A brand new chapter unfolds for Diageo within the Center East and North Africa (MENA) area. With the institution of its regional headquarters in Dubai, Diageo reaffirms its dedication to the area and lays the groundwork for an bold imaginative and prescient that extends past 2025. This strategic enlargement redefines the corporate’s presence in one of many world’s most dynamic and fast-evolving markets, contributing to the way forward for luxurious hospitality whereas championing sustainability, inclusion, and accountable consumption.
A Imaginative and prescient for Progress: Sustainability, Inclusion & Accountable Consumption
On the core of Diageo’s technique is its Spirit of Progress: 2030 motion plan—an bold Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) framework designed to deal with important {industry} challenges. Targeted on three pillars—selling constructive ingesting, championing inclusion and variety, and pioneering grain-to-glass sustainability—this initiative reinforces Diageo’s dedication to sustainable and accountable enterprise practices.
By means of its globally famend manufacturers, together with Johnnie Walker, Guinness, Baileys, and non-alcoholic improvements like Tanqueray 0.0% and Guinness 0.0%, Diageo continues to form the area’s evolving beverage panorama. Leveraging superior AI-driven instruments just like the Flavour Forecast, developed with Ai Palette, the corporate anticipates market developments and tailors its choices to align with altering shopper preferences whereas sustaining a steadfast concentrate on sustainability.
Strengthening MENA’s Hospitality Sector
The opening of Diageo’s MENA headquarters in Dubai is a strategic funding that extends past bodily presence—it’s a dedication to fostering financial development and elevating {industry} requirements.
“This base does greater than increase our operational footprint; it symbolizes our dedication to driving financial progress and elevating the hospitality and drinks sectors all through the MENA markets,” stated Antoinette Drumm, Managing Director of Diageo MENA.
Throughout the area, Diageo has made vital strides. In Lebanon, the corporate has expanded its cocktail choices, enriching the nightlife scene. In Egypt and Morocco, large-scale packages are enhancing key vacationer locations. In the meantime, within the Gulf, Diageo has strengthened partnerships with commerce professionals, elevating service execution and hospitality experiences.
To additional {industry} improvement, the Diageo Bar Academy is about to launch within the UAE, providing world-class coaching for bar professionals. This initiative will equip hospitality expertise with the talents, data, and experience wanted to ship excellent buyer experiences.
World Class: Elevating Luxurious and Craftsmanship
One of the crucial notable expressions of this dedication is World Class — the world’s main beverage competitors, which has impressed and skilled over 400,000 bartenders globally. Rooted within the perception that higher drinks create higher experiences, World Class pushes the boundaries of creativity, innovation, and mixology, setting new requirements for luxurious hospitality.
Because the driving drive behind the competitors, Diageo elevates the craft with its portfolio of iconic spirits, together with Johnnie Walker, Tanqueray No. TEN, Ketel One, and Don Julio. Every cocktail crafted and each session held in the course of the competitors tells a narrative of heritage, precision, and artistry.
With cocktail tradition thriving worldwide, the 2025 version of World Class UAE guarantees to be a transformative journey for the area’s most proficient bartenders. This yr’s challenges will discover the intersection of style, theatre, and method—introducing avant-garde strategies corresponding to sub-zero taste extraction and the fusion of perfumery with mixology. Past the competitors, Diageo brings its luxurious portfolio to life by unique experiences just like the Johnnie Walker Weekender and occasions that join the area with famend visionaries from the worldwide bar {industry}, in partnership with a few of Dubai’s finest cocktail establishments.
Moderation & the Rise of Non-Alcoholic Drinks
As shopper preferences shift, moderation and non-alcoholic choices have gotten central to MENA’s beverage panorama. Diageo’s imaginative and prescient for this class aligns with its broader dedication to accountable consumption, a key pillar of its Spirit of Progress motion plan. By means of platforms like DRINKiQ, Diageo empowers customers with industry-leading data to make knowledgeable selections, reinforcing moderation and accountable ingesting.
MENA’s numerous demographic—spanning varied cultures, traditions, and life—has fueled the expansion of non-alcoholic drinks. Some customers are conversant in the class from international markets, whereas others embrace it as a cultural or way of life selection. Catering to each, Diageo elevates the expertise past conventional mocktails with premium manufacturers like Guinness 0.0, Tanqueray 0.0%, Gordon’s 0.0%, and Captain Morgan 0.0%.
Saudi Arabia, particularly, is a key development market, pushed by Imaginative and prescient 2030 and a booming hospitality sector. The rise of world-class venues like La Petite Maison and Zuma Group highlights the demand for stylish alcohol-free choices that align with premium eating experiences.
The Gulf’s youthful technology is reshaping style expectations, favoring daring, well-balanced non-alcoholic options over overly candy choices. Advances in manufacturing methods now guarantee alcohol-free drinks retain the depth, texture, and complexity of their alcoholic counterparts.
Dedicated to fostering a tradition of moderation, Diageo leads this rising development by investing in product innovation, supporting hospitality, and selling accountable ingesting by DRINKiQ. In December 2024, as a part of this system, Diageo distributed 20,000 water bottles at Afterlife, reinforcing accountable consumption. These efforts, already established in Lebanon, will quickly increase throughout the GCC, strengthening conscious ingesting in moments of celebration.
Sustainability: Constructing a Greener Future
Considered one of Diageo’s key priorities is its sustainability agenda, encompassing initiatives that champion round packaging options and scale back water consumption. These efforts replicate the corporate’s dedication to minimizing its environmental influence whereas reinforcing its management in company duty throughout the MENA area.
Shoppers right this moment are more and more conscious of their consumption habits and are searching for manufacturers that prioritize sustainability.“As we proceed to construct momentum in MENA, we’re main with a transparent concentrate on development, innovation, and sustainability,” provides Drumm. “Our ambition is to construct a resilient provide chain that helps communities adapt to local weather change whereas making certain a robust, sustainable enterprise mannequin.”
On the coronary heart of this dedication is Plan Zero, an bold initiative launched in collaboration with UN-Habitat and personal sector companions to cut back plastic and glass waste throughout the area. By shifting from a linear financial system mindset to a round one, Plan Zero focuses on recycling, reuse, and monetizing used supplies to help native economies. The initiative spans Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon, and can quickly increase to the remaining MENA markets—tackling the urgent waste administration challenges in a area the place solely 9% of waste is recycled, and waste technology is predicted to double by 2050.
Pioneering grain-to-glass sustainability is integral to Diageo’s enterprise technique. The corporate is accelerating efforts round water conservation and dealing in the direction of a low-carbon future to deal with local weather dangers and unlock new alternatives. By decreasing packaging weight, growing recycled content material, eliminating single-use packaging, and scaling round enterprise fashions, Diageo is shaping a extra sustainable future—one which advantages each individuals and the planet.
Driving Range & Inclusion in Hospitality
Range and inclusion are basic to Diageo’s core values. The corporate’s ongoing collaboration with ProAbled exemplifies its dedication to making a extra inclusive hospitality sector. Over the previous three years, this partnership has pushed vital progress in upskilling workers and fostering a tradition of inclusion.
A key milestone on this journey was the Constructing Accessibility Evaluation carried out at Diageo’s workplaces in Lebanon. This complete analysis recognized areas for enchancment, making certain that Diageo’s bodily areas replicate its inclusive ethos. Along with bodily enhancements, Diageo has prioritized coaching packages designed to equip its groups with the instruments and data wanted to champion incapacity inclusion.
In 2023, groups throughout Lebanon, Budapest, and the broader Center East and Europe participated in each stay and on-line coaching periods, leading to 102 workers skilled by the top of the yr. By 2026, Diageo goals to increase this initiative, coaching a further 70 workers, bringing the full to 172 skilled workforce members. The following part focuses on the hospitality {industry} within the UAE the place members will start their incapacity inclusion coaching. In January 2025, ProAbled led a collection of coaching periods for the Diageo MENA HQ workforce in addition to for the Specialty Espresso Affiliation. Over the subsequent two years, this effort will prolong to hospitality groups throughout markets within the Center East, serving to them embark on their very own inclusion journeys.
“Our ambition is to drive significant progress by fostering a extra inclusive, revolutionary, and sustainable hospitality {industry},” added Drumm. “By investing in individuals, the planet, and progress, we’re shaping the way forward for luxurious hospitality in MENA.”
On the coronary heart of Diageo’s Imaginative and prescient 2025 is a dedication to driving development and innovation. This imaginative and prescient is rooted within the perception that collaboration, creativity, and group are key to success. Whether or not it’s by elevating the posh expertise, championing moderation, advancing sustainability, or selling inclusion, Diageo is setting new benchmarks for excellence throughout the MENA area.
With these initiatives, Diageo isn’t just envisioning the longer term—it’s actively shaping it. As the corporate’s journey in MENA unfolds, one factor is definite: the very best is but to come back.
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