Zain ranked among top listed influential companies in Kuwait by Forbes Middle East
Bader Nasser Al-Kharafi as the featured personality on the cover of the special issue to celebrate Kuwait’s Success: “My late father was the best teacher in my life, and I would be very glad to reach 10% of the success he achieved.”
KUWAIT: Forbes Middle East, a leading regional business magazine, has selected Zain Group’s Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bader Nasser Al-Kharafi as the featured personality on the cover of its special issue to celebrate Kuwait’s Success 2017 entitled “A New Vision”. The new issue features and celebrates Al-Kharafi – the scion of one of Kuwait’s powerful families – for playing a key role in the charge in further expanding the country’s influence across the globe.
In its latest Middle East issue, the renowned magazine celebrated the successes witnessed by Kuwait, describing it as a country that is continuing heavy investment in infrastructure, transportation, and finance. The magazine also highlighted the role of private sector companies and their contributions in creating more diversity and achieving more wealth within the growing national economy.
Forbes’ celebration of Kuwait’s successes came for the second consecutive year, in a gala ceremony held in Kuwait on Monday night, under the patronage and presence of Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs and Deputy Minister of Information. The event witnessed the presence of many prominent business leaders, CEOs, managing directors of private and public organizations, and heads of diplomatic entities from across Kuwait and the Arab world. The event also saw the recognition of Zain Group as one of the top influential companies listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange.
Bader Al-Kharafi is one of the most active business leaders in the Middle East and North Africa region, having an exceptional record in leading business development and advisory roles within top companies as well as global institutions. Al-Kharafi is a head and member of many boards of industrial and banking institutions, in addition to his roles within Al-Kharafi Group; considered one of the biggest business groups across the Arab and global markets. The group operates a vast network of projects and companies in the Arabian Gulf, Middle East, Europe, Africa, and Asia, and enjoys a prosperous history in business and finance sectors. The group operates over 135 registered companies across 28 countries, which are estimated to be valued over $8 billion.
Youth development
Forbes describes Al-Kharafi as one of the main supporters of youth and aspiring entrepreneurs, as well as a strong supporter and advocate of investing in education and the development of curricula. Al-Kharafi believes the future is secured through building a firm foundation that is achieved by catering to education and youth development, as education is a continuous process that doesn’t stop at a certain age, and a person will still always keep learning throughout life.
Speaking about the first and most important teacher in his life, Bader Al-Kharafi said during his Forbes ME interview: “I had the best teacher, my late father, peace be upon his soul. If I could reach only 10 percent of the successes he reached, I would be very glad.”
Al-Kharafi – who has an MBA from London Business School – sees that education adds a lot to the professional experience, and is continuing his efforts to gain more education. Bader Al-Kharafi already started his Doctorate Degree in Finance, and he encourages business leaders and executives to continue pursuing education for its great importance in affecting management and business models.
Forbes described Bader Al-Kharafi as a strong supporter of youth development initiatives and an enthusiastic adopter of their ideas. He is the Vice Chairman of INJAZ, a non-profit organization that offers business and entrepreneurship programs through strategically partnering with education institutions and eager volunteers. INJAZ aims at eliminating financial illiteracy and inspiring the next generations through establishing business readiness within students from kindergarten all through the twelfth grade.
In this regard, Al-Kharafi says: “Kuwait consists of a youthful demographic composition, and has young energies that need attention and care. We must prepare them for professional life, and encourage them to engage in it without fear of what the future holds. We do not want generations that memorize without understanding and analyzing. We want to plant courage in their hearts and not fear from failing. Our next generations must know that failure is a part of the success journey”.
Bader Al-Kharafi believes innovation in digital technology has and will continue to contribute to major changes in the business world, with clear effects of enormous increase in productivity within commercial and industrial sectors. He is now leading Zain Group into transforming to an integrated, innovative telecommunications provider that serves individuals and enterprises through the digital lifestyle experience. Through this direction, Al-Kharafi is pushing Zain into exceeding its performance despite the effects of increased and widespread competition, as well as into adopting the growing OTT solutions that are enhancing the mobile experience for customers.
Zain has identified service provision in the smart cities space and in B2B/enterprise sector as significant growth areas and has been investing accordingly. Such developments fall under the Zain Digital Frontier and Innovation (ZDFI) business strategy, a unit charged with launching Zain into the digital space with the view to growing the company through new innovative business streams, which add to its financial viability and market capitalization.
In return, Bader Al-Kharafi encourages the business environment within the Group’s personnel – fondly known as Zainers, to adopt innovative ideas that carry creative solutions. He is keen on encouraging all employees of all administrative levels to introduce innovative initiatives that strengthens the strategic direction of the Group’s operations, which he believes will create a sense of partnership between the Group and its employees.
Zain Group launched several transformative programs that have an impact on the several directions of the Information Technology and Telecommunications industry. The Group is aspiring to build a regional digital entity that operates within many sectors including e-commerce, digital content, advertising, gaming, and mobile app development, and smart city services through expanding its role in new business sectors that takes it beyond telecom.
Zain Digital Frontier and Innovation (ZDFI) will continue to focus on determining the opportunities in advertising, health, telecom, payment, as well as financial technology (Fin-Tech) through embracing the continuing development of apps. ZDFI’s main aim is to push business towards innovation, with the recent creation of iflix Arabia and its recent commercial launch across Zain’s footprint as one of many planned steps into the Group’s entry and future expansion to digital entertainment and content.
