QSR Media Middle East Roundtable Luncheon

Somaia is the Research Manager at Euromonitor International with a focus on FMCG in MEA. Based in Dubai, She has more than ten years of experience in the industry. ​

Somaia manages an international team of seasoned analysts and is
responsible for Euromonitor’s engagements with the leading players
across the space of her industries. She has a deep understanding of
corporate activity in the region and the current state of each industry.​

Somaia advises clients across a range of industries on the impact of local and global trends and has a special interest in healthy living,
e-commerce, delivery apps, sustainability and inflation in emerging
markets.

Neeraj Teckchandani is the CEO & Director of Apparel Group headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and has been with Apparel Group for 22 years. Neeraj has spent over 26+ years in the UAE and has vast experience within the retail industry across various domains such as strategy, management, operations, mergers, and acquisitions and financial operations to name a few.

Neeraj is an Alumni of Harvard Business School and University of London. He is also the member of the Beta Gama Sigma Society and has been awarded various industry awards like “Best Fashion Lifestyle CFO (UAE) Award at the Global CFO Excellence Awards 2020”. “World’s Greatest CFO Award 2018-2019 by Asia One” and “Most influential CFO in Fashion and Lifestyle Services (UAE)” at the Global Business Insights Awards 2018.

Hesham Almekkawi is a Food and Beverage industry expert with more than 27 years of experience in managing global and international chains of restaurants in the USA and the Middle East. He was appointed in 2021 as the CEO of AG Café International Management Company to spreadhead an aggressive growth plan for Tim Hortons in the Middle East. He is the founder and president of ATK Consulting in the United States and Ahramiz FZ LLC, a leadership development and management consulting company based in Dubai.

Nishant has over 22 years of experience in Food and beverage management and currently in charge of food and beverage innovation for Costa Coffee EMENA region. His Costa career has spanned several countries since 2016, having previously led the F&B Function for South East Asia from Singapore. Moving to Dubai in 2018, Nishant was responsible for our Middle East F&B Innovation until 2021. Nishant recently moved to a new position leading the F&B Innovation team across the Middle East and Europe, both for Retail & B2B.

Previously Nishant has worked as NPD for KFC at Yum restaurant international MENA and as Senior chef in Oberoi hotels in India .

Dimitrios Bezas has a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics & Business Finance and Masters of Sciences in Insurance & Risk Management from Bayes  Business School in London. In early years, he led and developed his family business restaurants, and café chain in Greece. 

In 2012, he returned to London and worked as General Manager in Peggy Porschen Cakes where he developed the franchisee concept of Peggy Porschen  for the Middle East market. 

In 2015, Dimitrios developed  the franchise of Amorino Gelato in UAE and Qatar.  In 2021 has founded Calimera Foods importing and distributing  Mediterranean food items to GCC. In 2022 he has been involved in the KSA market on development and expansion of Dr Café in KSA market. Currently, he is involved in the relaunch of Amorino in the UAE market. 
 

Alan is an Irish national, based in Dubai, and is the Vice President of International Development with Wingstop, a brand with more than 2,100 restaurants globally. Having spent 13 years with KFC as a GM in geographies such as Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Spain and the Middle East he has had the opportunity to lead markets at various stages of their lifecycle. Previously with Deloitte Consulting in Central Europe for 6 years Alan also spent two years with Cloudkitchens.com as the GM for Southern Europe.