The Pearl Initiative, a leading Gulf-based, business-led non-profit organization, hosted its global virtual forum: “The State of the Business of Corporate Governance in the Gulf Region”. Attended by more than 200 business leaders and executives from across the Gulf region, the forum celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Pearl Initiative and the journey of the Gulf region’s collective business community towards economic growth and sustainable businesses.
The forum brought together 15 business leaders, entrepreneurs, international and regional policymakers and government ministers from Bahrain’s Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Basel Institute on Governance, the OECD, the World Economic Forum, Careem, GetBee, Jubaili Bros., KPMG, Letswork, Meta (Facebook), Nesma, stc, talabat and Tharawat Family Business Forum. All delegates reflected on how stewardship and corporate governance have improved their organizations and the wider business community.
The forum hosted Aymen Tawfiq Almoayed, Minister of Youth and Sports of Bahrain, who discussed the Gulf region’s next generation business leaders, the incoming workforce and ways to employ governance, measurement and evaluation in government entities. He said, “A hopeful community becomes a productive community, and so the mandate of the Ministry of Youth is simply to synthesize hope. In order to turn this into operational excellence, we have developed dashboards to measure whether young Bahrainis feel safe, seen, supported, sought after, trusted and hopeful. It is also important to ensure that young people know and understand their psychometric readings and can identify their strengths and skills, while easily providing them with the opportunities that match their unique skills and personality traits. This information is shared with the business community to develop programs and initiatives to support our future business leaders. »
Global and regional experts from the World Economic Forum, the Basel Institute on Governance, stc and Meta (Facebook), highlighted significant developments in the anti-corruption landscape and the trend towards corruption. make it a business priority to create a proactive and holistic approach. model combining business ethics and integrity.
As micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) account for over 90% of all businesses operating in the Gulf region and contribute the bulk of economic growth and job opportunities, the forum hosted many prominent leaders of start-ups and technology companies. to discuss the importance of ethics and values as foundations of a company’s culture and key drivers of business growth. The panel agreed that corporate governance is an important investment that will pay off for the growth and sustainability of companies that attract investment and expand their business beyond their borders. Omar Al Mheiri, co-founder of Letswork, said: “As an Emirati tech start-up, our main concern is culture as we grow our team from two to twenty employees. It involves embedding culture into a formal corporate governance structure and it means bringing in the right people to help us make decisions while maintaining our own internal ethos and culture.”
The forum program included a session dedicated to family businesses, a segment that contributes more than 60% of the Gulf region’s non-oil GDP. During the session, prominent family business owners highlighted the importance of good governance for business sustainability and longevity, particularly through succession planning and diversity. leaders. With an impending generational shift in leadership and $1 trillion in assets set to pass to the next generation over the next decade, the Gulf region’s family business community is increasingly adopting high standards. governance and accountability.
Jamal Fakhro, Managing Partner of KPMG-Bahrain and Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Pearl Initiative, highlighted the vision of the Pearl Initiative and said: “The 2020-2021 COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted that the stewardship principles and environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles, are not ornamental, but rather fundamental to the resilience and prosperity of our businesses and future generations.
ESG principles remain an increasingly important business imperative in the Gulf region and globally and go beyond simple reporting and regulatory measures. The Pearl Initiative is an action-oriented, non-profit platform underpinned by the business case for embracing a strong corporate governance culture in the Gulf region. It strives to create measurable impact by 1) conducting applied research and disseminating relevant knowledge on best governance practices; 2) bring relevant stakeholders together and facilitate conversations and networking opportunities; and 3) provide locally relevant training and education opportunities for the business community and future entrepreneurs. The organization leads programs that provide data-driven insights and amplifies the importance of corporate governance principles as a business imperative to help businesses, family businesses, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs ) and philanthropic organizations to apply governance standards, including through diversity and inclusion, anti-corruption practices and environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting.
Over the past decade, the Pearl Initiative has developed and published 155 research reports and data-driven publications, and brought together more than 12,500 business leaders in 222 roundtables, workshops and webinars held across the Gulf region. . The organization’s work also reaches the student community, engaging with 43 universities across the Gulf and reaching more than 11,000 university students in activities promoting the business case for governance and sustainability.