Manama: Bahrain-based General Council for Islamic Banks and Financial Institutions (CIBAFI), a global umbrella of Islamic financial institutions, yesterday launched its first executive programme on strategy and leadership for Islamic financial institutions (IFIs).
It is offered in partnership with the Ivey Business School, a top-ranked business school of Western University, Canada.
The two-day workshop that started yesterday is being held in Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay and is designed for senior management and board members.
It is the first in a series of executive programmes that are being organised by CIBAFI in response to members’ feedback calling for executive programmes on strategic issues in the Islamic financial services industry.
CIBAFI secretary-general Abdelilah Belatik said the programme will provide a practical, high energy learning experience for Islamic financial institutions’ (IFIs) executives.
It will enhance their skills on strategic analysis, strategy formation and execution and serve as a catalyst for bringing new ideas and approaches to the Islamic financial industry with specific practical implications for their own organisations, he added.
The executive programmes organised by CIBAFI are aligned with the organisation’s larger strategic plan to promote and facilitate the growth of Islamic finance.
They also come in response to feedback received by CIBAFI from a formal members satisfaction and expectation survey that was conducted last year.
“CIBAFI endeavours to satisfy the needs and expectations of its members,” Mr Belatik said.
“With 83 per cent of respondents from our Satisfaction and Expectation Survey showing a high interest in programmes for senior management on strategic issues in the industry, these specially designed executive strategy and leadership programmes are devised to meet our valued members’ needs,” he added.
The workshop is being conducted by Ivey Business School associate dean Professor Chris WH Chan.
He said the programme is designed with the aim to sharpen sensitivity and hone skills in strategic thinking and execution so executives may apply insight from business cases and interactive lectures to their own organisations, as well as building a leadership mindset and common language for articulation of strategic goals and initiatives.
“An additional aim of the programme is to explore ethical and governance issues that make IFIs successful or cause failures.
“The lessons learnt from shared experiences will prove to be invaluable to IFIs seeking to grow and internationalise,” he added.
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