BIBF concludes its first forum in Leadership and Management

BIBF has recently held its first open forum in leadership and management titled “Emerging Management trends in corporate Bahrain” in the Gulf Hotel on 24th, April 2016. The open forum featured key related topics addressed by leading experts from key awarding body partners such Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), Chartered Management Institute (CMI), Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) and Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP). The experts explored some of the latest trends and challenges in leadership skills that drive business growth and success in the areas of Management, Human Resources, Supply Chain Management, Marketing, and Public Relations & Corporate Communication.

The forum represented a unique opportunity for knowledge sharing with leading experts from HR, management, marketing, and supply chain management fields to the Bahraini human capital market to raise their effectiveness and efficiency. It focused on emphasizing the power of thought leadership in the market to the quality of services and economic development.

More than 140 participants attended the forum’s workshops to benefit from the expertise of the internationally recognized speakers in various fields in leadership and management. The full audience workshops covered Human Resources topics such as the importance of HR professionals in Bahrain’s challenging economic times delivered by John Cunningham, Head of Qualifications in CIPD. The second workshop talked about the Changes affecting upon talent and HR globally given by Mrs. Ritu Nanda, Memberships & Partnerships Manager – CIPD Middle East.

Moreover, the forum included management related workshops, which discussed the challenges of effective management in a changing world: The growing need to effectively manage the challenges of increasingly diverse work groups, rapid changes in technology and related global trends hosted by Phillip Mukhwana, BIBF faculty CMI Programmes Manager.

The marketing workshops covered topics such as Brand Experience and keeping social media honest delivered by Steve Woolley – Head of External Affairs at The Chartered Institute of Marketing. Mr. Steve elaborated on both topics to the large audience attendance engaging at the end of workshop in questions and answers sessions.

Additionally, the Public Relations workshops given by Dr. Roger Hayes, CIPR Chief Examiner, Senior Counsellor APCOWORLWIDE, covered the role of Collaborative Leadership in the Communications Era and the need for a more collaborative approach within organisations and between organisations, linking communications with strategy and leadership. The second workshop covered the significance of Crisis and Issue Management explaining the risks and challenges in a complex world that require organisations to plan and respond in a strategic manner.

Lastly, the forum included a Supply Chain Management workshop hosted by Walaa Maher, Regional Supply Chain Operations Director for LAN & GCC at Olayan Kimberly-Clark. Mr. Walaa discussed the methodology to follow to gain a Competitive Advantage by Effective Supply Chain Management.

In her speech at the opening ceremony, Solveig Nickolas, Director of BIBF, highlighted BIBF’s pride in the strategic relations with their longstanding partnerships with best-in-class, internationally recognised awarding bodies. She stated, “The topics on today’s agenda were carefully selected for their applicability across different industries. With the global economy in a constant state of change, we chose to focus on current issues that would help organisations and individuals deal with the shifting landscape.”

From his part, Kadri Rizk, head of Leadership and Management centre, stated “This forum serves to remind the local and regional community of the importance of knowledge sharing and thought leadership in reaching sustainable human development, for the long term,” said Kadri Kizk, Head of Leadership and Management Centre in BIBF. ”More stakeholders are acknowledging the importance of the contribution of human capital and significant of knowledge sharing in developing their skills to meet international standards in this challenging growing market.” He concluded his speech welcoming participants announcing that next year’s forum will be on March in biggest scale.

The forum, which is the first of its kind to be hosted by BIBF, highlighted the role of training and education in Bahrain and the importance of these two factors in developing the human capital in achieving Bahrain’s economics growth and development according to Bahrain 2030 vision.