CEO MIDDLE EAST MARCH 2023 ISSUE #190 MARCH 2023 # 190 HAVE YOU MET YOUR TWIN? Kamal Ballout, Head of Nokia Enterprise, China, India, Middle East and Africa talking on How digital twins and other technologies are laying the foundation for the industrial metaverse Explore more difc Future of Private Wealth and Family Businesses starts here. C M Y CM MY CY CMY K Family Wealth-CEO.pdf 1 19/01/2023 3:44 pmCONTENTS MARCH 2023 CEO MIDDLE EAST 3 MARCH 2023 # 190 6 EDITOR’S LETTER 8 OUTLOOK Todays’ supply chains suffer from the same ailments that roiled Roman emperors’ moods, says Federico Mariscotti, Vice President of Strategic Operations practice at Kearney Middle East 12 SUSTAINABILITY With the UAE hosting COP28 this year, the sustainability opportunity for the country – and the region – is huge, says Kawthar Bin Sulayem, CEO of KBS Strategies 16 COMMENT Great CEOs matter, but great managers and supervisors matter even more, believes Jeff Haden, contributing editor, LinkedIn Influencer and author 18 SUPPLY CHAIN The world of delivery is changing, and logistics will need to continue to innovate, says Anisha Sagar, Head of Marketing & Communications at Meydan Free Zone 26 EDUCATION Higher education needs reform, writes Professor Paul J. Hopkinson 08 1216 26CONTENTS 4 CEO MIDDLE EAST MARCH 2023 28 EDUCATION Tertiary education is at a crossroads because the Fourth Industrial Revolution is turning the job market upside down, believes Professor Hassan Hamdan Al Alkim of AURAK 32 SUSTAINABILITY Marilyn Lydia Pinto, founder at KFI GLOBAL, presents a six-step framework for curating initiatives that deeply impact society 34 INCLUSION Strong top-down leadership paints a bright future for the UAE’s inclusion agenda, writes Gunjan Shroff, Partner, People and Change at KPMG Lower Gulf 48 LIFESTYLE The latest in the world of watches this month 20 28 Kamal Ballout, Head of Nokia Enterprise, China, India, Middle East and Africa, talking on how digital twins and other technologies are laying the foundation for the industrial metaverse COVER STORY 32 34 48MARCH 2023CEO MIDDLE EAST 5 To receive your copy delivered directly to your door, subscribe online at www.itp.com/subscriptions The most important business people and CEOs talk to the most important magazine DISCOVERING MASAR Yasser Abuateek, the CEO of Umm Al Qura for Development & Construction, on why Masar Destination is set to become a leading landmark in the heart of Makkah FEBRUARY 2023 #189 UAEAED 20 KSASAR 20 BAHRAINBHD 2 KUWAITKWD 2 OMANOMR 2 The publishers regret that they cannot accept liability for error or omissions contained in this publication, however caused. 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ITP MEDIA GROUP CEO ALI AKAWI CFO TOBY JAY SPENCER-DAVIES MANAGING DIRECTOR ALEX REEVE DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR ANIL BHOYRUL EDITORIAL MANAGING EDITOR MATTHEW AMLÔT matthew.amlot@itp.com SUB EDITOR EDWARD LIAMZON SENIOR DESIGN MANAGER GERI BATARA SONNY DESIGNER MOHAMMED IRQSOSY EVENTS & MARKETING DIRECTOR OF AWARDS & MARKETING DANIELFEWTRELL +971 4 444 3684 Daniel Fewtrell@itp.com ADVERTISING GROUP COMMERICAL DIRECTOR SARASWATI AGARWAL +971 4 444 3352 saraswati.agarwal@itp.com SENIOR COMMERCIAL MANAGERR MANSI KHATWANINI +971 4 4443242422 mansi.khatwani@ni@i@ittp.c.comm PO BOX 500024, DUBAI, UAE +971 4 4 44 3000 OFFICES IN ABU DHABI, DUBAI & LONDON PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTOGRAPHER JULIUS GARCIA VIDEOGRAPHER MUHAMMAD KALEEM VIDEO EDITOR LIJU CHERUVATHUR PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION PRODUCTION MANAGER DENNY KOLLANNOOR PRODUCTION COORDINATOR MANOJ MAHADEVAN SENIOR IMAGE EDITOR EMMALYN ROBLES CIRCULATION CIRCULATION EXECUTIVE RAJESH PILLAI DISTRIBUTION COORDINATOR AVINASH PEREIRA ITP LIVE GENERAL MANAGER AHMAD BASHOUR PUBLISHED BY AND © 2023 ITP MEDIA GROUP FZ-LLC. MEDIA FORTUNE FAVOURS THE BOLD International entrepreneur Oweis Zahran on what happens when you reach the top JANUARY 2023 #188 UAEAED 20 KSASAR 20 BAHRAINBHD 2 KUWAITKWD 2 OMANOMR 2 EDITOR’S LETTER 6 CEO MIDDLE EAST MARCH 2023 his thoughts, calling the Gulf the next “Silicon Valley” of the world. Leadership is a topic that we have never tired on bringing to the fore. On page 16 we unpack the discussion surrounding the difference between great CEOs and great managers. While a great CEO is certainly important to the long-term success of a business, the impact of managers cannot be understated. As the world of work continues to evolve, it is more important than ever to have leaders who can inspire and motivate their teams to achieve their goals. We hope this article provides you with some valuable insights into what makes a great manager. Education is a key driver of economic growth, and our section on the importance of education in the Middle East economy beginning on page 26 provides a comprehensive overview of this vital topic. We examine the challenges facing the education sector in the region and explore how innovation and technology can help overcome these challenges. We also look at the latest trends in education, including online learning and lifelong learning, and how they are transforming the way we learn and work. In our technology section at the end, beginning on page 46, we explore the latest trends and developments in the world of technology. We are thrilled to talk about the importance of the introduction of ChatGPT, a large language model trained by OpenAI that can answer questions, generate text, and translate languages. This technology has the potential to revolutionise the way we interact with information and each other, and we are excited to see how it will shape the future of business – indeed it wrote part of this editor’s letter, can you tell which part? With that I’ll let you get to reading. Share your views on thought leadership and innovation by getting in touch: matthew.amlot@itp.com QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? MATTHEW AMLÔT Managing Editor @MatthewAmlot RISE OF THE MACHINES The technology sector grabs headlines in a storm of AI announcements H ello and welcome to the March issue of CEO Middle East. This issue we set our sights firmly on the technology sector with our cover story this month featuring Shadman Sakib, the billionaire founder of Web3.0 short- form video platform Vurse. In our conversation, he shares his thoughts on the importance of leaving a legacy and why building great products only matters if you are building for humanity. As a founder of a Web3.0 firm in Dubai – possibly the most forward-looking jurisdiction in the world when it comes to the regulation of the industry – Sakib also shares Luxury travel just found a new destination Dedicated to the world’s 36 million millionaires8 CEO MIDDLE EAST MARCH 2023 f neglected, the Cura Annonae will be the utter ruin of the state”. Emperor Tiberius ran the Roman Empire for a quarter of a cen- tury, between AD 14 to 37. Having served in the Roman army into modern-day Iran, he knew the Middle East region all too well. Notably, he was also a sourc- ing and supply chain practitioner. Out of necessity. Survival, really. About 200,000 of Rome’s adult male citizens, in a city of 1 million were eligible for a govern- ment programme which doled out free or subsidised grain, and later bread, through a programme called Cura Annonae, (i.e.) in the care of a goddess by that name. Grain came from Egypt, mainly, and with it came social peace. And while the title of ‘Prefect’ is rare nowadays for supply chain managers, it was then bestowed along with sweeping powers, to get the grains to Rome. Against the backdrop of a raging conflict, the deal signed between Turk- ish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and UN chief Antonio Guterres on July 22, 2022 in Istanbul was a turning point of global consequence and success- fully managed to broker a deal between Ukraine and the Russian Federation. At the heart of the deal is the reopening of exports of grains and fertilisers to the rest of the world, something that combat operations and sanctions had effectively ground to a halt. Ships, ports, cranes and logistics hubs cautiously came alive again. This happened not a moment too soon. Already 30 percent of the global population lives in areas with a Self Sufficiency Ratio (SSR) below 80 percent. This is the ratio of domestic production to consumption, based on the Food and Agriculture Organisa- tion (FAO) basket that accounts for all edible substitute products for grains, based on protein content. That means every fifth day, over 2 billion people depend on imports for their minimum food intake. Another 49 percent of the world rely on trade along sprawling supply chains. The lack of fertilisers, mainly from Russia, would amplify the effects across geographies, time, and harvests for 18-24 months to follow, at a minimum. A closer look at the fragil- ity in sustenance of that 80 percent of the world’s population brings into focus several underlying dependencies that are still not making headline news, but shape their fundamentals. For starters, the July 22nd agree- Todays’ supply chains suffer from the same ailments that roiled Roman emperors’ moods FOOD FOR THOUGHT Trade. Supply chains of commodities should permeate the strategic planning of foreign affairs at the highest governmental level OUTLOOK BY FEDERICO MARISCOTTI, VICE PRESIDENT OF STRATEGIC OPERATIONS PRACTICE, KEARNEY MIDDLE EAST 64% The percentage of Turkey’s grains exported by Russia “I MARCH 2023 CEO MIDDLE EAST 9 OUTLOOK Solution. A purely capitalist view of market forces can create efficiencies in the short-term, Mariscotti believes ment was the first time that Russia and Ukraine came to an agreement since the start of the conflict. Rus- sian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov decided to sign separate mirroring agreements with the UN and Turkey respectively, instead of directly with one another due to politi- cal necessity. But the countries signing an agreement at all was a monumental achievement. The agreement had nothing to do with peace, regrettably, and was centred on the trade of commodities. The sourcing, trading, and supply chain of food commodities was the only slated agenda point capable of bringing the conflicting parties to the table in five months. The potential fallout of the global food trade collapsing made world leaders in conflict step in, to fix supply chain issues, before they could even countenance meeting their coun- terparts on any other topic. Supply chains of global commodities should permeate the strategic plan- ning of foreign affairs at the highest governmental level. Their nature poses monumental risks that can mature into pre-eminent opportunities for virtuous policy making and impactful diplomatic initiatives. In other words, short supply chains make short-term planning easier, global supply chains make long-term planning viable. Russia of 21-41 percent, while neigh- bouring countries range to a maximum of 2 percent. For context, a drop of 30 percent in Russian grain exports to North Africa in 2010 due to a bad harvest caused a spike in bread price of 64 percent, triggering riots and the Arab spring. Market forces can point to sources, availability of trades, price-clearing levels to a large extent. But not all. A purely capitalist view of market forces can create efficiencies in the short-term, but the long game can be in the hand of players who do not measure results in quar- terly earnings reports. In other words: a traditional supply chain view will make operations efficient and a deeper under- standing of geopolitical forces at play will make them effective. There is no better place in the world than the Middle East, the GCC in particular, to engage the full spectrum of opportunities and options, navigat- ing straits as well as geopolitics, and be at the core of decisions that affect the sourcing, logistics, and supply chain of businesses as well as the news-making events. The supply chain managers may not get a prefecture by a Roman emper- or, but there’s more at stake than what even the most dazzling dashboards can show. There are three critical factors that should not be neglected to ensure a secure state of affairs within your organisation: Redefine the supply chain you look at to include trades besides your shipments and players outside of your industry; Play to different timescales to include any “background noise” that can charge to the fore; Operate at different bottom lines. Make sure you meet yours, but consider any variations due to the different time- scales, and the agendas of key geopoliti- cal players. These will take your organisation’s supply chains per aspera ad astra – through toils to the stars. This, I’m sure, Emperor Titus would approve of. 33% The proportion of percent of Yemen’s grains exported by Russia “THERE IS NO BETTER PLACE IN THE WORLD THAN THE MIDDLE EAST, TO ENGAGE THE FULL SPECTRUM OF OPPORTUNITIES” For more than ten years, the Russian Federation has secured the lion’s share of grains exports to the four countries controlling the choke- point straits, targeting their markets even when their clearing prices were below international trades. Kearney interviews with Russian grain market traders confirm they were incentivised and guided even, to prioritise those markets. In 2020, Russia exported 64 percent of Turkey’s grains, 60 percent of Egypt’s, 87 percent of Eritrea’s and 33 percent of Yemen’s grains. Yet, bordering countries with- out direct control of a strait import a meagre 2-9 percent from Russia. A coincidence? The Hormuz strait into the Arabian Gulf is controlled by three countries with grain imports from Next >