Cannes, 30 August 2023 – MAPIC, the world’s leading international gathering of the retail, leisure, food, and tech real estate communities, is pleased to announce its opening keynote The road ahead: responsible growth, with Alison Rehill-Erguven, CEO at Cenomi Centers, Joanna Fisher, CEO at ECE Marketplaces, and Cindy Andersen, Managing Director at Ingka Centres. The keynote will be hosted at the Studio on Tuesday, 28th November from 10:30 to 11:00, and moderated by Chris Igwe.

Drawing on their wealth of knowledge in an evolving landscape, the speakers will discuss the role of landlords in driving an agenda for change, how to deliver development and asset management for the local community, and reimagining destinations for new consumers and retailers.

Alison Rehill-Erguven, CEO of Cenomi Centers, highlights, “At Cenomi Centers we are committed to building a sustainable future through the development of our people; being fully mindful of our effect on the environment and proactively working to reduce this potential negative impact; as well as creating strategic, future proofed assets that deliver a new retail experience in Saudi Arabia. This year’s MAPIC offers the ideal stage to discuss our learnings over the years, and how we can implement them for a more responsible future.”

CEO of ECE Marketplaces, Joanna Fisher, adds, “With more than 55 years of experience in the retail real estate business, we at ECE Marketplaces know how to successfully utilize the flexibility of shopping centres by continuously developing them with new concepts and ideas, as well as additional offerings, for example from the non-retail sector. Long-term value retention, sustainable operation, and innovative concepts for the transformation of shopping centres to climate-neutrality are at the top of our agenda."

Cindy Andersen, Managing Director of Ingka Centres, comments “We strongly believe people will always need real places outside their homes where they can gather, relax and spend leisure time. Therefore, we’re committed to creating hyper-local work-live-play destinations, that are kind to people, communities and planet. I look forward to connecting with colleagues and partners at MAPIC to discuss how we can move the industry for a better future!”

Francesco Pupillo, MAPIC Markets Director, concludes, “I am delighted to be able to welcome three industry leaders to discuss insights from their experience on how the industry can secure continued and sustainable growth through measures that reduce environmental impact—and prioritise people and the planet.”.
 

In line with this year’s central theme The Age of Responsible Growth: Committing to a better future, MAPIC will welcome three C-suite executives from some of the world’s leading property players to reflect on how to make this more accountable future a reality.

Alison Rehill-Erguven, CEO of Cenomi Centers, brings more than two decades of extensive shopping mall and real estate experience having been part of or headed up joint ventures, assets, and teams in some of the world’s most prominent emerging markets across Asia, Europe, and Latin America.

Cenomi Centers is the leading and largest owner, operator and developer of retail and lifestyle destinations in Saudi Arabia where it runs 21 destinations 4,300+ leased units and more than 80 million annual visitors in 2022. Recently, the company has committed to the ECCO framework to guide its ESG policy spanning environmental impact, delivering vibrant communities and more responsible operations. Tangible results from the framework during 2022 include zero incidences of non-compliance with laws and regulations, a 22% increase in female employees, 90% energy consumption data coverage throughout malls to better understand usage, and SAR 410 million spent with local suppliers.

Joanna Fisher, CEO of ECE Marketplaces, has more than 25 years of experience in the retail real estate business and has held various management positions in different countries during her career at ECE. Since 2014 she has been Managing Director and Member of the Management Board of ECE, responsible for the entire centre management and thus the portfolio business of the company. Since 2021 she has been responsible for the entire shopping centre business of ECE Group as CEO of ECE Marketplaces, the leading shopping centre operator in Europe with 200 centres under management, 20.000 retail partners, 7 million m² of rental space, 3.4 million visitors per day, and activities in eleven countries. The company has a comprehensive ESG strategy, aiming at a significant reduction of the CO² emissions in the shopping centre sector by 40 percent by 2030 compared with 2019.

To achieve its ESG goals, ECE has laid out an energy refurbishment roadmap, a comprehensive, tailormade strategy, which aims to put the entire portfolio on a climate path towards climate neutrality. Most recently, ECE worked with the University of Dresden on an energy refurbishment roadmap pilot project using the Alstertal-Einkaufszentrum (AEZ) in Hamburg. The results showed that shopping centres can become climate-neutral by 2045—thus informing the policy. In line with MAPIC 2023’s theme of responsible growth, ECE Group have also identified the importance of climate neutrality to commercial success—with investors and property players increasingly demanding compliance with regulation for assets to maintain their value.

The third keynote speaker, Cindy Andersen, Managing Director of Ingka Centres, has over 15 years experience in business leadership, strategy and organisational transformation, having worked for IKEA since 2008 in a variety of functions. Drawing on her own experience, Cindy is a committed spokesperson for diversity and equal opportunity, areas that must be accounted for in any vision of a more responsible future.

INGKA Group consists of multiple business areas, including its core IKEA Retail business, which consists of 379 IKEA stores across 31 markets and counting, as well as Ingka Centres which creates exciting destinations, each anchored by an IKEA store. Long-term thinking is at the heart of Ingka’s sustainability approach—which prioritises being able to meet the needs of people today, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. To accelerate this evolution, Ingka has set the goal to use 100% renewable electricity in all its buildings worldwide by 2025, with 100% renewable heating and cooling in place by 2030. This year’s MAPIC theme also continues to tackle the importance of making a human impact. Ingka’s philosophy prioritises creating places that become the heart of the community, partnering with local companies to create opportunities, and growing business and the local community in tandem.

More information about MAPIC can be found here: https://www.mapic.com

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