Stakeholder Engagement
Regional Strategic Platfoms
Hawkamah
In order to engage more specifically with the private equity industry on the issues of corporate governance we have been keen supporters and extremely involved in supporting the Hawkamah Institute for Corporate Governance (Hawkamah) situated in the DIFC. Together and with the participation of other private equity houses in the region, we launched a MENA Task Force on Corporate Governance for the Private Equity (PE) industry which is developing Corporate Governance Principles and Practice Guidelines. The Private Equity Task Force is also supported by the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment.
The objective of this initiative is to encourage private equity firms to appraise (or to re-appraise as the case may be) their corporate governance status and to adopt best practice standards. The starting point for the work of the Task Force was a questionnaire designed to collect data on the current status of Corporate Governance and its application in the private equity industry in the MENA region. The survey results will provide a better understanding on the status of governance standards in private equity firms operating throughout our region and will form the basis from which the industry and its stakeholders can be engaged.
Young Arab Leaders
Young Arab Leaders (YAL) is an independent non-profit organization that seeks to empower Arab men and women in impacting their communities, countries, and the region as a whole. The organization was founded in 2004 at the World Economic Forum at the Dead Sea in Jordan by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, His Majesty King Abdullah II, King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and His Royal Highness Prince Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Abraaj Capital is committed to the vision and support of the core YAL goals.
Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority
Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), established in 2000, is committed to enhancing the experience of investing and operating in the Kingdom by serving as an information clearinghouse and by providing comprehensive licensing and support services to investors.
In January 2011, Abraaj developed a new partnership with the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) to support “Saudi Fast Growth Companies” representing some of the fastest growing and entrepreneurial companies in the Kingdom. Moving forward, Abraaj is working with SAGIA on a number of fronts including refining the selection methodology of the Saudi Fast Growth Company community as well as providing the CEO’s of these companies with access to our expertise and relationships in the fields of financial literacy, understanding private equity and how to build CSR programs within their companies.
Saudi Fast Growth
The Saudi Fast Growth Awards (SFG) are an annual ranking of the fastest-growing companies in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
SAGIA’s Private Sector Initiatives Program launched the Saudi Fast Growth 100 as its first initiative in 2008, to measure the growth within the smaller-sized corporate segment of the Saudi economy due to this segments’ impact on employment and the economy at large. The 2008 results took the Saudi business community by storm. Along with joint founding partners, the Al Watan Newspaper and the National Commercial Bank(NCB), SAGIA’s NCC has brought the SFG forward into 2011 with a sight to further develop growth measurements for this segment of Saudi private sector and to understand more about the pace of general Saudi economic growth.
Wamda.com
Wamda.com is the MENASA region’s most comprehensive online content and community portal. Centered on the platform of ‘Inspire. Empower. Connect.’ it was conceived and built entirely in the MENASA region and launched at our ‘Celebration of Entrepreneurship’ event in Dubai.
Wamda - which means 'sparkle' in Arabic - features a constantly evolving library of commissioned video, audio and written content covering the various stages of the entrepreneurial journey, from the initial spark of an idea to leadership and sustainability. It also contains select news and social media feeds connecting a growing community of participants from across the region. It has unique, proprietary content, like the Country Information Center, and other features focused on entrepreneurial growth and capacity.
Dubai International Financial Centre
Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) is an onshore financial hub that provides a secure and efficient platform for business and financial institutions to leverage emerging regional markets. It was established to create an environment for growth, progress, and economic development in the region by providing high-quality infrastructure of international standards to businesses and institutions.
ART Dubai
The largest and most established art fair for the Middle East and South Asia, Art Dubai is the meeting point for all those interested in the art world as a globalized phenomenon. Art Dubai, at the heart of the region’s fast-growing contemporary art community, is part of Art Week, which includes fairs, museum shows, performances, projects and gallery exhibitions taking place across the Gulf each March. In 2011, Art Dubai welcomed 20,000 visitors – including 60 international museums representatives - and hosted over 70 galleries from 30 countries, together showing the work of more than 500 artists.
Edge of Arabia
We have recently expanded our stakeholder engagement outreach in the arts by becoming the principal patron of Edge of Arabia. Founded in 2003, this organization seeks to encourage and support contemporary artists in Saudi Arabia. Artists from the Kingdom find a support network and education provider in Edge of Arabia which describes itself as a platform for Saudi artists, curators and art enthusiasts to share ideas and discuss possibilities with the international art world as well as the local arts community. By supporting this initiative we are looking to integrate the Saudi contemporary art scene into the global community and to build bridges between the Kingdom and the rest of the world through art networks.
Our partnership with Edge of Arabia has taken us to the Venice Biennale where for the first time in its history a pan Arab pavilion will display works of art from numerous Arab artists including ACAP winners. This is a direct result of our collaboration that will also see the creation of a major art exhibition in Jeddah early in 2012.
MENA Private Equity Association
Abraaj has led along with a few other industry players the creation of the MENA Private Equity Association as a non-profit entity committed to supporting and developing the private equity and venture capital industry in the Middle East and North Africa. Acknowledging that private equity is a growing value proposition to global growth markets and the MENASA region, we felt the time was ripe to create a truly pan Arab association that could act as the voice of our industry. The MENA Private Equity Association aims to foster greater communication within the region’s private equity and venture capital network and facilitate knowledge sharing in order to encourage overall economic growth, and actively promote the industry’s successes to local stakeholders to build trust with investors, regulators and the public regionally and internationally.
The Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise (SME) initiative of the Abraaj Group. An independent platform dedicated exclusively to the SME segment.
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