ISCA Awards 2011 - TI is India’s Most Admired Shopping Mall

Arif Sheikh Receives Standing Ovation

Executive Director, EWDL Steals the Show

Mumbai, May 13 2011. As soon as Arif Sheikh delivered a power-packed presentation on the stage of Image Shopping Centre Awards 2011 (ISCA), audience went irresistible over giving a standing ovation to him. It’s the first time in history of ISCA that standing ovation was given to a speaker.

Seems like the Retail Industry which gathered at the stage of ISCA at Hotel Renaissance in Mumbai ended up chanting the name of Arif Sheikh, the Executive Director of Indore based Entertainment World Developers Limited (EWDL). Audience which comprised big-league of retail industry was seen following Sheikh after he presented views on ‘Innovation and Indian way of Managing Shopping Malls’.

The awards night started with EWDL announced as ‘India’s Most Admired Shopping Mall by Retailers Choice’. Treasure Island (first shopping mall of EWDL) came up with fine colors after a tough contest with the malls located in metro cities. Arif Sheikh received the award trophy from Mr Amit Bhagaria.

An Impressive Presentation

The green and yellow neon lights flashed around this Retail Executive with 23 years experience. The entire conference transformed into a one-man-show with the crowd madly applauding his originality of views. He hasn't lost his touch even for a fraction of second. Sheikh was dazzling in a white shirt with a red-and-black stripe tie.

"Indian retail industry is yet in its infancy,” Sheikh addressed the audience. "India has over 1 billion people, more than half of whom are under the age of 25 years. From being 5-10% today, the organized retail industry will reach 15-20% within a blink. A real boom is waiting all of us”, he added with a pin-drop silence in the hall.

And from there, the conference turned into his show; Sheikh held the audience rapt and people responded to his views with wow, great and kudos. It was as if the awards night had been filled with family and friends listening to tales from a storied elder.

Sheikh talked about his experiences. He showed a presentation on ‘Treasure Island, the first Shopping Mall of EWDL’.

‘When you’ve the experience, it shows’, commented CEO of a popular retail chain after listening to Sheikh’s speech. Managing Director of a shopping mall said, ‘Sheikh presented the current scenario of retail industry in his ‘very original’ style. It was a great experience to listen him’.

The situation however turned into mess when Sheikh stepped down from the stage. Entire retail fraternity along with media gathered him. ‘I want his exclusive byte for my newspaper’, quoted Sub-Editor of an English Daily Newspaper.

Sheikh apparently felt the awards function & conference went well. Asked towards the end of the function if he had fun, the retail executive replied: "Best time ever!”.