BIBF successfully concludes its first virtual forum: Achieving Excellence in a Pandemic

Under the patronage of the Central Bank of Bahrain, the Bahrain Institute of Banking & Finance (BIBF) successfully concluded its first virtual forum, entitled: “Achieving Excellence in a Pandemic”, powered by Batelco.

With the attendance of more than 350 executives and business professionals from various sectors around the world, the forum provided an outlook on COVID-19 from a national and global perspective, as well as shed light on how to overcome challenges and attain business continuity.

This initiative was launched in alignment with national efforts to support organisations during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a main aim of providing continuous education and training support to the business community.

The virtual forum kicked off with Keynote Speakers including H.E. Mr. Mohammed AlQaed, the Chief Executive of the Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA) who highlighted the role of Bahrain in responding to COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Seamus Gillen, International expert in Corporate Governance and Founder Director of Value Alpha Limited, who discussed key Corporate Governance considerations during COVID-19, and Mr. Hal S. Scott, Chairman & President of the Programme on International Systems (PIFS) and The Emeritus Nomura Professor of International Financial Systems at Harvard Law School, who shared his insights into how the global business world is responding to COVID-19.

In addition, the forum tracks provided an interactive and stimulating learning experience ranging from keynote sessions, expert panel discussions, and specialised parallel training workshops, where participants got the opportunity to select the breakout session of their interest that met their requirements, and were encouraged to discuss, share their experiences, and ask questions.

The virtual forum hosted two engaging panel discussions, the first one placed HR under the Spotlight and discussed Working with COVID-19, moderated by Ms. Amal Kooheji, Managing Director of Human Capital Development Advisory, whereas the second panel discussion highlighted COVID-19 as a wake-up call for Digital Transformation, Moderated by Mr. Khalid Saad, FinTech Advisor.

The forum also included interactive training workshops that covered various topics in different business specialisations including “The Impact of COVID-19 on Insurance Protection”, “Cyber Security during the COVID-19 Era”, “Business Continuity Management”, “The Role of Islamic Finance in a Global Crisis”, “Why AI Can Solve Business Challenges”, “COVID-19, VAT and Working Capital”, and “Stress Management”.