Organised by The Firm (TF), an international private members networking organization for business development and intrapreneurship, the two-day Forum concluded on Monday which held under the patronage of the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Dr. Hassan Fakhro.
The first ever event of its kind to be held globally, the concept of intrapreneurship is about seeing individuals working within large corporations and SMEs leverage their deep industry knowledge and understanding of the business gaps within their sectors to create profitable companies.
The Forum’s expert speakers focused on building awareness of opportunities for intrapreneurship and innovation in organizations as well as among investors and individuals. They also provided participants with insights and the practical tools required to achieve growth and drive the development of new business ideas and commercial ventures.
Addressing participants on the second day, the Forum’s patron, Dr. Hassan Fakhro, highlighted the need to support intrapreneurship on an individual and organizational level. He also discussed the Kingdom of Bahrain’s efforts to create an ideal environment to support the development of businesses of all sizes and across industry sectors. His comments set the backdrop for a full day “Executive Management Workshop on Intrapreneurship,” delivered by Gifford Pinchot, a key exponent of intrapreneurship and the one responsible for coining the words “intrapreneur”, “intrapreneuring” and “intrapreneurship. The Workshop, comprised of a number of modules, was designed for business leaders at corporations and SMEs and focused on encouraging them to develop internal intrapreneurship cultures and programs within their organizations. The Workshop was attended by senior executives from leading Bahraini companies as well as regional and international organizations.
Other key speakers over the two-period emphasized the importance of supporting innovation and addressing key challenges including How to channel intrapreneurial energy into our economies and How to develop the market-place for intrapreneurship.
Among the expert speakers that took part in the Forum were: Dr Maher Chebbo, VP, Head of EMEA Utilities & Services Industries SAP AG, Germany, who gave participants his “Top 10 recommendations for a successful intrapreneurship investment in rewarding sectors of the economy,” Dr Hamad Al Omar and Dr. Sultan Bahabri from KSA, among others.
“We are extremely pleased by the success of the Global Intrapreneurship Forum 2012 in the Kingdom of Bahrain,” said Abdullah AlSubyani, Founder and CEO of The Firm.
“As the first event of its kind to be held anywhere in the world, we are delighted that such a solid platform has now been established whereby the concept of intrapreneurship can be further promoted and where intrapreneurs themselves can gain valuable insights and practical experience in order to apply their business acumen towards the development of exciting new commercial ventures. The importance of intrapreneurship goes beyond achieving success at an individual or corporate level. It is also the driving engine behind economic growth. We thank all of our expert speakers and supporters of the Forum from our patron, Dr. Hassan Fakhro, to our sponsors, partners and steering committee members whose contributions were immeasurable. In the months ahead, The Firm will build on this momentum both in the planning of what will now be an annual event dedicated to intrapreneurship but also in the launch of other initiatives focused on supporting innovation and business development.“
The Forum was supported by a number of leading public and private sector organizations including Tamkeen as “Intrapreneurship Partner,” the Bahrain Chamber for Dispute Resolution (BCDR) as Gold Sponsor and other key supporters such as The Federation for the Gulf Chambers of Commerce (FGCC), Bahrain Society of Engineers, Gulf Air, Zawya, 24×7 News and FinMark Communications, among others.