Elements of Sustainability: The success rate of any initiative is as strong as the level of commitment provided to it by its founders; and its sustainability depends on the strength of the institutional foundations on which it is built. Consider this "The Golden Rule" of organizational development, and the Jeddah Economic Forum (the Forum) is no exception
The Event: Tomorrow, the city of Jeddah will witness the launch of the 12th annual Jeddah Economic Forum. For those of you who are not aware of the crippling challenges facing this high-profile event (year in and year out) think again. The JEF is a fighter and a survivor. For the last eight years it has sustained itself -- not through an institutionalized governing system -- but only by the genuine dedication, efforts, and goodwill of the leaders appointed to serve it.
Charged with the heavy duty of ensuring its yearly recurrence (and without resort to governing manuals) these leaders managed their mission through personal initiative and hard work by courageously overcoming the most basic elements of event management time after time... Reason being: Extreme and crippling bureaucracy.
Behind the Scene Challenges: Issues such as theme approval, speaker engagement, licensing processes, visa procurement, patronage commitment (to name a few) could not be finalized by the relevant authorities till a few weeks or a couple of months before The event's due date -- a fact that undermined the professionalism, and management capabilities of those in charge, and subsequently that of the host institution: The Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The Beginnings: Launched in 1999 and managed by the Jeddah Marketing Board (a department of The Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry) the JEF was the brainchild of a few visionary men who had the foresight to dream it, initiate it, and sustain it for as long as they were in charge.
And so, at the time, and for the first three years of its existence, the Forum rose like a shooting star, supported by almost unlimited financial and logistical support to sustain the dream of its dreamers. The Forum's purpose back then (as it is now) was to market and promote the city of Jeddah as "the" commercial capital of the Kingdom and the leading regional center for business and consumer events. Not only did the host institution, the Chamber of Commerce believe in this mission, but so did the Ministry of Commerce and the local governorate at the time.
Having the buy-in and full support of all key stakeholders, the Forum peaked in performance as well as in reputation. Year after year after year, its panels gave voice to the world's most influential leaders as well as its most popular movers and shakers. International delegates poured in to listen, to network, and to do business with the best of the best... But more importantly, to experience and witness first-hand what lay behind the orientalized and mysterious walls of a country as private and as controversial as Saudi Arabia... especially a post 9/11 one.
Threats and Opportunities: The reasons for the early successes of the Forum are many, but only one bears full responsibility; and that is the degree of determination, diligence and leadership that its founders put into it. You see, back in 1999, initiating such a public event attended by the elites of the global community was no easy task. For the first time in the history of Saudi Arabia, our country was literally forced to open itself to the international community. Not only did that mean that Western influence was on its way, but it also meant that a brewing threat toward our current status quo at the time, was in the making.
The Forum created a local platform for international dialogue -- a fact that made it easy for all of us to be part of; it showcased international best practices and lessons learned -- a fact that forced us to rethink how we carry out our businesses; it enabled us (as Saudi citizens) to get to know each other personally and professionally -- a fact that created unforeseen partnerships and networks; and it bridged the gap between established leaders and hopeful ones -- a fact that set high standards of creation, innovation and achievements for our youths and emerging leaders to follow; but best of all, for women such as myself, it put forth the agenda of women empowerment -- a fact that enabled us to be seen, heard, taken seriously, and included.
The Event Revisited: Tomorrow, the 12th Jeddah Economic Forum will be launched under the theme "Beyond Borders -- Building Tomorrow's Economies Today". Its main focus is to deliberate on how communities can "in an age of recurring global economic crisis" build on "a constant" that has "remained... and how, during these turbulent times, can the global community capitalize on this "constant" by choosing to create a "greater connectivity" with the purpose of "achieving sustainable economic growth". Great visions require extraordinary decisions from ordinary people. The Forum is a product of a great vision born of the determined decisions of ordinary men. However its Achilles Heel is its unavoidable decline because of the lack of a good governance system to sustain it. As I conclude, I want you to think of this:
The Burning Question of Sustainability: Allow me to rephrase this year's strategic theme by putting it within the context of sustaining the Forum as "a platform for global interaction". Can we as a nation, go beyond the borders of individual efforts to reach the heights of sustainable institutions? The only constant I see before me right now is the "constant" emerging of a few good leaders who take upon themselves the mission to manage and lead the Forum to completion year after year... How can we capitalize on this "constant" by getting the total buy-in of all stakeholders once and for all to create this "greater connectivity" to institutionalize the Forum for the sake of "achieving the sustainable growth" mentioned?
-- Fatin Bundagji is the president of TLC Consultancy. Write to her at fatinbund@yahoo.com
© Arab News 2012
