Bodin visits Kuwait to meet over 100 local clients

KUWAIT: Global CEO of Grant Thornton Peter Bodin with officials in Kuwait during his visit. — Photos by Joseph Shagra

KUWAIT: The newly-appointed Global CEO of Grant Thornton Peter Bodin is in Kuwait to participate in the annual regional meeting of GT member firms in the Middle East. "I will be meeting clients inside and outside the firm and will attend the regional meeting with about 50 leaders from Thornton in this region. This is my second visit to the region after visiting Dubai previously. We have a strong business and presence in the Kuwaiti market, as we have over 100 local clients. Grant Thornton has been in Kuwait for over 30 years," he told Kuwait Times. Grant Thornton is a network of independent assurance, tax and advisory firms, made up of 50,000 people in over 135 countries to help dynamic organizations unlock their potential for growth.

Grant Thornton supports gender equality in the workplace. "We are a network of about of 50,000 people. One of the most important and strongest global drivers is to get more diverse and gender-balanced businesses. I support this as I think it's important for any business. To be sustainable long-term, it's important to have a gender-balanced leadership in companies," explained Bodin.

Bodin is optimistic regarding the global economy. "Of course businesses face challenges, but on the global stage, it's a positive economy at the moment. GDP is expected to grow globally and this comes from different places. We do researches on companies, and they were not so optimistic about the future during the past few years as they are at the moment. Many changes are taking place in almost every company and industry. The challenge is to transform the business so it can grow in the long term," he noted.

Technology

Technology is a very important aspect for any company. "Globalization and technology-driven businesses are a strong force. It's a challenge to have a global business, and companies are changing their business models. Governments also look to build a stronger infrastructure for companies to grow," Bodin pointed out.

The GCC market is a good market, said Bodin. "There are many good things here. It's building a strong infrastructure for companies to come here and invest. Technology skills are increasing, and there are many talents in this area. I think this combination makes it a good place to invest. We also see strong trade and capital flows going to this region, so it's a good market for the future," he stated.

"As a professional business company, we are facing a lot of disruption in our industry, so we need to develop technology in all areas to interact with clients. We invested a lot of money in the last five years to get various working tools, especially on the audit side, so we do much more value-driven audit. There is a lot of innovation in technology going on all over the world; cloud accounting systems and others are changing our business. Most of these initiatives are also client-driven, which helps our relationship," stressed Bodin.

Cyber threats

But most businesses face cyber threats. "Cyber threat is the biggest threat for any business today in the world, and we need to invest in protection to be safe. It's same all over the world and we need to invest in this area to be protected against such attacks, as it may take the business down in a very short time if it's not protected," he explained. "We have to change culture in the organization to be future fit for the change that we are facing - to change and develop the leadership and the culture, and to take the people that we have in the organization with you on that journey and change their minds, which is an even bigger challenge than technology for any business. Number one priority for the business is leadership and how you lead the organization," concluded Bodin.

For more than 100 years, Grant Thornton has helped dynamic organizations realize their strategic ambitions. Whether you're looking to finance growth, manage risk and regulation, optimize your operations or realize stakeholder value, Grant Thornton can help you. It's got scale, combined with local market understanding. That means it's everywhere you are, as well as where you want to be.