Private sector must 'redefine success', Crescent Enterprises CEO tells attendees at AINAC

Badr Jafar, Managing Director of the Crescent Group and CEO of Crescent Enterprises, said "The Private Sector must join with Public-Sector entities and non-profit organisations to tackle social and environmental challenges facing the region."

"There is a widening gap between the economic opportunities that are available to the tens of millions of young men and women across the region and the perceived opportunities that are available in other parts of the world," said Badr Jafar.

"To close this gap, companies must integrate a 'Triple Bottom Line' approach into their business models, focusing on the wider economic, social and environmental impact of their operations," he added.

Jafar, who is also co-founder of the Pearl Initiative, a not-for-profit Private Sector initiative developed in partnership with the United Nations Office for Partnerships, and dedicated to improving corporate transparency, accountability and business practices across the Arab World, highlighted that the Region will need an additional 100 million jobs over the next two decades to keep pace with its rapidly growing population.

"The private sector plays a vital role in meeting this challenge, and we must seek to develop solutions along with government and civil society groups to foster an entrepreneurial culture among the region's youth," he concluded.

"In a marketplace of competing ideas and egos," Badr Jafar continued, "we must seek to reconcile our interests with the growing needs of our region. Generating sustainable business models that not only serve our financial goals but that also truly elevate our society is how we must define 'success'," he added.

AINAC, which took place on December 3, 2012, at the Rotana Hotel - Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, UAE, was organised by the Arab Innovation Network, a youth-driven non-profit organisation that seeks to develop solutions for major challenges facing the region.

AINAC brings together leading regional stakeholders to interact and network with key thought leaders and innovators representing a range of business sectors.