Recipient of 9th Golden Excellence Awards 2026 for Retail Innovation By: Shaneer Siddiqui
1. Tell us about yourself, your business journey and your contribution to the UAE.
I moved to Dubai in 2015 after a decade in retail merchandising in Mumbai, and started Kadam Retail Ventures as a single e-commerce storefront for regional artisans and small manufacturers. It has since grown into a multi-brand marketplace connecting over four hundred small sellers across the GCC to customers worldwide. My contribution has been giving small producers — who could never afford a flagship store — a genuine route to a global customer base.
2. What does receiving the 9th Golden Excellence Award for Retail Innovation mean to you?
It’s recognition for every small seller on our platform who took a chance on an online-only route to market. Receiving it under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Nahyan Mabarak Al Nahayan is especially meaningful, because our marketplace itself is a small model of inclusion — giving equal shelf space to sellers regardless of size or background.
3. How do you view the role of the Ministry of Tolerance and Coexistence in shaping the UAE’s society?
E-commerce here works because customers trust sellers they’ve never met, often from communities very different from their own. That trust doesn’t happen by accident — it’s built on a broader culture of coexistence that the Ministry actively nurtures. Retail is simply one more place where that trust gets tested and proven every single day.
4. What opportunities do you see emerging in your industry over the next few years?
Social commerce and live-shopping formats are changing how smaller brands reach customers without needing big marketing budgets. AI-driven personalization is also finally making product discovery genuinely useful, instead of just another algorithm pushing whatever is trending.
5. What are your company’s key plans and growth priorities for the future?
We’re building a fulfilment network to cut delivery times across the GCC and launching a mentorship program to help our sellers scale beyond the platform itself. Our long-term goal is for Kadam to be remembered as the marketplace that helped small regional brands become real ones.
“Every seller on our platform started with a single product and a lot of nerve. Our job is to make sure that’s enough.” — Priya Menon
