< Previous10 C EO M I D D L E E A S T JUNE 202 1 XXXXXXXXXXX ince Covid-19 swept across the world, shutting down cit- ies, slowing down trade and changing the way we work, businesses have had to adapt. The crisis is impact- ing everyone across the world irrespec- tive of location and borders. There has been a collective effort to the end the pandemic and the response has brought to the forefront the vital importance of investing in more sustainable busi- ness models. The latest findings from HSBC’s Navigator Report show that 98 percent of companies in the Middle East see multiple opportunities from improving their environmental and ethical sustainability. There have been several years of shifting societal expectations. Investors have been placing increased importance on the wider social and environmental impact of businesses and interna- tional supply chains – GCC bond and sustainability-linked debt issuance out of the Middle East roughly doubled to almost $5bn in 2020. But change needs to happen at a much faster rate and at every level of the economy if the world is to achieve the Paris Agreement target of limiting the rise in the planet’s temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre- industrial levels by 2050 – countries across the Middle East have committed to this. So, how do business leaders make their companies more sustainable and resilient? There isn’t a single correct answer. Sustainability cuts across all the activities of any company, such as reducing its own environmental and so- S “SUSTAINABILITY CUTS ACROSS ALL THE ACTIVITIES OF ANY COMPANY.” Human connection. The world is more interconnected than we give credit to, with all markets reliant on each other to a greater or lesser degree.JUNE 202 1 CEO MIDDLE E A ST 11 THE BRIEF cial footprint, working across its value chain, both clients and suppliers, to en- sure the highest standards are met, or improving staff wellbeing. A company must also create a robust and transpar- ent governance framework that enables it to thrive in an increasingly complex and demanding business ecosystem. All of these activities fall under the ESG (Environment, Social, Govern- ance) framework of the company. Many organisations have been advancing in silos, focussing on the most material issues in their operations but they lack a well-structured framework to align to, and to present to their stakeholders. The mindset is shifting and mov- ing towards bigger, more meaning- ful change, not just on a local scale but one that could have an impact globally. Companies are questioning how they can contribute to a net zero economy and reduce carbon emissions to protect the planet and to help build a thriving, resilient future for society and businesses. Banks have a role to play and must prioritise financing and investment that support the transition to a net- zero economy, that’s why we and 41 other banks founded the industry-led, UN-convened Net Zero Banking Alli- ance (NZBA) to bring collaborating and consistency to collective efforts to reach the Paris Agreement goals. That reinforces our pledge to re- duce financed emissions from our own portfolio of customers to net-zero by 2050 or sooner and to provide between $750bn and $1 trillion of finance and investment by 2030 to help achieve this goal. If there is one lesson learned during the pandemic, it is that partnerships are needed more than ever. We were more interconnected than we thought and our markets were reliant on each other to keep their economies ticking. That is why collaboration is vital in order to protect our planet. Banks need to work with investors, governments, NGOs and other financial institutions to support long-term environmentally sustainable projects. At HSBC, we are doing this in the Middle East through programmes such as Living Business, which aims to help businesses, regardless of their size, deliver a significant and meaningful ESG enhancement to their business operations. Through the programme, participating companies last year man- aged to reduce more than 1,800 tonnes of CO2 emissions and diverted 500 metrics tonnes of waste from landfill towards upcycling models, among many other success stories. Companies need to feel they are in a position to withstand any unexpected interruptions. It is only the most agile and forward-looking organisations that will survive. Adopting a sustainability lens, which by definition is holistic and long-term, will better prepare business- es to adapt, reorganise, find new growth opportunities and continue to thrive. “COMPANIES ARE QUESTIONING HOW THEY CAN CONTRIBUTE TO A NET ZERO ECONOMY AND REDUCE CARBON EMISSIONS.” Protecting nature. Companies in the region must rethink how they invest for the good of the environment. Forward-looking. Sabrin Rahman, managing director, head of sustainability for Europe and the Middle East, HSBC.12 C EO M I D D L E E A S T JUNE 202 1 XXXXXXXXXBUSINESS TRAVELJUNE 202 1 CEO MIDDLE E A ST 13 XXXXXXXXX COULD THE PANDEMIC ACTUALLY PROMOTE BUSINESS TRAVEL? DIGITALISATION AND THE VIRTUALISATION EFFECT ON BUSINESS WILL FUEL THE NEED FOR BUSINESS TRAVEL FOR THREE REASONS, WRITES LINUS BENJAMIN BAUER, FOUNDER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR OF BAUER AVIATION ADVISORY, AND VISITING LECTURER AT THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON14 C EO M I D D L E E A S T JUNE 202 1 BUSINESS TRAVEL he current pandemic is revo- lutionising mobility, including air travel. Before the spread of Covid-19, professionals would typically travel for business, but now it has be- come normalised to operate from your workplace or from home via Zoom, Teams or Webex. People are starting to believe that the virtualisation of human contact will hit business travel with the expectation demand will remain low until 2025 and beyond during the post- pandemic recovery phase. I person- ally do not believe in the majority of the scenarios and predictions from a crystal ball as the pandemic is actually playing a role in promoting business travel. Over the past 12 months, several major consulting firms have predicted a sharp decline in business travel in the medium- and long-term and that a large portion of business travel may never re- turn. We somewhat agree that business travel will return at a slower pace than VFR and leisure travel, but we should not underestimate how the pandemic is promoting business travel. Digitalisation and the virtualisation effect on business will fuel the need for business travel for three reasons. First, in terms of their own struc- ture, their supplier and customer re- lationships, companies are becoming more global. This is because the pan- demic has laid the foundation for small- er and medium-sized enterprises to act globally in an easier and significantly cheaper way. Virtualisation therefore intensifies globalisation, which will lead to a surge in demand for business travel in the upcoming years when travel re- strictions have been lifted underpinned by the ongoing Covid-19 vaccination rollout. All new overseas employees, customers and suppliers still have to be met and looked after. Secondly, there is an illusion of trav- el benefits. Maintaining business con- tacts through laptop screens seems like no issue for many people nowadays par- ticularly as ongoing travel restrictions And thirdly, the virtualisation of contacts may reduce the benefits of some domestic and regional trips, but it also reduces the costs of all trips. Be- fore the virtualisation effect, the cost of travelling – in addition to transport costs and higher expenses – mainly consisted of unproductive travel time make travel impossible for competitors. However, when travel restrictions and other measures ease, people will have to travel in order for their business to emerge stronger and remain competi- tive. The level of competition will in- tensify and quickly flourish again once restrictions become history. Digitalisation and the virtualisation effect on business will fuel the need for business travel. T TH EC ONVE RSA TI ON. CO MJUNE 202 1 CEO MIDDLE E A ST 15 BUSINESS TRAVEL and the absence from the offices. Any- one who travelled for a single day or several nights was only available to a limited extent for daily business activi- ties and corporate meetings. Now, on the other hand, you can travel elsewhere and still remain largely at work in a virtual capacity. For in- stance, the growing ‘bleisure’ (business and leisure travel combined) segment in the travel industry, driven by younger generations, has played its part prior to the pandemic already and it will con- tribute to the post pandemic rebound of business travel. Thanks to virtu- alisation, productivity remains as high at home as it does in the office. Even the time when travelling can be much more productive because you can main- tain contact with anyone, anywhere on long-haul flights or long train journeys – thanks to inflight Wi-Fi offered by various airlines across the globe. Even airports have expanded their offerings targeting business travellers. This trend was already growing be- fore the crisis. Many businesspeople were constantly on the phone and with laptops while traveling. In an era when remote work is becoming more common practice, travelling in many ways will almost be as efficient as working from your office. The introduction of more cabins like the Premium Economy Class on aircraft will reduce the cost of travel- ling – compared to the previous crises. The enormous progress of digitali- sation has allowed the valuable resource of time to be used much more efficiently when traveling. Therefore, thanks to the virtualisation of human interaction, the frequency and duration of real business trips will increase significantly in the post-pandemic era. On a side note, if remote work with all the “comfortable and environmen- tally friendly options” like videocon- ferencing continues through the end of 2021, the global carbon footprint could grow by 34.3 million tons in greenhouse gas emissions. To give a sense of the scale: This increase in emissions would require a forest twice the size of Por- tugal to fully sequester it all, accord- ing to a recent research conducted by MIT. Additionally, the associated water footprint would be enough to fill more than 300,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools, and the land footprint would be equal to roughly the size of a city like Los Angeles. If you want to act environmentally by just reducing the amount of business travel and replace it by technology as an alternative solution (e.g., videoconfer- encing), it might not always be the most environmentally friendly approach. It remains an environmental paradox. The pandemic will promote business travel. In the medium- to long-term, people will be on the move more than ever. However, the overall effect will vary from company to company, coun- try to country, and industry to industry. Virtualisation will soon catapult us into a new age of travel with more long-term labour mobility, tourism and migration globally. Before all this happens, let the so called Zoom fatigue kick in first before borders across the globe reopen again for all kinds of travel activities. “THE ENORMOUS PROGRESS OF DIGITALISATION HAS ALLOWED THE VALUABLE RESOURCE OF TIME TO BE USED MORE EFFICIENTLY WHEN TRAVELING.” Virtualisation will soon catapult us into a new age of travel with more long-term labour mobility.16 C EO M I D D L E E A S T JUNE 202 1 COVER STORYAN INVESTMENT IN KNOWLEDGE SHARING HOW TALAL AL AJMI, FOUNDER AND CEO OF VI MARKETS, IS EDUCATING GULF RESIDENTS ON HOW TO TAKE THEIR FIRST STEPS INTO THE ONLINE TRADING SPACE – AND BUILDING A PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL BRAND ALONG THE WAY By RIAZ NAQVI COVER STORY JUNE 202 1 CEO MIDDLE E A ST 1718 C EO M I D D L E E A S T JUNE 202 1 f you build it, they will come.” For Kuwaiti entrepreneur Talal Al Ajmi, it feels appropriate to swap out one word of the famous line from Kevin Costner in 1989’s Field of Dreams: If you teach it, they will come. With a keen passion for financial markets, Al Ajmi has not only built his country’s most popular online trading platform but also established a name for himself as a thought leader and social media influencer in the space. Every week, the founder and CEO of VI Markets shares his opinions on the hottest stocks and commodities with a 62,000-strong following on Instagram, speaking directly to both his platform’s own users and anyone interested in learning more about online trading. Beyond a means of personal branding, Al Ajmi believes this connection serves as an effective means of drawing more clients to his online trading platform. “The main reason I adopted this strat- egy is the lack of awareness in our society in regards to trading online in interna- tional markets,” he tells CEO Middle East. With terrible advice and bad-faith actors widespread on social media – think back to the ill-advised gambling on Gamestop just a few months back – Al Ajmi decided to bypass traditional marketing channels and speak directly to the public in a bid to help people make more informed decisions with investing their money online. “To promote sustainable development via edu- cation was and will always be my goal.” Minding the education gap The world of finance is large, complicated and often intimidating. Al Ajmi aims to cut through the noise to provide viewers with nuanced, relevant advice on trading. “Education is the key to build a good profile, therefore we have weekly seminars and workshops that are car- ried out on premises by our instruc- tors along with online training free of charge to give those who are interested a chance to learn more.” Any good entrepreneur looks for a good gap in the market, a problem that needs solving. For Al Ajmi, 11 years ago, that gap was education – specifically, the ability to provide the right educa- tion that could establish a good base for potential clients. Besides downloadable desktop programmes and smartphone apps for trading, the VI Markets site has a train- ing academy that outlines, in accessible language and textbook detail, concepts such as CFD trading, forex, analysis tools, investor types and, perhaps most importantly, trading psychology. “We have developed our lectures and have certified educational materials from different universities,” says Al Ajmi, himself a University of Philadelphia IT graduate who held various positions in “ I “TO PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT VIA EDUCATION WAS AND WILL ALWAYS BE MY GOAL.” Expert. Al Ajmi is a proponent of education to provide viewers with nuanced, relevant advice on trading. COVER STORYJUNE 202 1 CEO MIDDLE E A ST 19 COVER STORY investment firms prior to launching VI Markets. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and Al Ajmi points to competi- tors following in VI Markets’ footsteps in terms of regional expansion as a testa- ment to his platform’s success. “We have succeeded in opening branches outside Kuwait reaching as many people as we can, mainly in Egypt, Oman, Dubai and many more.” Another aspect benefitting VI Markets’ success, Al Ajmi adds, is its partnership with the London-based One Financial Markets. Through the partnership, his company is one of the few in the Gulf region to be regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Author- ity (FCA), which proffers an invaluable commodity: trust. Trades of change Technological improvements coupled with the economic uncertainties raised by the pandemic has seen interest in online trading as a means to diversify one’s income streams reach unprecedented levels. “The nature of online trading has definitely come a long way – ten years back we couldn’t carry out the same transactions we do today,” says Al Ajmi. One of the biggest differences, for him, is the immediacy with which trans- actions can now occur. “We can perform our transactions through our smart- phone; all you need is the platform and internet connection and your sell/buy trade will be executed immediately.” However, looking forward, he believes rapidly advancing technolo- gies such as artificial intelligence will reshape investment strategies and meth- ods, ultimately reducing risk. “ONLINE TRADING HAS COME A LONG WAY. TEN YEARS BACK WE COULDN’T CARRY OUT THE SAME TRANSACTIONS WE DO TODAY.” $659.8BN The value of traded stocks in the GCC markets in 2020, according to StatistaNext >