Collaboration, business simplification essential for MENA recovery

Crises are important. Trying times show us what we are truly made of, what we are capable of, and where we fall short. We learn far more in the downs, in my opinion, than in we can in the ups.  

I was reminded of this over the weekend, while reflecting on a fascinating Thursday evening IMF panel discussion on mitigating the long-term impact of Covid in the MENA region.

You can watch the discussion below. For now, here are some thoughts I shared with the panel: 

Resilience:

Resilience is more important than efficiency – this is a big lesson we learned early on this year. Companies that did not have resilience – both private and public sector – have suffered more than others. Many companies are not set up to survive this kind of crisis, and many SMEs have and will continue to suffer from this.

Regional cooperation:

As a region, we are still unable to work together. The pandemic is a great crisis that we can turn into a fantastic opportunity. When it comes to tourism, for example, why don’t we have a bio-bubble in the region, or a single tracing technology that we use that could make it easier for people to travel within the GCC or the region. What stops us? Why can’t we work together on our supply chain much better instead of being so fragmented across the region?

We fall short in regional integration, and lack a Middle Eastern or Arab initiative to really bring these things together with the public and private sectors and global institutions. This is fundamental if we are ever going to go beyond doing more of the same and expecting different results.

We need a mindset shift, to put our minds and hearts around this topic and really decide that actually we are better off together than each one on their own.

Business infrastructure:

Business infrastructure is paramount. Our region has fared much better than many places globally, even compared to most developed countries. Dubai and the UAE have been a fantastic place to be in during Covid as well as to prepare for recovery. But why is this so? Because beyond fiscal and monetary policy, the business infrastructure here is priceless. You can adjust policy or create new measures and reforms but the reality is having a business infrastructure that is enabling is very important. I wish every country in the region adopts the same approach as the UAE. This is what money can’t buy, what makes the biggest difference in the region.

Flexibility and innovation are vital.

Our first action in a crisis is to focus on the lowest hanging fruit, but we must coordinate and think differently for the long term.

The ease of doing business is not uniform across the region, for example; neither is the enabling infrastructure. We can change this, we can reduce excessive bureaucracy and hurdles and create the conditions for greater agility and flexibility.

Some sectors will be hurting for some time, but we know that other sectors are returning. Businesses and investors must be able to recycle assets, move away from certain sectors and face less costs, less red tape and more seamlessness in doing so. Deregulation and non-financial stimulus will allow people to adapt, to reinvent themselves, repurpose buildings, move from certain activities to others – to be able to do that quickly and effectively would be a great incentive for entrepreneurs, SMEs and large companies. 

Perhaps it is still too early to know the full lessons of this pandemic year, but it is never too early to reflect and take stock and plan ahead. This should be a continuing discussion for all of us who are invested in the future of the region, and I’m thankful to my co-panelists including H.E. Rania Al Mashat, Jihad Azour, Karim El Aynaoui and moderator Mina Al Oraibi for sharing their insight and learnings with the rest of us.