IBIS Middle East returned to a live event at Le Meridien Dubai Hotel and Conference Centre, presenting to an auditorium of industry leaders awaiting the opportunity to mix with colleagues, clients and competitors. The event was livestreamed across the world, with delegates from Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and the USA participating.
The event concluded the two-part series that started with IBISConnect Middle East in November 2021, and continued part one’s most popular session, ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) and Sustainability.
Jason Moseley, CEO of IBIS, opened the programme before handing over to IBIS Conference moderator Robert Snook.
The opening session was titled ‘ESG and Sustainability – Global Update and Regional Impact’. Bashayer Dhaif, Senior Corporate Communication Manager at Bahrain National Holding (BNH Group), told the audience about the cultural and commercial benefits the company has achieved by taking a lead in the region, while Jihad Faitrouni, CEO at AMAN Insurance, talked about the company’s ESG and sustainability initiatives and those of the region’s wider insurance sector. Pierre Keusseyan, Operations Manager at Polimar, provided examples of products, services and equipment that provide commercial and environmental benefits to regional body shops. Gazi Bilikozen, Show Director at Automechanika Dubai, Riyadh and Jeddah, shared how ESG and sustainability impact global events and how Deutsche Messe and Messe Frankfurt have implemented initiatives, like nurturing bee colonies inside their buildings, to provide natural and sustainable solutions.
The morning keynote speaker was Jeff Smith, who presented ‘Success! The 11 Steps That Top Achievers Have In Common’. Smith provided three essential elements of success and described how they must link together before finishing the session with a seven-point action plan that the audience could use to build and measure success.
The session was followed by a discussion titled ‘The Voice Of The Bodyshop – What Is It Saying In 2022?’. Mahmoud Othman, National Body Shop Manager at Al Nabooda Automobiles; Mohammed Sulaiman Head, Body Shop Operations at Arabian Automobiles; Santosh Sonawane, Body Shop Manager at Alfardan Premier Motors; Qatar and Sherin Radhakrishnan, owner of Golden Workshop Group, shared the stage, discussing the challenges faced by body shops in 2022 and ideas, innovations and solutions to overcome them. David Luehr, owner of Elite Bodyshop Solutions, appeared from the USA via internet, sharing how American body shop owners are approaching and meeting universal challenges.
The afternoon session, continuing from IBISConnect, was on ‘The Theory Of Constraints’ and how theory could be aligned with feedback from the earlier morning sessions and be implemented by delegates’ businesses. Demetris Vrakas, National After Sales Manager at Inter Emirates Motors and Jeff Smith appeared on stage, while Jon Parker, Business Intelligence Director at Halo Group, was beamed in from the UK to discuss practical solutions to business constraints.
The session ‘People – A Shortage Of Good People – Or A Shortage Of Good Places?’ followed, with Snook opening the discussion by saying there has never been more people on the planet than now, so how can there be a shortage of people? Snook suggested the problem is more likely a shortage of attractive workplaces. He introduced Abdulla Al Majed, Manager – Training & Development from Bahrain Airport Company (BAC) live on screen, and they discussed how BAC has successfully overcome many of the challenges the regional collision industry faces. Dr John Mathew, Head of Talent Development at Ebrahim K. Kanoo Bahrain and Vernon Vidamour, Technical Consultant at Taqeem, then discussed how these ideas could help staff recruitment and retention before describing different strategies and solutions their businesses have implemented to address these challenges.
The final session was the afternoon keynote presentation ‘The Behavioural Economy – Why It Is So Important In 2022?’ by Akan Abdula, owner and founder of the Futurebright Group of companies. The session contended that the pandemic has changed the individual customer and collective market mindset, resulting in a new ‘behavioural economy’. Abdula shared information from his TEDx talks and articles in global media about the behavioural economy – what it means, why repairers need to understand it and how repairers must adapt communication techniques to ensure they ‘send the right messages’ to customers and capture business opportunities.
Snook closed the event by summarising the day and thanking sponsors, speakers, IBIS ambassadors and audience for their engagement and participation.