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Amid disruptive trends such as AI, climate change and deglobalisation, the greatest opportunities for value creation will be found by embracing change, harnessing top talent, setting clear goals for R&D and innovation and effectively communicating to stakeholders a company’s purpose around sustainable investing, a gathering of international thought leaders in Abu Dhabi heard.
At the recent ADQ Catalyze forum, global experts addressed today’s biggest challenges and ways to thrive in a more uncertain global investment landscape.
Delivering the forum’s opening keynote, Mansour AlMulla, ADQ deputy group chief executive, said the company has always focused on “building a resilient, diversified economy by investing in core sectors that advance health care, bolster food security, accelerate the energy transition and position Abu Dhabi as a global connectivity hub”.
The ADQ Catalyze forum was a “powerful testament to our shared vision, which prioritises sustainable growth and drives excellence in an evolving global landscape”.
The company’s strategy delivers value creation through deploying innovation, embedding sustainability practices, harnessing digital transformation, supporting a culture of innovation, driving research and development and managing talent to grow a business, said Mr AlMulla.
Abu Dhabi investment and holding company ADQ, established in 2018, had total assets worth $225 billion as of June 30. It has shareholdings in more than 25 portfolio companies across seven economic clusters which cover vital sectors of the Abu Dhabi economy.
They span sectors including energy, utilities, food and agriculture, health care, pharmaceuticals, mobility and logistics. Among the companies in its portfolio are Abu Dhabi National Energy Company, better known as Taqa, the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation, Abu Dhabi Airports, AD Ports Group, Etihad Rail and Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company (Adnec).
An exhibition at the forum provided a showcase for ADQ’s portfolio including Pure Health, Etihad Airways, Silal, ADX, AD Ports and their on-the-ground progress in the key areas of sustainability, technology and innovation.
“By leveraging the insights exchanged at this forum, we are charting a path toward industry leadership and a prosperous, inclusive future,” said Mr AlMulla.
At the ADQ Catalyze forum, speakers also included Mirek Dusek, managing director at the World Economic Forum, John Patrin, senior director of The Lubrizol Corporation, Divesh Makan, founding partner of Iconiq Capital, Anish Batlaw, managing director of General Atlantic, Khaled Hesham, Honeywell's president for the Middle East and Africa, and Steve Howard, sustainability chief at Singapore’s Temasek.
Mr Dusek told the ADQ Catalyze audience the trend of convergence of a wide range of technologies supports prospects for faster global economic growth.
“With a limited economic toolkit at their disposal with which to reignite growth, it’s necessary for policymakers to look towards innovation and new frontiers for growth ahead,” said Mr Dusek.
“This economic impact will only intensify as the opportunities arising from the interplay between these technologies develops and deepens moving forward.”
ADQ is also boosting its investments globally. It has become an investor alongside the Bank of Montreal in the Canadian alternative asset management company Sagard. In April, it revealed plans to buy a 49 per cent stake in Melbourne-based Plenary, marking its entry into Australia and growing its portfolio in the public infrastructure sector globally.
In February, ADQ also said it was leading a consortium that would invest $35 billion in major projects in Egypt, including acquiring the development rights for Ras El Hekma, a coastal region about 350km north-west of Cairo.
At the event in Abu Dhabi, Dr Jaap Kalkmaan, group chief investment officer, ADQ, said it is critical to differentiate between a company's 'health' and 'performance', to drive sustainable growth.
“While performance metrics capture short-term gains and operational efficiencies, a company’s health reflects its long-term resilience, cultural strength, and adaptability within an evolving market. By advancing both through a value-creation model, we not only deliver immediate returns but also build a resilient foundation for a prosperous future for our portfolio and the wider economy.”
When it comes to increasing productivity at any company, it all begins with people, said Anish Batlaw, managing director at General Atlantic, a global growth investor with $87 billion under management.
Empowering national talent requires providing best-in-class resources, including learning programs and access to leading expertise around the world, he said.
Mr Batlaw, who co-authored the book Talent: The Market Cap Multiplier, told the forum talent is ultimately the differentiating factor in the success of a company.
“However, consistently getting talent decisions right is difficult,” he said.
Companies should devote as much, if not more, time and energy to creating top-performing teams in critical areas as they do on the development of their key initiatives or big bets, to deliver higher performance, he said.
“The UAE is experiencing a period of dynamic growth and innovation, with vibrant entrepreneurial activity in many sectors. To sustain this momentum, companies across the region should focus on developing a strong national talent base and a high-performance culture, guided by a conviction of being ‘the best’ globally,” said Mr Batlaw.
During a keynote speech on the second day of ADQ Catalyze, Noora Obaid, director of sustainable investing at ADQ, highlighted the pillars of sustainable investing and ESG, innovation and R&D; digital transformation and AI; as well as strategic talent management.
These are called the “centres of excellence, where we look at value creation horizontally across the portfolio,” Ms Obaid said.
While ESG is used as a risk-mitigation tool by the organisation, sustainability is now seen as the “bigger topic” that provides a competitive advantage.
The insights into ESG and sustainability were also in focus on the first day of the event, when Steve Howard, vice chairman of sustainability at Temasek, told the forum Sustainability has shifted from being “a marginal issue to a defining factor in shaping business decisions”.
“The key is identifying the material issues – those that will determine a business's future success or failure – and managing them effectively. It's not just about compliance or incremental improvements; it's about leaning into the broader context, such as supply chains, to uncover risks and opportunities that drive resilience and long-term value creation,” Mr Howard said.
He also underlined the importance of a company effectively communicating this purpose to drive value.
Later, during a panel discussion, the audience heard more on this topic from Hamad Al Hajri, chief technology officer at diversified utilities and energy group Taqa.
“What I do is communicate and communicate. And if I think that I've done enough communication, I communicate more because, unfortunately, we assume that people [understand] the strategy, but studies show that [only] 5 per cent of employees understand company strategy,” said Mr Al Hajri.
Ms Obaid talked about how innovation is not just about new technologies, “it's a different way to solve a problem and a different way to improve a good practice”.
“We were told that AI will disappear in five years. It's not because it's actually disappearing. It's going to become so natural, so normal that [it will become a way of life]. We're not going to imagine life without having AI in our lives.”
Nadia Bastaki, chief people and corporate affairs officer, Etihad Airways Group outlined the company’s approach.
“We look at it from three perspectives. I think we need to understand the business first, and what capabilities we need to [achieve] the business outcomes. So, from a strategic point of view, do we have the right talents in place? That's number one,” Ms Bastaki said.
“The second question would be, do we have a talent gap, and do we have a skill gap? If we have a skill gap, how can we invest in people to upskill them very quickly as the business grows? [Additionally], how can we bring in people who share the same values to create the right culture? I think the second point is about creating the right culture.”
All of Etihad’s HR processes are now data-driven, based on numbers and analytics, she said.
When it comes to AI, “we [Etihad] started our journey three years ago to look at how we can make our HR more data-analytical and predictive, rather than just a process token department, and we went back and saw what areas we needed to improve. First of all, we need good data, right? So [any] data is—garbage in, garbage out. So making sure that you have proper data was the first step [in] understanding, okay, how can this data help us? If you're in a growth phase and you need to hire X amount of people, how can we make sure that this data is used in a predictive and analytical way?”
Mr Al Hajri said the ambition of digitalisation should be driven by an understanding of “your internal and external stakeholders, understanding their needs, working closely with them to identify the pain points and then [using] the technology and digital [tools] to solve those issues and create value and opportunities for them”.
Ultimately, the drive for greater value through change comes from the top, said Dimitrios Dimitriou, vice president of ESG and sustainability at EMSTEEL.
“It all starts with having the right leadership commitment, including all the CEOs and the COOs, to walk the talk effectively, focus on people, educate, [and] raise awareness on the topic. It's a process. It's not a one-off. It's a cultural transformation on sustainability.”
John Patrin, senior director at US speciality chemicals company The Lubrizol Corporation, told The National “innovation is ultimately about providing new value for your customers”.
However, innovation is not just about technologies like AI. New business models, for example, also represent innovation.
Its purpose “at the end of the day, is to solve problems for our customers … if we do a really good job at it … the profits and the revenue and the growth will come.”
Measuring innovation was one of the most important factors to ensuring it remains core to a business, said Mr Patrin.
“If you can't articulate its true value or its future value, then it's very difficult [for it to be supported] all the way up another organisation.”
But if you can quantify it, then even in tough times “are you really going to start reducing resources into a programme that's delivering paths of growth?”
