Leading retailer Hudson has promoted Ritianne Grech from Head of Retail Operations to the position of Country General Manager for Malta. Additionally, Tara Agius nee Borg Manché has also been promoted, taking over Ms Grech's former role as Head of Retail Operations.

Both Ms Grech and Ms Agius have been key figures in the elevation of the local retail landscape, as well as introducing Malta to a number of world-renowned brands including Ted Baker, Kiabi, New Look, River Island, Intersport, and others.

Commenting on her promotion, Ms Grech said: “This was achieved through hard work, persistence, and determination. There is no such thing as luck.”

“You need to learn from mistakes, treat people with respect and never let a pitfall cause you to lose focus of your final goal,” she added.

Also commenting on the new role, Ms Agius said: “It’s important to wake up and love what you do, to treat others with the utmost respect and to lead by example, besides, the skills you teach your team, the values and manner through which they are executed is what counts."

(from left) Ritianne Grech and Tara Agius nee Borg Manché / Hudson Holdings / Website

Both agreed that hard work in building solid and trustworthy relations is crucial, as when interacting with global brands, one plays the role of company ambassador.

Ms Agius added that while reputation takes time to be built, once it is acquired, it amplifies the company’s possibility for further growth, causing an almost “ripple effect of success”.

Ms Grech spearheaded the opening of the first Kiabi store in Larnaca, Cyprus. Its success then led to plans set in motion for the opening of a second store in Paphos.

She started her retail career at the age of 16 when she worked with Hudson’s home-grown concept, Urban Jungle, before going on to occupy roles in retail management for various high street fashion brands including Arkadia Marketing Limited.

In 2011, Ms Grech re-joined Hudson Group as Brand Manager and shortly after was promoted to Retail Operations Manager, where she was tasked with overseeing the day-to-day operations of the stores managed by the Group in Malta.

Afterwards, Ms Grech was appointed Director of Hudson Malta Sales. Following her promotion to Country General Manager, she is now responsible for the following areas: Wholesale, Retail, Team sport, and Maintenance.

Ms Agius has been working with Hudson since 2009, occupying various roles within the retail department.

She possesses a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Management from the Royal Holloway, University of London, as well as a master’s degree in Retail Operations for Malta.

Together with her team, Ms Agius will now be managing a total of 27 retail stores in Malta and seven in Gozo.

Feedback from colleagues for both highlight stellar leadership skills, humility, hard work, a sound understanding of employees' needs and a no-nonsense, 'let's do this' approach.

“In recent years, Hudson has strengthened its position as the leading retailer in Malta with a number of new brands, and Ms Grech together with Ms Agius have been instrumental in managing their operations,” Hudson CEO Chris Muscat said.

He emphasised Hudson’s “big plans for further growth”, both on a local and international scale, and so it “needs great, energetic, and driven individuals” like Ms Grech and Ms Agius to motivate and manage teams to achieve these goals.

Through brands such as NIKE, Ted Baker, River Island, New Look and Intersport, among many others, Hudson has cemented its name as “Malta’s leading fashion and sports retailer”. Additionally, it also has its own Maltese online store which was launched in 2020.

Hudson has a presence in Italy through Urban Jungle and BlackBox, as well as in Cyprus with Kiabi. It is also a significant operator in Africa, being the distributor of several leading brands, managing business through offices in Algeria Morocco and Nigeria.

The Group currently manages over 30 stores in Malta, and another 30 spread across Africa and Southern Europe, with plans to open an additional 17 new stores in these locations over the course of 2022. This will include two new concepts: a multistore in Gozo, as well as at the Campus Hub near the University of Malta.