Graduates of the Dubai Leaders Program, a leadership initiative launched by Dubai World aimed at building a cadre of leaders within the group, recently held a symposium titled “Overcoming the Crisis & Dubai World Young Leaders' Role".
Jamal Majid Bin Thaniah, Executive Vice Chairman of DP World and Group CEO Ports and Free Zone World, gave an inaugural address in which he emphasized the effective role Dubai young leaders could play in alleviating the current world financial crisis.
“I cannot stress enough the need for talented young leaders to be well-equipped to face modern-day business challenges, and the necessity of enhancing the capabilities of these leaders through long-term training programmes based on innovative development tools,” Mr Bin Thaniah said.
Dr. Kamal A. El Wassal, Director, Division of Economic and Fiscal Research, Department of Finance, Government of Dubai, said, “The world is passing through the worst phase of a credit crunch that has developed into a full-blown economic crisis affecting every part of the community structure, be it individuals, companies or governments, as a direct consequence to the economic recession, the rising unemployment rates and the pessimism and uncertainty in most of world economies ”.
"The UAE, and particularly Dubai, was affected by the crisis, which is partly attributed to the emirate's open-door economic policy; hence, the decline in private investment and consumer expenditure levels," he added.
Dr. El Wassel said that Dubai’s 2009 budget was formulated to reflect efforts by the Government of Dubai to increase the gross domestic product and sustain the momentum of economic growth accomplished over the past years. This, he said, would be achieved by following an expanding financial policy aiming to increase government expenditure focusing on productive investment spending to face an expected decline in both private investment and consumer expenditure.
Through his participation in the symposium, Teo Chin Seng, Dubai World’s Group Chief Information Officer, shed light on methods adopted by companies to develop and control operations amid challenges the current international financial crisis presents. Teo asserted to the attendees that they were primarily involved in overcoming the crisis at the national level through their deep understanding of the work environment in their own country and their belief that they have the expertise and mechanism that would allow them to ably overcome the crisis.
Concluding the symposium, Mr. Arif Yadawi, Head of Technical Services Provision Sector and Coordinator of DLP Graduates Association, managed a seminar composed of seven teams of graduates and current participants, aimed at finding realistic and effective solutions to overcome the financial crisis at the Group's administrative level and the national level. A seminar paper was drafted and included several recommendations which have been discussed at the symposium in order to be put up to the Group's Senior Management to look into execution mechanisms.
Earlier, Bedoor Khouri, Manager of Dubai World Leadership Center, said the symposium was part of an innovative campaign to benefit from DLP alumni and participants' brainstorming and to increase awareness among them in light of the current international situation, and thus enable them to face the challenges and assume the responsibilities of the duties they are entrusted with in the Group.
"The Dubai Leaders Program is one of the best young leaders development programs worldwide, as it is based on interaction in honing leadership skills of the participants and is focused on enhancing the strategic thinking capabilities and the best market and professional practices. The program employs a series of academic lectures and action learning projects, and it has been custom-developed in association with Wharton School, aiming to qualify a group of hand-picked participants from the holding company’s various subsidiary units," she added..,
