Global Leadership from H.E. Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak

The Power of Partnerships Is More Crucial Than Ever

When discussing how the UAE was going to navigate COVID-19 and its surrounding challenges, Al Mubarak says that government and the private sector working together early on proved to be critical to the country’s economic recovery.

“The results of that, two years later, is that we’ve managed through the economic challenges, not only maintaining the health of the economy, but strengthening it,” he says. “The economy is critical for the life and sustainability of any nation, and what we’ve done in two years during COVID has been more than what I’ve seen in 20 years in terms of economic and legal reforms, all with the objective of business-friendly economic growth.”

The government and the private sector mobilizing early to tackle the many challenges of the pandemic had a significant payoff, as now, businesses and offices in the region are fully open, with high testing numbers and low infection rates.

Never Lose Sight of the Far-Off Horizon

Al Mubarak says that Mubadala’s success is tied to the company’s strategy of investing for the long-term, a vision that has allowed for its commitment to sustainability and inclusive growth.

“Our expectations for returns are high, of course, but it is always with a long-term view,” he says. “We look at the five- to ten- year horizon – and sometimes longer. Everything we’ve done over the last 20 years has been about partnership, has been about long-term sustainability, has been about creating value, but also really creating value for the communities we’re involved in.”

By taking this long-term view, a company like Mubadala can spend less and energy and fewer resources on investments that might not see an immediate payoff. For example, investments in renewable energy or semiconductor production might have seemed negligible at the time, but now those industries are at the forefront of global innovation and economic recovery.

Shared Responsibility Starts with Working Together

According to Al Mubarak, the COVID-19 pandemic made the importance of shared responsibility clear. “One thing that the last two years have taught every single one of us is we either stand together or we fall together,” he says. “These global challenges that the world is facing – and will continue to face – can only be resolved by communication, working together, and understanding.”

As a global leader, Al Mubarak believes that this insight can apply to almost everything, including business, politics, and international challenges. In order for the world to see stability and more collaboration, leaders need to focus on finding solutions rather than purely concentrating on problems.

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