MANAMA: With corporate finance leaders across the Middle East region remain optimistic for economic growth in 2019, the deployment of financial technology and human capital will remain crucial for the sustainable economic growth in the region.
“Despite operating in unsettled times, senior finance executives across the region are concentrating on their day-to-day business but keeping an eye on the future,” said Mazin Khoury, Chief Executive Officer, American Express Middle East.
“While they balance spending to drive topline growth with profitability, they’re pressing ahead with expansion plans, which include pursuing foreign trade opportunities, hiring and investing in next-generation technology.”
Referring to a question about Bahrain’s challenges and opportunities, Mazin said Bahrain remains at the top on deployment of fintech and the human capital development, as the later serves as a crucial aspect to get the desired results.
Against this backdrop, in keeping with their focus on the next generation, many Middle Eastern companies are investing in these emerging technologies. The most popular being artificial intelligence (AI) where 66% of respondents indicated this was a major areas of focus (up from 40% in 2018). Other areas of focus included the Internet of Things (57% in 2019 vs 24% in 2018), and fintech (44% in 2019 versus 27% in 2018).
Another key theme from this year’s survey was the continued rise of ‘Generation Z’, as both a customer and employee. Young people under the age of 24 now make up between 50% and 65% of the Middle East population, and senior finance executives across the region believe their companies are prepared for this generation (‘Generation Z’) and the technological and economic changes they bring with them. 81% of those asked agreed with the statement, “My company has a long-term plan that considers technological, demographic and economic changes over the next 5-10 years” and 78% agreed that, “My company has explicit strategies to appeal to ‘Generation Z’ consumers born between 1995 and 2005.”
Companies across the region will continue to be competing for talent in a highly competitive marketplace in the coming year, but senior finance executives are looking beyond compensation to attract and retain the best employees. In the Middle East, 61% of senior executives expect to increase their companies’ worldwide number of employees between 8%-15%. On average, headcount will grow by 8.6% for companies across the region, somewhat lower than the global average of 9.2%.
