joseph khater

Food Security (Covid-19) Essential Retail Products project:

• Defined the list of essential food and non-food products through accumulation of inputs from retailers, government entities and desktop research

• Estimated monthly consumption based on historic data for both imported and locally sourced products

• Collected data from retailers and government entities on available stock levels and inventory space

• Defined 3 market scenarios: Mild, Moderate and Severe and corresponding strategic inventory levels.

• Developed an action plan to achieve the storage levels mandated for the chosen scenario

• Determined the inventory level needed to cover the consumption of 12 months’ worth of essential items

• Developed a process for monitoring and implementing an inventory replenishment process for perishable and nonperishable items

GCC Affordable Housing:

Worked with a local GCC government to analyze the housing market and assess its affordability for lower to middle income expatriates.

As an initial step we developed an approach that first observes the supply on residential units across the city, available rental rates, and occupancy levels. Then we assessed the demand side by segmenting the expatriate workforce by income level, marital status and number of dependents. We also considered the cost of living and the percentage of monthly income that can be allocated for housing rental expenses.

The study showed that even though the rent for residential units had been dropping, families with household income of less than US$ 5,000 and couples with household income less than US$ 3,500 could not afford decent accommodation. It forced the expatriates to share apartments / villas and move farther from the city center or their work locations to reduce their rental costs. Hence, it led to congestion formation in specific districts, faster deterioration of the property, and increasing commute time.

Multiple solutions were designed to tackle the affordability issue, starting with instant subsidies given to families in need through a designed eligibility engine. We also developed long term solutions related to unlocking land, reducing construction costs through standardization of requirements, subsidized loans, improved operations & maintenance offering.

• Analyzed the housing market in a GCC country across the 3 different regions based on rental costs

• Defined the affordability criteria and what is considered affordable for white collars based on their income levels

• Identified suggested solution for rent subsidy & the process that needs to be put in place

• Benchmarked against comparable cities & global best practices that can be followed to facilitate the building of affordable housing projects

• Developed solution design & operating model of the rent subsidy program including eligibility engine and main enablers

MBZUAI - Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence:

Project descriptionAI is transforming the way we work, unleashing a new set of competencies and skillsets. While AI (as a technology) is just starting to build traction, the demand for highly capable AI and data scientists is on the rise. This triggered the Government of Abu Dhabi to embark on the establishment of the first graduate-level research-based AI university in the world. As a result, Pace serving as the trusted advisor, has been engaged to provide end to end consulting services to setup the university and support its operations. This massive undertaking required the creation of the University’s strategy and operating model, academic curriculum, faculty and staff recruitment, Licensing and accreditation, Facility set up, Back office setup (finance, IT, and HR), Student enrollment, Partnerships and Communication and marketing.

Pace was approached to support in:

• Developing the business plan and drafting the establishment law.

• Building the institution’ strategy, operating model, the policies and procedures.

• Designing the organizational structure and budget.

• Preparing requirements for the license and accreditation.

• Managing the facilities design and fit out, and back office setup including IT and technology, HR and finance.

• Overseeing and managing various delivery workstreams covering recruitment, students enrollment, and partnerships.

Managing the establishment of different governmental entities in UAE:

• Responsible for building out the entire organizational framework, manpower deployment and on-boarding

• Developed the processes, policies and procedures including the organization structure

• Created financial models to assess the entities’ budget for the first year of operations

• Supervised vendors’ delivery, quality and budget across all projects and programs

• Fostered positive relationships with our customers as their primary point of contact

• Notable clients: Abu Dhabi Executive Office, Abu Dhabi School of Government (Blackboard), Artificial Intelligence, Abu Dhabi Media Office, Modon Properties

Managing the strategic initiatives of an Emirate in UAE:

• Translated the strategy into the initiatives road-map and operating models for eGovernment, eGovernance and Smart City

• Managed internal resources and external vendors to successfully deliver a stream of defined government projects

• Responsible for conducting workshops and presenting to all the relevant stakeholders the priority initiatives on weekly basis

• Closely monitored project performance, associated risks and prepared mitigation plans