DUBAI: The next three years will be a time of change for the UAE’s business community, according to the CEOs questioned by KPMG for its first UAE CEO Outlook report.
Overall, the outlook among the CEOs polled is optimistic, with 94 per cent confident their company would grow both within the next 12 months and within the next three years.
And while nearly a quarter of CEOs believed their industry was either in recession or in the initial stages of recession, 59 per cent believed their industry would see slow growth. 18 per cent thought it was in the early stages of recovery.
Nearly two-thirds believed their firm would employ more people during the course of the next year, with nearly 90 per cent expecting to hire more people within three years. They saw a skills gap as a potential risk, particularly in R&D and strategy sectors.
The survey also indicates 76 per cent of the two-dozen CEOs interviewed in the UAE believe their business will change significantly over the next three years. That compares with 41 per cent in a global CEO survey conducted by KPMG earlier this year.
“72 per cent of the global CEOs — and we talked to a lot of CEOs globally — felt that the next three years are going to be more game-changing in their industry than the last 50,” said Vikas Papriwal, KPMG Lower Gulf’s Head of Markets, said while presenting the report at the Westin Mina Seyahi, Dubai, on Monday.
“The next three years are going to be extremely volatile. But as we all know this is also going to bring unprecedented opportunities for the people who are willing to take those risks.”
Globally, innovation was the highest strategic priority for CEOs, but in the UAE, where innovation is predominantly led by the public sector, CEOs were more concerned with developing a stronger client focus (22 per cent), stronger branding (12 per cent) and digitisation (12 per cent), with innovation (8 per cent) coming in fourth place.
Speaking after his presentation, Papriwal said he expected to see more consolidation among firms in the UAE, particularly in banking, health care and insurance sectors, but he saw it primarily as ‘smart consolidation’. with firms teaming up to acquire specific assets and skills, rather than simply to increase size.
His colleague Ashish Dave, KPMG Lower Gulf’s Head of Deal Advisory, said companies traditionally focused on Gulf activities were also looking to diversify into the Asian and African markets.
“Given the strategic location of the UAE and particularly Dubai, they see it as a natural opportunity for them.”
He added that although some clients believed next year would be tough, the last couple of years had shown how to cope with tough times.
“We had 2015 — six good months, six bad months. The companies that have actually survived through ‘16, they know what it takes to survive through that. And no matter how tough, it’s not going to get much worse. They know what they did wrong and they know what they did right.”
