Faraz Khalid, co-founder of the online fashion retailer Namshi, has been appointed the CEO of Mohamed Alabbar’s e-commerce platform Noon. This was announced in a press release by Alabbar, founder of Emaar Malls on Monday.
According to Alabbar, Faraz will be leading a team of hardworking and dedicating professionals in operating Noon. “Faraz has built a successful e-commerce business in the region and brings the right domain experience and market knowledge to his role as Noon’s Chief Executive Officer. We are confident that along with the team at Noon, Faraz will deliver an e-commerce platform like no other in the region,” he said.
Faraz Khalid said in the press release that Noon presents him with the opportunity to create a dynamic e-commerce platform for the region. “With our local market knowledge and presence, and our focus on product authenticity, supplier value creation, superior logistics, professional service and competitive pricing, we aim to bring a transformational e-commerce experience to the Middle East,” he adds.
Faraz will mainly be responsible for developing Noon’s infrastructure, building the tech platform, and establishing partnerships, especially in Saudi Arabia. So far, Noon is considered a $1 billion joint venture between Gulf investors and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
Emaar Malls previously acquired a 51% stake in Namshi for $151 million, a move which was supposed to kickstart the launch of Noon in January in 2017, but didn’t happen yet. Alabbar also acquired JadoPado and had Noon’s original front end replaced with JadoPado’s front end. The former founder and chairman of JadoPado Mr. Omar Kassim was appointed as the new CTO of Noon.com, but he stepped down from the hole in less than a month. Additionally, there was another unsuccessful attempt to acquire Souq.com in an $800.
Noon has indeed been facing a lot of challenges along its way, but that didn’t stop Alabbar from investing in other platforms and continue working towards launching Noon.
*Photo credits go to ASDA’A Burson-Martseller