Business & Money | Thursday 27 October, 2016 3:21 pm |

Setting the tone at the opening panel discussion of the Second Regional Forum hosted by Pearl Initiative and United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), prominent business leaders from across the GCC region highlighted the diverse opportunities that can be leveraged to achieve prosperity for businesses as well as regional economies.

Held under the patronage of His Excellency Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development, the regional forum drew attention to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a key component of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Themed ‘Sustainability in Action: Business and the Sustainable Development Goals’, the forum convened more than 700 delegates to debate and discuss actionable targets across the five pillars of Prosperity, People, Peace, Planet, Partnerships.

The forum’s first panel discussion, entitled: How to achieve shared prosperity for businesses and communities in uncertain times? Headlined by prominent business professionals including Khalid Al Hussan, CEO, Tadawul, Sheikha Hanadi Al-Thani, Founder & Chairperson, Amwal, Sanjeev Chadha, CEO Asia & Middle East, PepsiCo, Arjen Radder, CEO, Philips Middle East & Turkey and Osman Sultan, CEO, Du, the discussion was moderated by John Defterios, Emerging Markets Editor at CNN.

Highlighting the steps taken by Tadawul to achieve greater sustainability, Khalid Al Hussan, CEO, Tadawul, said: “When it comes to stock exchanges, in my opinion, our efforts at supporting sustainability are far easier than for other players. We have an important role to play in encouraging companies to adapt enabling frameworks and become more transparent and need to prove to them that doing so will benefit their businesses. If we talk about the Saudi Stock Exchange, the recent opening of the market to foreign investors is set to make life easier - it will increase the level of awareness, and stress the importance of complying with sustainable criteria with regard to listed companies.”

 

He added: “In my opinion, there is a wrong perception, especially in the capital markets, that investing in companies that respect such sustainability criteria, does not lead to sound financial performance. Listed companies in general, don’t see immediate value in adapting to best practices and criteria that achieve good governance.”  

He added: “In general, listed companies attempt to narrow their focus to include short-term returns. However, long-term investors know they should look for companies that adapt, and demonstrate good governance, a high level of transparency and sustainable practices.”

Speaking about the importance of sustainability, Sheikha Hanadi Al-Thani, Founder & Chairperson, Amwal, said: “Sustainability to me means managing the business in a responsible and ethical way. I think that within the family businesses here in the private sector, this is embodied in our DNA – we work to ensure we are responsible and fair in our dealing with partners, suppliers, etc. As a generation originating from traders within the region, our word is often our honour. So managing our businesses ethically has ensured that our businesses have largely flourished.”

She added: “Today we lack a more formalised way of establishing frameworks, creating processes for reporting and ensuring the importance of this element of responsibility – that ultimately impacts the bottom-line. I think in the region we have important upcoming events such as the EXPO 2020 in Dubai, and the football world cup in Qatar in 2022 that are logistical challenges, but also a good opportunity to develop our standards and ensure they are on par with the best internationally.”

For his part, Osman Sultan, CEO of Du, said: “I believe sustainability is a journey that has just started – it is something that is now being taken more seriously at government and corporate level. There is no industry today that is not exposed to digital transformation. I strongly believe that new rules and corporate governance are yet to be established - as the entire governance of this digital universe is something that is just commencing. There are conversations, but these need to continue.  

“In the GCC region, it is critical today to ensure the umbrella of governance. This goes beyond corporate governance and also includes social governance. I think that the word ‘governance’ should be key to the sustainability initiative – it is something that should be integral to everything we do.”

Arjen Radder, CEO, Philips Middle East & Turkey, said: “Phillips been around 125 years and we have been a leader in innovation. Today, all companies need to develop enabling ecosystems and I don’t think you can do that without sustainability. At Phillips, when we innovate and design, we have eco-design processes - that help us to make sure that what we plan is actually sustainable.”

Speaking about sustainable practices in his organisation, Sanjeev Chadha, CEO Asia & Middle East, PepsiCo, said: “Most people don’t realise that we are more a food company than a beverage company. 25% of our turnover has been in nutrition. Our heritage has been soft drinks, but over time we have observed the changing needs of the consumer and are committed to making dynamic changes to meet these needs. Our vision at Pepsico is to perform with purpose - and to do well in business we have to keep looking at ways to achieve consistent performance with responsibility.”

He added: “For example, water is one of the things we are focusing on. Last year in Saudi Arabia, we worked with 6,500 farmers and helped save 990 million litres of water, along with our partners – we could only achieve this record through enabling them with sustainable practices. Today, the water being consumed is just two thirds compared to the year before.”

Highlighting the steps needed to ensure sustainability, he stressed: “I really do believe that partnerships are absolutely crucial in everything we are now doing – all of our issues are common issues and the more we collaborate, the more we can focus on ensuring the sustainability of our actions.”

Concluding the panel discussion findings, Sheikha Hanadi Al-Thani said: “The global financial crisis meant that we stopped looking at our shareholders and opted to consider our stakeholders instead - seeking greater collaboration. Today our stakeholders are global citizens looking to establish governance for the whole world, and this is an important aspect for family-owned businesses and the private sector to consider. I am pleased to note that there is a pledge and an action plan following this conference, for companies to take steps towards better corporate governance.”

Khalid Al Hussan emphasized that more awareness was needed to achieve improvement in sustainability ratings, and said: “If you look at developed markets, there is an increased awareness for the value of sustainable practices. However, regionally not too many people are aware of these standards and how they help businesses.”

Sanjeev Chadha noted that the private sector has an equally important role to play as does the government, in revolutionising and driving growth in ways that are inclusive, accountable and transparent.

He said: “It is important not to take short-term decisions which can derail overall growth. What tends to happen in desperate times, is that corporates do not reach out for help. With my team, we aim to keep learning and collaborating with each other. For example, currently we are learning from Russia, because the Russian economy and business is going through a difficult time.”

The engaging panel discussion drew to a close following a question and answer session with the audience.

The Pearl Initiative & United Nations Global Compact Second Regional Forum drew attendees from around the world including global economic experts, business leaders, government officials, and policy makers.