Disruptive innovation, talent management to drive regional, global economic growth
Disruption, innovation, building a progressive and global talent force will form the basis of a growing economy globally and regionally. The future of economy and its driving force were discussed at a session on economy held at Dubai Future Week. Moderated by Stephan Anderson - Partner, Global Advisory Markets Leader at PwC, the session had a panel of distinguished speakers from across UAE’s biggest organisations. Richad Soundarjee, CEO at Societe Generale, Middle East and Rola Abu Manneh, CEO at Standard Chartered UAE provided their thoughts and projections on whether 2020 will be a year of progression or recession while Ronaldo Mouchawar, VP at Amazon,MENA, spoke about the upcoming trends in 2020 and shifting powers of economy and Alain Bejjani, CEO at Majid Al Futtaim gave his expert projections on the future trends in retail and consumption.
The session provided some great insights into the future of economy and the trends that will take shape globally and regionally. "Despite of the economy seeing a slightly slow growth in 2019, there is no outlook of recession on the horizon. We are looking at a slow economy, however 2020 will be a year that will also have the continued efforts of organisations and governments to continue to yield results,'' said Rola Abu Manneh.
''Regionally, the UAE is poised to see a positive year with 2020 and various government initiatives taking shape. The country’s futuristic implementations including focus on fintech, innovation, growth in manufacturing along with its long-standing position as a hub connecting the emerging markets with developed countries will play an important role in shaping a positive economic outlook," she added.
Richad Soundarjee, said: "There’s definite uncertainty on the global and regional economic front, in the Middle East, the GCC however continues to be the bright spot. Most GCC nations have lower but better growth than other countries despite of the challenges faced in the region."
Continuing to speak about some of the factors driving growth, Sounrdarjee, said: "GCC’s appetite to transform to keep pace with the changing requirements forms the backbone of the its ability to continue growing. Sustainability as well continues to be one of the concerns and needs of the future. We need to move away from awareness to actual implementation and impact. Through our connected efforts we will be able to see a much better sustainability focused economic future."
Ronaldo Mouchawar, said: "The acquiring of local organisations by global giants like Souq.com was by Amazon, is a testament to the regions positivity. These are exciting times for the GCC with digitisation creating a massive shift in behaviours of companies and customers. Smaller and more niche products are being favoured by individuals. They resonate with customers on a personal level so we see a lot of smaller providers cropping up and fulfilling customer demands. Disruptions across industries are building a more robust economic future."
Speaking about talent, Alain Bejjain, said: "Monetary capital used to be a measurement of success, not anymore. Human capital has overtaken that role. Investing in talent is investing in the future of an organisation. Economies in the region are not properly capitalised, we need to develop the global caliber talent. Organisations need to focus on supporting in their employees’ development and provide opportunities to learn, unlearn and relearn, only then can we expect our human capital to keep building capacity and upscale themselves according to current demands."
The session concluded with a roundup of some of the most effective trends to continue in 2020 including – sustainability, provide more niche and effective customer experience and transforming digitally to build greater economies.
