New members draw expertise from previous positions with Maktoob, Fetchr, Nestle, and Adidas, among others, to consolidate and expand regional operations
El Grocer, the UAE’s multi-award winning and industry recognized grocery delivery startup, has appointed three new leadership members. Raed Hafez takes the helm as CEO while Tareq Abu Kaff is the new CTO and Xavi Nunes is the new CMO. The new leadership is tasked with taking the company to its next stage of growth. The three new members of the team join forces with Nader Amiri, founder of elGrocer, who will focus on operation excellence and strategy.
elGrocer has grown 450 percent year on year since its establishment in 2015, and saw an astronomical 400 percent growth in demand from March to May which was the peak lockdown period in the UAE. With the leadership team bringing strong tech expertise and FMCG experience, elGrocer is set to challenge the e-grocery models both regionally and globally, and has its sights set on transforming the way in which retail business models are built and integrated in the future.
“Startups make critical decisions during their various stages of growth and the appointment of this new team is one of those moments that will define our future,” says Nader Amiri, founder of elGrocer. “The move will enable elGrocer to enable the brand to expand globally with its disruptive technology and partner engagement model. As markets continue to grow rapidly with vertical investment across the board, the future is bright for elGrocer and the time to put our plans into motion is now.”
Raed Hafez, the new CEO of elGrocer brings over 25 years of experience in managing large scale technology developments and leading large commercial operations. Raed’s experience in scaling up startups, especially as an investor, has been proven over the few last years and will be critical in elGrocer’s growth ambitions in the coming years. He will be leading the company’s regional expansion as well as contributing to the evolution of elGrocer into a tech driven company, continuing to lead its digital transformation for the retail sector.
Tareq Abu Kaff, elGrocer’s new CTO, is on a mission to transform the marketplace tech operations in the retail/e-grocery segment, as well as integrate all platforms and retailers into a seamless eco-system that enables e-grocery to be efficient, stable and all-connected. Tareq will leverage his extensive experience with Maktoob, Fetchr and FloraNow to create a unique Tech Platform with full end-to-end integration from manufacture, consumers and retail to 3rd party vendors, as well as full sync between the front and back end of all systems.
Xavi Nunes joins elGrocer as its new CMO. Xavi has strong consumer knowhow and years of experience with leading FMCG brands like Nestle, Mondelez, Adidas and more. He will leverage some of the newer models and metrics to raise the profile of elGrocer and its ecommerce model in the region, with transparency and visibility allowing them to consolidate their spend and adapt to the new norm in the coming years.
