hobbies

  • Reading