About Us - Hudson Holdings (2024)

Alfie Borg joined Time International Co. Ltd in 1984 as a sales representative and together with Daniel Reginiano built the company into one of Malta’s leading distributors and retailers. Acquiring a portfolio of world-leading brands allowed them to transform the company into one of the leading players in the sport and fashion retail sector of the local market. In 2006, Mr Borg led the management buyout of Time International Co. Ltd forming a new holding company, Hudson Holdings Ltd, along with key handpicked shareholders. Over the years Mr Borg established a standard of networking excellence made up of great brands and great people that was and remains instrumental in successfully taking NIKE and other great brands across Africa, Italy and Malta.

Christopher Muscat joined Hudson Holdings Ltd in 2006 as a shareholder following the management buyout. Mr Muscat has been actively involved in establishing and growing the various business ventures across the organisation that have significantly expanded the Hudson Group’s profile and turnover. Mr Muscat headed the Finance function of the Hudson Group until his appointment as Chief Operations Director in February 2018. Before joining the Hudson Group, Christopher Muscat served as a senior manager at Deloitte Malta and took on the role of CEO of the company in 2019.

Jonathan Briffa joined the Hudson Group in October 2018 and has since occupied the roles of head of Business Support and Strategy and subsequently that of Chief of Staff. In July 2020 he was appointed as Hudson Group Finance Director. He brings with him a wealth of knowledge in the finance industry having worked with international companies such as Vodafone.

Alex Cara has over 30 years’ experience within the retail industry, having worked across various sectors including sportswear, fashionwear, kidswear and jewellery. A thought-provoking leader, coach, and trusted advisor, he possesses strong cross-cultural skills having lived and worked in various countries. Having started his retail career on the sales floor, climbing the ranks, he has worked with several global brands such as Triumph, Pandora, NIKE, Esprit, and New Look, developing growth strategies, successfully managing geographic regions and various distribution sales channels at a global level.

Kalani Weerasinghe joined the Hudson Group in October 2021 with a view todrive the organisational changes required to enable the continued local and global expansion of the Group. She brings extensive experience to the role, gained over an illustrious career at various prominent international companies, in the USA, UK and more recently heading the people service function of a Global financial institution here in Malta.

Nigel Curmi joined Hudson as Chief Technology Officer in 2023, a pivotal role in developing, implementing, managing and evaluating the company’s technology resources. Nigel brings with him a wealth of experience across a wide spectrum of IT.With over 20 years of experience, Nigel previously served the role of Chief Information Officer at Steward Health Care Malta.Prior to this, he occupied various roles within the telecommunications industry including at GO plc, as Chief Information Officer and as Head of IT and Data Services at Melita.

Felice Illacqua has worked in Sports Sales Management for over 25 years. He previously served the role of National Key Account Manager Footwear Apparel & Equipment for the Centre-Southern Italian and Malta Regions as well as for Italian resellers with NIKE Italy. In 2013, Mr Ilacqua moved to Malta to occupy the position of Sales Territory Manager and Brand Manager for Time International (Sport) Ltd.(part of Hudson Group). He was instrumental in the development of the NIKE footwear and apparel market in Malta and has helped Hudson develop new channels in Italy.

George Amato joined Hudson Holdings Ltd in 2004 as General Manager, later becoming a shareholder of Hudson Holdings Ltd during the management buyout. With a background in manufacturing, he brought an added dimension to the Hudson Group helping it to prepare for the management buyout by overhauling working procedures. Today Mr Amato is responsible for the data management, logistics and inventory side of the business. George Amato was Managing Director of a furniture manufacturing business, followed by a clothing manufacturing company where he was responsible for growing turnover and profitability.

Gianluca Salute is a veteran within the sports/sneaker industry, Mr Salute started his career in 1992 working for Converse. He later joined NIKE where he spent 5 years prior to moving to United Colors of Benetton. He re-joined NIKE as Sales Area Manager for the South of Italy. When joining Hudson in 2008, he took an active role in building the Urban Jungle project and is presently Urban Jungle’s Brand Director. He was instrumental in the expansion of Urban Jungle across 29 locations in Europe and Africa, which include Milan, Rome, Naples as well Madrid, Paris and Casablanca.

Indrek Heinmets joined the Group in February 2013 as NIKE Brand Manager for North-Africa where he was focused on developing NIKE Brand strategies across the different markets. He started his professional career in 1997 with NIKE Distributor in the Baltic states before moving to NIKE EMEA as the Retail Manager for Middle East/North Africa He supported NIKE Russia during the start-up phase of setting up NIKE owned operations and later led the NIKE retail business from Moscow. From Russia, Mr Heinmets moved to NIKE Central Europe taking the responsibility for developing and managing Partner and NIKE Stores across a number of CE countries.

Mr Borg, previously Managing Director Trilogy Ltd, led the negotiations between Hudson and Trilogy in 2021, which saw the introduction of premium fashion brands Calvin Klein Jeans, Tommy Hilfiger, Tommy Jeans, Armani Exchange and Mango into Hudson’s portfolio of brands. Mr Borg is a member of the Hudson Holdings Board of Directors and assumes the role of Fashion Brand Director. With over 25 years’ experience in retail accompanied by a wealth of Fashion and retail knowledge, Mr Borg looks towards extending the Fashion brands represented by Hudson in Africa. Previously Mr Borg served the role of Co-founder and Managing Director for Trilogy Ltd. Mr Borg Started working in the family business and by the age of 19, decided to open his own company importing and distributing the O’Neill Brand. By 1999, he launched a multibrand concept “Chilli”. In 2008, he co-founded Trilogy Ltd and became the franchisee partners for Tommy Hilfiger, followed by Armani, CK and Mango, which between 2008 - 2018, opened 10 stores.

Ray Grech is a Chartered Marketer and brings a wealth of knowledge in marketing, sales and organisation management. Mr Grech started his career in the beverage business in the 1980’s and worked at all levels of Simonds Farsons Cisk plc, and eventually as Chief Marketing Officer on the Group Executive Board. In 2010 he moved on to establish himself as Strategic Marketing Consultant, working with leading businesses at senior management level. He also served as Chairman and Director on a number of NGO and industry boards.

David joined Hudson Holdings Ltd in 2024 as Country Manager for Malta with an emphasis of driving profitability, streamlining local processes, whilst overseeing store and wholesale operations, ensuring the execution of Hudson’s strategy.David brings with him a wealth of experience as a General Manager across various industries, including retail, manufacturing and engineering,serving in various locations including the UK, Germany, Cyprus, and the Persian Gulf during his tenure in the British Army.

Kieran joined Hudson Holdings in 2020 as General Manager of Hudson Business Development Nigeria (HBDN) with the responsibility to setup and establish Hudson Group business functions to support Retail, Wholesale Distribution and Ecommerce operations across Nigeria. He previously served as Managing Director at Lintons Beauty in Nairobi, Kenya which is the premier beauty operator across East Africa for MAC, Clinique & own brand stores. His extensive Middle East experience includes the following posts - B usiness Director at River Island in Kuwait, General Manager for Nike in Dubai and MEA Franchise Manager for Mexx Group BV in Dubai.

Kyriacos joining Hudson Holdings in 2021 as Cyprus’ incountry manager responsible for launching and growing Kiabi within the territory. Besides this he is the Brand Director for the Kiabi brand. He area of expertise lies in helping companies set up their businesses in Cyprus and previously occupied C-level roles with Homemate Cyprus Ltd, as well as within the automotive industry – Unicars Ltd, GPA Ltd and DOMS Ltd.

Luca joined Hudson Holdings Ltd in March 2018, occupying the post of Europe Commercial Director with a focus on the Italian, Spanish and French commercial teams. Luca, a Certified Accountant by profession, comes with a vast background in the retail and distribution industry having held various roles with Companies that represent Brands such as Carpisa, Yamamay, Jaked and Cyao.

Mustapha is responsible for the general management of Premium Brands (part of Hudson Group) in Algeria with the aim of developing the people and strengthening the organization to accelerate business development. Mustapha has over 15 years’ experience in FMCG industry mainly in Algeria and North Africa, for which he was responsible to develop and execute integrated marketing and communications plans. He garnered this wealth of experience whilst working for global brands and companies such as Danone, Mondelez, Red Bull, and recently, Ontex.

Etienne joined Time International Co. Ltd in 1987 as a Retail Assistant. Bringing a wealth of product knowledge, his career development is a testament to his passion for his job and the Company. In 2004, Etienne started his international role working in African markets such as Nigeria and Libya and later in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. He was one of the handpicked people during the buyout, becoming a shareholder in the Hudson Group. Etienne’s positive and optimistic attitude drives him and his dynamic team to live up to his motto of “making the impossible possible”.