Modernising Retail: Driving Innovation Through Digital Transformation

Mash Badar

Co-Founder and Managing Director, Codurance

Mash Badar is a strategic leader with a deep commitment to software craftsmanship and organisational transformation. As Co-Founder and Managing Director at Codurance, a global software consultancy, he shapes and drives the company’s strategy to help clients, investors, and their portfolio companies achieve sustainable success through technical excellence and innovative solutions.

Drawing on his extensive experience across sectors such as finance, retail, Mash has led efforts to revitalise projects, build high-performing teams, and align business goals with cutting-edge technology. His focus on software craftsmanship ensures that Codurance consistently delivers quality, scalable solutions that drive long-term value.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mashooq/ 

Esther Pugh

Senior Lecturer in Retail and Consumer Behaviour, Leeds Beckett University

Esther is a senior lecturer at Leeds Business School at Leeds Beckett University and the research lead for retail and consumer marketing, encouraging collaboration in research and publication across the school. She is passionate about the retail experience and extending research in this area, to encapsulate emotional, subjective and symbolic shopping. Esther's research interests are vintage, slow and circular fashion retail, consumer culture, visual merchandising, and the sensory retail experience in physical stores. Prior to entering the academic world, Esther was in charge of visual merchandising for global fashion retail brands, Oasis and Coast. Esther has also run her own vintage fashion business and continues to maintain a keen interest in vintage fashion, the circular economy and sustainable lifestyles. Currently Esther is focusing on fostering student sense of belonging through student-centred popup events created as assessment activities.

Currently, Esther is researching vintage fashion pricing, the role of British Vogue in shaping the Slow Fashion agenda, ‘what academics wear’ and the role of mirrors in physical fashion and beauty shopping spaces. She is publishing from her PhD the conceptual contribution ‘Spatial Fabric’ and her innovative participative smartphone photographic methodology.

Esther extends learning beyond the classroom into the world of retail, marketing and business with real organisations and real live problems. Her extended network is always brought in to support the students with real projects, assignments and the opportunity to engage externally with future potential employers. This develops students’ transferable skills and confidence. Esther is also passionate about the students she teaches and especially their sense of belonging. She is undertaking a large and multi-departmental project with the student union, IT, wellbeing, the library, careers and admin to investigate this. By exploring the undergraduate students’ feelings about sense of belonging, Esther aims to improve wellbeing and resilience to enhance belonging, which will in turn improve student success, continuation and outcomes.