Students are a rapidly growing sector of the entrepreneurial and MSME community across the Gulf Region, and are invested in developing their ideas into active businesses. However, students require assistance with developing these business ideas and need guidance on how their businesses can be strengthened for long-term success.

This lecture, designed for students, will provide a high-level introduction to corporate governance, its pillars and applications, how MSMEs can use governance practices to achieve business success, and what students can do to implement and reinforce good governance in MSMEs that they may go on to build.

Please note that this is a closed session targeted for students. 

This event will be held in Arabic.

The Pearl Initative will host a webinar broadly discussing the various elements of family business governance and delve more deeply into the role family business boards play in strengthening family business resilience.

The following topics will be discussed:

• Family governance and its benefits
• Deciding who should participate in the business and in what role
• Using charters, ground rules and constitutions
• Establishing effective decision-making plans
• Commonly adopted board structures for family businesses
• Advisory vs fiduciary board
• Evolution of board structure
• Role of the next generation in family business boards
• Role of technology in the boardroom

The conversation between Farida El Agamy, General Manager of Tharawat Family Business Forum and Yasmine Omari, Executive Director of Pearl Initiative, will highlight key trends and challenges in governing modern and traditional family businesses. Discussions on the benefits of governance, the evolution of the board structure and the role of the next generation in family firms will be touched upon during the webinar.

Participants will also have the opportunity to ask questions about their family businesses and receive guidance and frameworks on how they can customise and implement the right governance to meet their needs.

As the landscape of giving evolves in the region, there has been a transition from the traditional donations made by individual philanthropic donors, towards greater institutionalisation. While private personal giving continues to be an important source of financing for grantees and beneficiaries in the region, these actors are now giving through an increasingly diverse range of family foundations and social investment initiatives, including established foundations or new philanthropic ventures as well as corporate vehicles.

Yet it still remains that many of these self-sufficient “private foundations” that do not generally seek funding from the general public, companies or government carry out their work in confidence. While discretion is a traditional characteristic of giving in the Gulf Region, the public has higher expectations for organisations and individuals whose missions are to do good. People want to learn more about their activities, missions, goals, impact, and the outcomes produced.

Transparency, however, is not just about releasing information for public consumption. It can be a real tool for donors, corporate or individual, to increase their impact through more accurate self-assessments and public engagement.

As more grant-making organisations publish information on their activities and where funds are flowing, it minimises the duplication of efforts while also identifying  geographic and thematic gaps in funding.

Not only will this promote greater impact and effectiveness of giving but will also reinforce trust between donors and their stakeholder communities.

Transparency is not a one-size-fits-all equation. What is comfortable for one organisation may not be comfortable, realistic, or appropriate for another. The best transparency policies will be those guided by an organisation’s mission, catered to its supporters and potential supporters, and considerate of the organisation’s strategy and needs.

The roundtable discussion will convene high-level corporate and family business leaders across the Gulf Region to challenge current understandings of transparency highlighting the value, opportunities and challenges of implementing higher standards of transparency in giving.

In observing an uptick in implementing good corporate governance strategies within organisations worldwide, early this year, the State of Kuwait launched a nation-wide strategy to promote transparency, integrity and competitiveness of business organisations, highlighting national efforts and measures to improve the status of Kuwait on the international stage.

In cognisance of this development, the Pearl Initiative would like to convene business leaders and decision makers in a strategic dialogue to shed light on the importance of businesses introducing integrity frameworks.

The discussion will revolve around effective business operations, including:

• Instilling accountability at all levels of the organisation,
• Maintaining appropriate transparency practices internally and externally, and
• Generating evidence of the effectiveness of systems of good practices

 
The session will feature a panel discussion with subject matter experts who will share their experiences. Contemporary case studies will also be featured, covering examples of both successes and challenges in implementing integrity policies within regional organisations, as well as tips and tools to help businesses navigate around potential integrity pitfalls.
 
The aim is for participants to leave with valuable insights and implementable and actionable ideas on how to implement ethical practices, along with an awareness of the need to continually improve and update corporate integrity policies in their business and the business case for doing so.

There has been demonstrable progress in women’s regional workforce engagement and success, with women taking the lead in many key economic sectors. However, women continue to be underrepresented despite this progress, and it is evident that organisations and their stakeholders must take charge to facilitate meaningful change and support women at work.

Led by by PwC Middle East D&I Leader Norma Taki, join industry leaders and regional experts for a workshop on the concerns that affect women in the workforce across the Gulf Region, and the solutions that can be implemented to support women’s career and economic advancement. 

Topics that will be discussed will include: 

• The latest findings on women’s experiences in the regional workforce, 
• Contemporary factors that impact women at work, and 
• The strategic solutions that can be implemented by organisations to support women at all career stages.