Face Time with Mohammed Alshaya

(CNN) -- Mohammed Alshaya owns more high street brands than most fashion addicts could stuff in their closets.

Mohammed Alshaya, CEO of Alshaya's retail division, tells MME he sees a new mindset in the Gulf

Topshop, Coast, NEXT and River Island are just some of the big names he's imported from the United Kingdom to shopping centers in the Middle East.

As chief executive of M.H. Alshaya, he knows what sells: tried and tested Western brands that will appeal to local shoppers.

And his empire is not limited to clothing. In the past month, he's taken Mothercare and The Body Shop to Central Eastern Europe.

With the addition of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia, M.H. Alshaya now operates in 16 markets including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Cyprus, Turkey, Poland and Russia.

John Defterios spoke with Mohammed Alshaya, and started by asking him for his thoughts on the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) plans for a single currency.

M.H. Alshaya Brands

• Boots

• Faith

• MAC

• Mothercare

• Starbucks

• Pizza Express

• The Body Shop

• Debenhams

• Estee Lauder

• Foot Locker

• Le Pain Quotidien

• Mazda

• Oasis

• Hennes and Mauritz

• The Groucho Grill

(JD): I would imagine as a retail operation you'd be a huge proponent of a single currency within the GCC. Is it realistic within the next 4 to 5 years?

(MA): I think it can be, as long as there is a will of the leaders to get together and decide. It is a huge leap towards efficiency, conciliation, getting closer between the six countries. One single Central Bank that governs and regulates is much better than the current six, I believe.

(JD): Have you ever done any calculations of what impact it would have on your back office operations?

(MA): Not yet, but it will be great, I think.

(JD): You're one of the largest retail operations throughout the Arabian Peninsula. With all this growth that we're seeing right now, it must have a direct impact on the retail sector. What sort of annual growth are you experiencing?

(MA): We're experiencing close to 25 percent annual growth, if not 30 percent in some cases, like in Dubai.

(JD): Do you have any sort of concerns that this is going to be a bubble like the 1970s where the money was not deployed correctly? It seems different from my vantage point, do you share that view?

(MA): There is a new generation of people from the region that are leading businesses and strong leadership in the government that have mitigated any concern. And if you see now the statistics, the Gulf is the seventh largest economy in the world. In ten, in 15 years time, it will be the fifth. So I see a new mindset, a new attitude.

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(JD): One of the other things I wanted to ask you about is your moves into other countries. The Alshaya group is very well known throughout the Arabian Peninsula, but you're moving into other markets, into Eastern Europe, specifically into Russia. Do you have the expertise to go into these markets?

(MA): Well, yes. We have the expertise, and the expertise is by really retaining good management, and traveling with them into new markets. I'm not going to open shops myself. We have a very strong team in Russia; Russians that are taking our investment into good projects like Starbucks which we opened two months ago, two stores. We acquired a business there. So we have plans like Mothercare, Bodyshop, NEXT.

(JD): So you can basically move this group into any city and have that potpourri of offers?

(MA): We have the software. We have the software to launch the retail portfolio into a new market.

(JD): Obviously you're a family business. You feel quite strongly about preserving culture and the family structure, and the need for family businesses to create jobs, because they represent 75 percent of all turnover in the Gulf.

Your comments

(MA): We have a social responsibility toward our people. We have to make sure we have jobs for them if the government is not going to compete, and is going to take away some of the people who would be relevant to our business. Another issue that might challenge us to do that is the wealth creation -- whether (potential employees) would be attracted to be in a department store selling or in a coffee shop making coffee -- that, we will see. E-mail to a friend