Annual Report 2021

Regional spotlight

Middle East and Africa

IMD continued to build its client base and program offerings to meet the needs of diverse leaders, partners, and private and public sector organizations across the Middle East and Africa. The integration of technology-mediated learning in many existing programs enabled a larger number of participants from the region to access and benefit from IMD learning journeys.

Tailored learning

These learning journeys consisted of various programs and experiences from IMD’s full ecosystem, built around integrating customs solutions and open enrollment programs. This diverse learning experience allows participants to learn together to create internal alignment, and to be exposed to international experiences and different perspectives through their participation in open programs. Throughout each journey, participants also undertake an “enterprise project” to develop new ideas and solutions to address their organizations’ specific challenges.

I was challenged and stretched on my capability and there is now so much more clarity in my mind on what I have to offer, as a person and a professional, and how to apply that and add value – whatever the environment.
Emelia Abotsi, Lead People Partner, Absa Group, South Africa

Developing leaders in Africa

Since 2019, IMD and South Africa-based banking group Absa have worked together on an accelerated development program for several levels of management, from high potential talent to middle management and senior executives.

Remote learning journeys were designed and tailored specifically for each managerial level, blending together customized modules, open programs, and enterprise projects.

In 2021, after experiencing very successful outcomes from the early stages of the collaboration, including developing current and future leaders, stimulating organization-wide innovation and creating positive impact for society, Absa increased the number of its managers and executives involved in the program to more than 200, up from 40.

Several enterprise projects have been presented to top management and approved for implementation within Absa’s operations. For example, Absa Bank Botswana’s Group Saver product and Absa Bank Ghana’s data analytics project were delivered in 2021.

In 2021, IMD also kicked off a new Accelerating Talent Program in Africa, in collaboration with the African Management Institute. Eight investee companies of impact investment firm AHL Venture Partners, from all over Africa, nominated 33 high potential leaders for the Kenya-based personal leadership and strategy program.

“There is a massive need for practical, yet rigorous, management development in Africa,” said program director and Professor of Financial Management Leif Sjöblom. “By promoting such a program, AHL Venture Partners can not only contribute to this development need but also benefit from the enhanced skills of their investee companies.”

Empowering public sector leadership in the Gulf

Gulf states

In 2021, IMD further enhanced its reputation as an expert partner for working with public sector entities to develop leaders and transform organizations in the Gulf states.

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development started working with IMD to implement a tailored learning journey to develop and upskill its senior executives, using IMD open programs, such as the Advanced Management Program, the Breakthrough Program for Senior Executives, and the High Performance Boards program.

Through this journey, participants will work on an initiative to improve the ministry’s customer services and to accelerate the transformation of certain sectors in government.

IMD also established a collaboration with Saudi Telecom Academy and other institutions in the Gulf region to run programs for current and future women leaders.

IMD continued its successful custom program partnership with the Abu Dhabi School of Government in 2021. Building on the legacy of a range of successful face-to-face programs, IMD transitioned its offering for this mutually enriching and impactful relationship to the virtual arena.

Under the leadership of Dr. Hischam El-Agamy, and in close collaboration with the Abu Dhabi School of Government, IMD created a suite of bespoke virtual learning journeys for six cohorts of leaders at the Abu Dhabi school, which develops and trains government employees in global best practices.

The learning experience, led by Dr. Silke Mischke, was delivered digitally, combining a customized version of IMD’s online program Inspirational Leadership, featuring Distinguished Professor of Leadership and Organizational Behaviour George Kohlrieser, as well as personalized group assignments and webinars. This proved to be an excellent pedagogical solution to cascade state-of-the-art learning to a broad reach of leaders throughout the organization without requiring travel or out of office time.

The outcome was characterized by strong pedagogical impact, immediate learning application on a weekly basis, enhanced leadership skills, and a further strengthened high performance culture within the Abu Dhabi School of Government.

I would like to thank the IMD team for the enjoyable and beneficial learning experience. It has been a successful and beneficial learning journey especially because of the different learning methods and application of knowledge. This has allowed me to reflect on my practices as a leader and set an action plan for myself to enhance my leadership practices.
Mariam Al Hammadi, Head of Learning and Development Department, Abu Dhabi School of Government