14 February 2010
Carlye Murphy, The National

An article written by Caryle Murphy published by The National, an english newspaper launched by the Abu Dhabi Media Company, looks at the success of the Global Competitiveness Forum recently held in Riyadh in January, which attracted numerous business leaders, most of whom are not involved in the oil industry. Caryle Murphy writes that the Forum proves Saudi Arabia's on-going 'determination to diversify its oil dependent economy, not only by bringing in foreign expertise and capital, but also by creating Saudi companies that can be successful players in the competitive global market.' 

According to AccountAbility Senior Partner, Alex MacGillivray, one reason for the increased interest is a more outward-looking business community. Quoted in the article, Alex MacGillivray says: “A lot of family-held [Saudi] companies are beginning to look to scale up and get more ambitious,” he says. “To do that, they have to have a stronger brand and part of that is to be a responsible player.”

The former UK prime minister Tony Blair was among the prominent personalities addressing the three-day conference. Others included: Michael Dell, the founder of Dell; Jeffrey Immelt, the chief executive of General Electric; James Wolfensohn, the former World Bank president.

Read the full article here.

Alex MacGillivray, Senior Partner and Paul Begley, Senior Principal at AccountAbility attended the forum to launch the Saudi Responsible Competitiveness Index 2010, an initiative of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), the King Khalid Foundation (KKF) and AccountAbility. The Saudi Responsible Competitiveness Index is the Arab world's premier responsible business initiative. Learn more about the 2010 Index here: www.rci.org.sa.