DUBAI, 18 August 2021 鈥� African dining hall Alkebulan will make its debut at Expo 2020, showcasing African food and culture through a colourful culinary lens. Capturing the essence of Africa, it transports visitors on a journey into the continent鈥檚 cultural diversities and gastronomy scenes, bringing together people, communities and nations.

听Alkebulan (pronounced al-kee-boulan) 鈥� the oldest name for Africa and translating to 鈥楳other of Mankind鈥� or 鈥楪arden of Eden鈥� 鈥� is a culinary concept curated by award-winning chef Alexander Smalls, a classically trained opera singer-turned-restauranteur. The dining hall is a celebration of African cuisine, designed as a showcase of contemporary African food and music from across the continent. Each counter and concept has its own unique design that honours the individuality of the region, cuisine and chef.

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Chef Alexander Smalls, Curator, Alkebulan, said: 鈥淎frican food is as diverse as the continent鈥檚 countries and communities, yet it is still under-represented in the world. Bringing a piece of Africa to Expo 2020 is not only a dream come true, but also an opportunity to showcase the rich diversity that makes African cuisine unique from region to region. Food and music are both instrumental to our culture, and Alkebulan is a place that marries the two, welcoming visitors from around the world to be immersed in our flavours and traditions.鈥�

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Marjan Faraidooni, Chief Experience Officer, Expo 2020 Dubai, said: 鈥�Food brings people and communities together 鈥� at a time when we need it most. In the spirit of Expo 2020鈥檚 theme, 鈥�Connecting Minds, Creating the Future鈥�, we have invited countries from around the world to showcase their national dishes, giving visitors the chance to taste traditional and specialised food from around the globe in a safe environment. We are very excited to welcome the African continent to Expo, and for our visitors to sample new flavours and concepts 鈥� the likes of which have yet to be seen in the UAE.鈥�

Offering a delicious odyssey of flavours and experiences, Alkebulan will give diners the chance to experience gourmet dishes, street bites and fusion fare, all in one destination. The food hall hosts 10 counters, with each providing a different menu:

Afro Street Eatery, by Coco, delivers rich aromatic flavours of West African street food, with dishes such as Ugandan-style miniature chapatti wrap filled with beef or vegetable curry

• Bar Cane, also by Coco, satisfies sweet cravings, serving what could well be the world鈥檚 finest doughnuts, washed down with dessert cocktails
• Chicken Coop, by Alexander Smalls, celebrates the humble chicken in two of its best forms: rotisserie and fried. The triple-fried Tunisian baharat chicken, paired with a thick, custardy Belgian waffle, is not to be missed
• Choma BBQ, another Coco creation, is inspired by the art of roasting, grilling and smoking meats, with a menu that includes the not-to-be-missed Zanzibari spiced rice and lamb, served with kachumbari salad, as well as Kenyan style beef skewers served with roasted green bananas
• Jiko Cocktails, by Tribe Hotel Kenya, brings the flavours and spirits of Africa together through shaken, stirred, muddled and strained cocktails created by talented bartender Kelvin Thaiya.
• Penja, by award-winning pop-up chefs Pierre Siewe, Glory Kabe and Moos Gbane, promises innovative African cuisine and a world-class culinary experience from Cameroon and Benin, featuring dishes such as farm cockerel breaded with mustard and tapioca, tandoori vegetal mayonnaise fermented cassava semolina
• Seven Seafood, by trailblazing chef Kiran Jethwa, offers a contemporary look at East African seafood using ingredients, flavours and combinations from the region to take traditional cuisine Kenyan Cuisine into the modern world
• Shoebox Bakery, by Mame Sow, offers the ultimate pan-African bakery experience, spanning both sweet and savoury items, including Ethiopian injera flat bread
• Sweet Ophelia鈥檚, also by Smalls, is an Afro-Asian wok bar that serves tasty rice, noodle and dumpling dishes, including West African favourite Cameroonian pepper fish
• The Tasty Goat, from Jethwa, showcases nose-to-tail dining of this fantastic and versatile meat, combined with the tastes, textures and 铿俛vours of modern East African cuisine

At Expo 2020, countries from around the world will showcase their national dishes, giving visitors the opportunity to taste traditional and specialised cuisines from more than 200 different outlets.

听One of the first global mega-events to take place since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Expo 2020 invites visitors from around the planet to join the making of a new world in a six-month celebration of human creativity, innovation, progress and culture, running from 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022.

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-ENDS-

About Expo 2020 Dubai

From 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022, Expo 2020 Dubai will welcome visitors from every corner of the globe to join the making of a new world, as it brings together the planet in one place to reimagine tomorrow.

• With the purpose of 鈥�Connecting Minds, Creating the Future鈥�, Expo 2020 will be the world鈥檚 most impactful global incubator for new ideas, catalysing an exchange of new perspectives and inspiring action to deliver real-life solutions to real-world challenges
• Expo 2020 will be the biggest cultural gathering in the world, presenting a visually striking and emotionally inspiring 182 days, as more than 200 participants 鈥� including nations, multilateral organisations, businesses, and educational institutions, as well as millions of visitors 鈥� create the largest and most diverse World Expo ever
• Expo 2020鈥檚 sub-themes of Opportunity,听Mobility and Sustainability will inspire visitors to preserve and protect our planet, explore new frontiers and build a better future for everyone
• For six months, Expo 2020 will be a must-visit family destination, with thousands of events, amazing exploratory experiences, and free entry for children up to age 18
• Expo is committed to building a more equitable and just world for everyone, while keeping visitors safe by following the latest guidance of the world鈥檚 leading medical, science and health experts
• Expo 2020 is the first World Expo to take place in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region, located on a 4.38 sqkm site adjacent to Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai South
• Built with a meaningful and measurable long-term legacy in mind, the Expo site will transform into District 2020 鈥� a model global community that will rethink the cities of the future 鈥� after Expo 2020 closes its doors

How to cover Expo 2020 Dubai in person at event time or report on the event remotely

To attend Expo 2020 or cover Expo 2020 remotely using content and assets generated by Expo, you must be accredited.

To kick off your journey with Expo 2020, please ensure that you:

1. Register to access our Media Information System, Tawassul at .

Tawassul is regularly updated, providing the latest content assets, including press releases, photographs, audio and video, the electronic media kit, and information on broadcast and photography operations. It also provides you with important information and updates on facilities and services such as media accreditation, visa information for international accredited media, and permits. Access to other media-related systems (Media Asset Management System and Media Bookings System), which will be launched in Q2 2021, will only be permitted to accredited media (see below). Information about these systems can be found on Tawassul.

2. Once registered, submit an Expo 2020 Media Accreditation expression of interest.

Within this expression of interest, please appoint an Accreditation Liaison Officer (ALO) from within your organisation who will act as the single point of contact with Expo 2020 for media accreditation. Following this, approved media organisations will be provided login details and instructions for the accreditation system to enable them to submit applications.

For support, contact Expo 2020 Dubai鈥檚听Media Services team听at听media.services@expo2020.ae听or +971 (0)56 689 2101.

Visit:

Follow: Twitter: @expo2020dubai | Facebook: @Expo2020Dubai | Instagram: expo2020dubai

听About World Expos

In 1851 the Crystal Palace was the centrepiece of London鈥檚 Great Exhibition 鈥� the first World Expo. It celebrated the man-made industrial wonders of a rapidly changing world. Architecture, contents and a theme, 鈥業ndustry of All Nations鈥�, were combined to create a big idea of nations meeting nations in shared technological and commercial progress. In more recent years, participants in World Expos, including governments, international organisations and companies, have gathered to find solutions to universal challenges and to promote their achievements, products, ideas, innovations, their national brand, and their nations as destinations for tourism, trade and investment.

World Expos are held under the auspices of the the intergovernmental organisation responsible for overseeing and regulating international exhibitions (鈥楨xpos鈥�) and for fostering their core values of Education, Innovation and Cooperation. Today, four types of Expos are organised under the BIE鈥檚 auspices: World Expos, Specialised Expos, Horticultural Expos and the Triennale di Milano.

For media enquiries, please contact:
Press Office

On call contact
Email: press.office@expo2020.ae
Tel: +971 56 688 9509
P.O. Box 2020, Dubai, UAE

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Office workers, freed from the confines of corporate headquarters, now perform their tasks, meet with colleagues and customers, and maintain high levels of productivity all from their homes using cloud and other online collaboration tools.

For many industries, including IT, banking and other financial services, it is highly unlikely that workers will return to the office in the same way as before, even if current efforts at vaccinating against COVID-19 are wildly successful.

New hybrid work model beckons

Organisations that have made progress on their digital transformation journeys and have implemented the latest technologies, systems and processes to enable remote work will simply have no need to go back to how things were. In fact, most will likely continue on a trajectory of fewer face-to-face engagements, less commuting, and less need for incurring the expense of fancy offices and beautiful foyers.

Instead, organisations are likely to develop and refine hybrid working models, with a mix of office and remote work based on each organisation’s needs and the employee’s personal productivity requirements.

The shift to hybrid work models will require that organisations develop new strategies for employee engagement to ensure teams are operating effectively and that often-scarce talent can be motivated and retained.

The growing importance of EX

To achieve this, organisations will need to ensure they can deliver a consistently positive employee experience (EX).

In commissioned by SAP, Qualtrics and EY, the number of HR decision-makers that said EX is the most important aspect of their HR strategy had nearly tripled over the past two years, with EX budgets almost doubling over the same period.

Aspects such as learning, development and training, diversity and inclusion, and an open culture that encourages every employee to bring their authentic selves to the workplace all contribute to the employee experience.

It is vital that EX is not relegated to only the HR department or used as a tool to drive greater levels of productivity. Instead, it needs to be embedded in the company culture, driven by leadership across the organisation, and shaped by continuous employee feedback.

The matter of employee feedback will be critical to organisations as they shift toward a hybrid work model. The Forrester study found that 71% of organisations find it challenging to gather real-time information about the employee experience.

Experience management tools that help track employee sentiment and feedback and provide HR departments and company leaders with real-time insights will be critical to efforts at building consistent, positive employee experiences.

Culture takes centre stage

Eight out of ten (81%) employees in the Forrester study believe creating and sustaining a positive culture is the most important aspect to creating a good EX. It is therefore vital that organisations take time to clearly define their culture, and take into account the changing world, likely long-term economic downturn and the effect of the ongoing pandemic on employee wellbeing.

Organisational strategies will need to incorporate three key areas into their cultures to effectively support the new hybrid workforce:

Trust

The new realities require that organisations build trust within their teams. Companies will need to create opportunities to set expectations with employees, and then consistently and continuously deliver on those expectations.

Transparency

Top-down decision-making doesn’t work when centralisation doesn’t exist. The new world of work will require decision-making to be decentralised, which naturally requires knowledge and access to information. A clearly-defined value system can also guide decision-making even when team members are cut off from managers or executives.

Teamwork

The past year of remote work has revealed the importance of teams having access to other teams that have different skills, networks or abilities. This requires that internal silos are broken down and teamwork is prioritised. Organisations should foster a shared sense of victory to encourage teams to work together toward common goals. Teamwork can help build greater cohesion, improve decision-making and alleviate or limit unethical behaviour.

By establishing clear, regular lines of communication, and gaining access to real-time insights into employee experiences, organisations can ensure every employee works toward a common goal that contributes to the organisation’s success. Organisations that define their culture on the premise that every employee wants to work and wants to achieve something of value will be best placed to guide their teams through the ongoing disruption.

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About SAP

SAP鈥檚 strategy is to help every business run as an intelligent enterprise. As a market leader in enterprise application software, we help companies of all sizes and in all industries run at their best: 77% of the world鈥檚 transaction revenue touches an SAP庐 system. Our machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers鈥� businesses into intelligent enterprises. 51风流helps give people and organizations deep business insight and fosters collaboration that helps them stay ahead of their competition. We simplify technology for companies so they can consume our software the way they want 鈥� without disruption. Our end-to-end suite of applications and services enables business and public customers across 25 industries globally to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and make a difference. With a global network of customers, partners, employees, and thought leaders, 51风流helps the world run better and improve people鈥檚 lives. For more information, visit

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With a background in financial management and business valuations, I have always been intrigued by 鈥榮trategy鈥�, that thing that ultimately sets a company apart from the next and probably, together with strong leadership, the main driver behind sustained value creation. In a series of interviews, I will be exploring different business leaders鈥� (all chartered accountants) approach to strategy.

I had a virtual interview with Anton de Bruyn, CFO of the Shoprite Group of Companies, to gain insights on what shaped Shoprite鈥檚 strategy during the early stages of the COVID-19 crisis. Four interesting items stood out:

The importance of adherence to risk management principles

The phrase 鈥榯hat brings me back to risk management鈥� echoed throughout the interview. It underlines the importance that Anton places on having a solid risk management framework. Adherence to principles such as risk registers for all divisions, having disaster recovery plans, business continuity plans, as well as regular risk forum discussions, was already part of Shoprite鈥檚 culture. The benefit of going through the risk management process lies therein that you already have a good idea of how you should react and what your contingency plans look like should anything unforeseen happens.

To illustrate how it practically unfolded, he took me through an example relating to their distribution centres. During 2018, due to labour unrest and other contributing factors, their distribution centres in Gauteng came under severe pressure, this in a time when they also went live with a new ERP system, leading to a material impact on the business 鈭� more than a billion rand lost in sales. The continued operation of their distribution centres is one of their top identified risks and the implementation of crafted continuity plan speaks to this risk. When COVID-19 happened, even though the cause was different, the continuity plans were ready to be activated.

Anton added that you will never be able to foresee exactly how things will play out, that a pandemic will hit, or that government will impose various regulations within different levels of opening the economy. As the pandemic poses new risks, such as potentially having a large number of your 2 800 stores closed at the same time due to infections, the framework is in place to formulate new contingency plans.

Another aspect feeding into the risk management process relates to Shoprite鈥檚 management structure, which ensures that everyone within Exco is continuously part of the risk management process. 鈥楥urrently, the Exco meetings revolve mostly around the contingency plans and how to manage the implementation thereof.鈥�

Future-proof yourself

鈥楽ome 12鈭�18 months ago the business looked different to where we are today on the back of the profit warning issued in February 2019,鈥� Anton said. 鈥業n the past two to three years there were many management changes, including the group appointing a new CEO, Pieter Engelbrecht, who succeeded Whitey Basson and had to land a clear message on strategy for the group going forward.鈥�

Anton refers to the process as 鈥榝uture-proofing yourself鈥� so that you ensure that you stay relevant and move in line with international trends. And 12鈭�18 months ago, they had to put a lot of attention on working capital, liquidity and refocusing capital allocation to strengthen their cash flow as part of 鈥榝uture-proofing themselves鈥�. It inevitably placed them in a stronger position ahead of the crisis.

鈥楾hat brings me back to risk management 鈥︹�� Anton emphasised that you must do a 鈥榬isk assessment鈥� on your strategy to see if your strategy is still relevant, looking at all the strategic drivers. In order to 鈥榝uture-proof yourself and stay relevant鈥� you need to continuously look at ways to innovate in line with international trends (for example unlocking alternative revenue streams and focusing on online offerings). 鈥榊ou need to get the combination right between short-term quick wins and longer-term bigger strategies. If you stop innovating, you will stop being relevant, which will have an impact on the growth of your customer base.鈥�

Some things can be implemented quickly, like seeing what to focus on during the pandemic 鈭� Shoprite expanded their online offerings, introduced virtual vouchers, and focused more on cell phone-related sales, among other things. Then there are other innovations that take longer to develop and roll out, like their FreshX store formats and Checkers rewards programme, both hugely successful.

鈥楾here is, however, one proviso to innovation: you need to have the systems in place, especially the IT platform, to be able to handle these changes.鈥� Shoprite invested in an 51风流ERP system and 51风流software integration that allowed them to do things that they would not have been able to do in the past.

Communication with all role players

Continuous and clear communication with all stakeholders of the group, which includes the board, staff, shareholders, suppliers, the investor community, financiers and analysts, is crucial, and not just in a time of crisis. 鈥業f you don鈥檛 have the same message to all role players, people will get confused.鈥�

Firstly, your board should know what strategy management drives and they need to buy in and support that strategy.

During the lockdown period management continued to update the board.

Also, your overall business strategy is not a secret anymore. Historically it could have been a 鈥榮ecret competitive advantage鈥�, but today the communication of strategy is much more in the public domain, especially for a listed company. Shoprite has nine key drivers they focus on and these get communicated widely to all stakeholders (www.shopriteholdings.co.za/shareholders-investors).

Shoprite鈥檚 CEO communicates directly to the staff via their own company application. He publishes videos in which he shares strategic goals (for example key messages regarding cost drivers) and gives clear guidance on what is expected. 鈥楥ommunication鈥� 鈭� Anton could not emphasise it enough 鈭� 鈥榯he better you communicate, over and over giving the same message, the better the strategy will be followed.鈥�

Shoprite need to communicate in 14 countries, each with its own set of rules.

鈥榃ithin an environment that changes every day, the structure in which you communicate becomes extremely important,鈥� said Anton.

Corporate culture: passion and positivity

鈥榃hat pulls one through in a time of crisis is passion and the way in which you approach it. Positivity unlocks creative thinking. It is all about positivity and accepting challenges. You need a management team and employees with a lot of passion. Our CEO drives positivity.鈥�

Anton continued that one of the first things Shoprite did was to ensure that their staff were safe (protective gear, enough sanitiser, rolling out mobile clinics). They also, early on during the lockdown, paid all staff an appreciation bonus 鈭� 鈥榬etail is a hard and fast environment, you need to show you care about your staff and keep them motivated.鈥�

We ended our conversation with some general business strategy-related topics, including the age-old principle of focusing on the client/customer. Shoprite鈥檚 approach is driven by a saying in their business that 鈥榥o customer will leave the store unhappy鈥�, so people go out of their way to make customers feel happy. New projects are approached with the questions 鈥業s it for the benefit of the customer?鈥� and 鈥楬ow does it benefit the customer?鈥�, a clear example of putting the customer at the centre of strategic thinking.

On incorporating sustainability and corporate citizenship into strategy, Anton mentioned that the integrated report is the first point of departure. Their company is totally committed and they embrace their role in society 鈭� supplier development (from information technology service providers to fruit and vegetable suppliers), soup trucks (utilised during periods of crisis) and mobile trucks serving rural areas, to mention a few. 鈥業t is nice to see that we can make a difference. The company does a lot and tries to give back to the communities 鈭� at the end of the day it is all about the customer.鈥�

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