CEO resort rendezvous

SOME of the region’s most powerful and influential business leaders gathered last week at Bahrain’s Al Areen Palace & Spa as the kingdom hosted the prestigious Top CEO Conference & Awards event.

GFH Financial Group (GFH) acted as the country’s host for the gathering which attracted around 500 regional CEOs and company executives to the resort, with the support of the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) and in line with a concerted effort to help promote the kingdom as an investment, business and leisure destination.

The Top CEO Conference & Awards, now in its fifth year and organised by Dubai-based Mediaquest, aims to showcase the ‘vision and ingenuity’ of leading CEOs. The event each year gathers them and their international counterparts to look at the burning issues faced in the Middle East, which continues to undergo rapid transformation, and what they need to tackle today for sustainable growth and success.

Addressing Thursday’s conference was a world-class line-up of speakers and panellists. The day kicked off with keynote addresses by the EDB’s chief executive Khalid Al Rumaihi, and CEO of GFH Financial Group, Hisham Al Rayes.

Others invited onto the podium were Jassim Alseddiqi, CEO of Abu Dhabi Financial Group (ADFG) and chairman of GFH Financial Group, and renowned economist and author, Professor Nouriel Roubini, who is famed with predicting the 2008 global financial crisis and spoke about building knowledge economies.

Other plenary, panel and breakout sessions looked at a ring of critical topics shaping regional economies including ‘Future of Growth Amid Volatility’, ‘Bahrain’s Growth Dynamics’, ‘Future of Women Business Leadership’, ‘Structural Reforms and Direct Investment’, ‘The Blockchain Opportunity’ and ‘The Human Factor and Tech Innovation’, among others.

FinTech Focus asked three participants what they thought of the current challenges facing businesses and also the opportunities to be grabbed.

 Hisham Al Rayes,

CEO of GFH

There are many regional challenges … but I like to usually see challenges as opportunities. Some of the challenges are the political threats, the local market’s concern about government reforms in terms of the introduction of VAT and new charges on services and the removal of subsidies. Also, the fast pace of change in technology, the inability of local markets to compete with international suppliers, the US and China economic war, Brexit and its impact on business.

These are a lot of challenges but threats, changes and volatilities have been there for the past 50 to 100 years. They change in their form and shape. Those companies who can spot the opportunity and capitalise on those changes to enter the cycle at the right time and exit at the peak will succeed and benefit.

I like what is happening in the region in terms of managing the administration of our economies more efficiently. The ministers and the leadership have been assigning people who have successful stories and experiences including ex-CEOs of banks, investment firms, technology firms, people who have succeeded.

You don’t see the typical ‘government men’ anymore in the region. You see more business-oriented people and those people want to run more efficient balance sheets, more prosperous business plans and we see now that there is a clear vision for all the countries in the region and more efficient management of the government matters for the business and GDP going forward.

These are all good reflections. The business community might not like it in the short-term but it is for the good of the economy in the medium-to-long-term.

I think events like this are great opportunities to meet top CEOs and decision-makers in different sectors, exchange ideas and create relations. We are happy to host them this year in Bahrain and also to present Bahrain’s case to all the regional players.”

 Dr Essa Faqeeh, CEO of Al Areen Investment

“I don’t see challenges. What I see is a very positive market and I think things will change within the coming of three years. Why? Because the Saudi market is more open and its economy is becoming stronger.

Last month, I was in Saudi Arabia and I met a couple of people in real estate and finance. They are happy and they are trading very well actually and that will definitely reflect back onto Bahrain.

Our market here is very strong with Saudi Arabia. If they do very well then we will do very well … and we have seen in Bahrain there are a lot of developments happening.

If we talk in terms of hospitality, we have a lot new hotels coming up. In terms of businesses, we are trying to attract more of businesses and MICE business.

We have many media representatives who are really talking very highly of Bahrain. This event doesn’t just work for us at Al Areen Palace and Spa as we brought delegates here and so the hotels are busy. The limousine car companies are also busy, the taxi drivers, the shopping malls – many of them brought their families. A lot of the CEOs brought their families to spend time with them in Bahrain. Those two to three days visiting Bahrain adds to the economy and as a result tourism will grow.

The future is bright because the economy will hopefully get better. There are negative people that always say the market is down. The market is not down. There is positivity in the market otherwise those top CEOs wouldn’t have come to Bahrain. If they feel there is depression in the market or anything happens, they would not come.

“I have been asking everybody who arrived and they are really happy with Bahrain.”

 Khalid Saad, CEO Bahrain FinTech Bay

“I think we live in an age of uncertainty and rapid technological development and for a long time businesses were used to doing things a certain way. So I always say what got us here will not get us there and the modus operandi has completely changed.

Over the next year, a lot of the businesses will need to figure out what do they need to do internally in terms of not only technological changes and investments but also from a human capital perspective, to really adopt to this new world where it’s not really focussed on products but it’s more customer-centric and experiential.

I think the challenges are that a lot of people still have not figured out how to really do this in a meaningful way.

I think also the challenges for a lot of, especially within the financial services sector, is that big tech globally is also starting to move in and customers have more of an affinity or relation to a lot of the big tech companies because they seemingly provide a much better experience on understanding. I think over the next year or so, the challenge will be ‘how do I really want to sustain my business’ but also ‘how do I position myself to really grow in the future’.

“I’m pretty optimistic from what I’ve seen over the last few years, since the oil price slide, is that there is fundamental shift in the way people view entrepreneurship, innovation and I think that awareness and mind-set shift is very positive.

How can we do things much better?

I think also in the same time for me specifically if I look at Bahrain for example or the region, I think as one of the points that were mentioned was the region is famous for a lot of different things but it’s not necessarily very famous for being a global technological hub. I think we are starting to build the foundations and the building blocks for that to actually happen.

I think third is, I believe this is an era where the economies, since the discovery of oil, are fundamentally changing now. So I think if I take the era of oil discovery independence up until now, that’s what I call phase one. Now is what I believe would be phase two and we are living in a time where we are completely flipping things over and looking at not only how to go back to basics but also how to do things better. I think we are in an era of whatever is happening now is going to have significant changes over the next few decades for individuals and for industries. I think these are three reasons why I am really pretty optimistic.

I think also, it’s never been easier to start a business, it’s never been easier to access information and I think if these tools are used and utilised in the right way, it can unlock unlimited opportunities for individuals and society.”