Arabnet Arabnet

Chalhoub Group, a Middle East luxury retailer, is looking for tech startups, with ready to deploy products addressing a set of retail challenges, through their new Greenhouse Accelerator.

Referring to their initiative as “not a typical startup accelerator,” Chalhoub Group notes in the official website that the “equity-free program will accelerate the implementation of the right solutions” at the heart of their own company.

Essentially, the ideas emerging out of the program will be given the chance to carry out pilots and case studies with brands from Chalhoub Group as well as get an opportunity to deploy their solutions at the MENA retail major.

In the process, the entrepreneurs / teams also get to work closely with and gain mentorship of retail and digital experts.

Leading experts in the industry will be involved in mentoring the startups such as Grégoire Charpe-Civatte, Head of Customer Experience and Marketing at Chalhoub, Rania Masri, Chief Transformation Officer at Chalhoub, and Dina Sidani, Head of Greenhouse Accelerator/ Innovation Lab at Chalhoub Group.

"As a leading retailer of luxury in the Middle East, we've decided to transform. Our north star vision is to become a hybrid retailer delivering luxury experiences to the fingertips of our customers everywhere. This is a unique opportunity for tech companies and startups from all over the world to implement and test their solution with the largest fashion group in the Middle East, " says Patrick Chalhoub, Co-CEO of Chalhoub Group, announcing the initiative on the website.

The equity-free accelerator program taking place from September to December 2018 in Dubai, UAE will award its winners with a grant of US$20,000 and access to co-working space.

Some of the retail challenges that the accelerator is looking to tackle are related to creating a personalized in-store experience, optimizing operations, omni-channel retail, and human capital allocation in the sector.

The deadline to apply to Chalhoub Group’s Greenhouse Retail Accelerator is the 10^th of July.