Latest posts by Martin Moodie (see all)
- FAB moments in Barcelona, mashie Ps in Ystradgynlais - July 6, 2025
- From a symbol of Ethiopia’s rising to a FAB-ulous foodie experience - June 24, 2025
- Dubai Duty Free dazzles with revamped arrivals duty-free offer - June 19, 2025
I’m in Barcelona, Ciutat Comtal (‘City of Counts’), capital of Catalonia and my home for the next few days while we run our annual Airport Food & Beverage (FAB) + Hospitality Conference & Awards.
The event is taking place amid great global uncertainty thanks to the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. As I write, US President Donald Trump’s early morning announcement on Truth Social that a ceasefire was in place was followed by claims and counterclaims of breaches by both regimes but for now an uneasy truce holds.
The impact on the travel retail community has already been felt via mass flight cancellation and re-routing, resultant lost sales and suspension of business travel in our industry and beyond. At FAB we are having to do our own form of re-routing with several speakers being forced to drop out at the last moment.
Like the industry at large, we simply have to do the best we can in difficult circumstances, controlling the controllables as the old and ever-apposite adage has it.
More of FAB, an event I created way back in 2011, over coming days, but the focus of this Blog is Addis Ababa. In fact I started this post onboard ET600 (Ethiopian Airlines) from Bole International Airport, Addis Ababa to Dubai International Airport, where I transited for five hours before heading onwards to Barcelona.
I was in Addis Ababa to report on Alfarag Duty Free’s new flagship store at Bole International Airport, inaugurated on 19 June and what a splendid transformation this revamped shop represents.
“Africa has always been perceived as usually having low-standard outlets,” Managing Director Anwar Farag told me. “We’re trying to change that perception and get people to understand there is a different vibe in Africa in the travel retail industry. And this is an example of it.”
It sure is. As the photos and videos show, this is a step change for African airport retail.
Anwar’s father, the legendary Alfarag Chairman & CEO Ayderus Farag told me (for more, listen to the Podcast below): “I am very happy. This is a great, great thing for my country, my family and my people.
“We are a family. My grandfather was a businessman. My father was a businessman. I am a businessman, and now my sons are joining here with me and we are preparing our grandchildren to follow. So to see this in my life is something that gives me great happiness. I am very proud of what we have done.”
{Click on the Podcast icon to hear Alfarag Chairman & CEO Ayderus H.M. Farag in conversation with me about the significance of the flagship store’s Grand Opening}
Earlier, in a deeply stirring speech, he told guests at the opening ceremony: “This is a shop that refines what is possible and a symbol of a rising Ethiopia. This is more than a retail space, it is a statement that Ethiopia is raising the bar.
“We hope this is just the beginning, that it inspires others to raise the bar in their own fields and that together we continue building an Ethiopia we can all be proud of.”
Beautifully articulated as one would expect from this finest gentlemen and great family entrepreneurs, the leader of a proud independent enterprise now stretching into its fourth generation since being founded in 1932 and entering the duty-free channel in 2003. ✈
{Click on the Podcast icon to hear Alfarag Managing Director Anwar Farag in conversation with Martin Moodie}
