Building Regional Talent
As part of the DMCC Impact Scale-Up Programme – powered by C3, DMCC and C3 hosted a series of informative webinars to share insights on how to accelerate business growth in the UAE and the wider region.
On Tuesday 24th January 2023, C3 hosted a panel to explore building regional talent in the journey of growing from a startup to scale-up and taking your talent to the next level.
Expert panel
Christian Eid, Founder, NoBueno/ DUCKLIFE
Lucy d'Abo, CEO, together
Patricia Keating, Scale Lead ME - PwC
From “culture eats strategy for breakfast” to “culture drives strategy”
“Ambiguity is the Achilles heel of culture” says Lucy d’Abo. Leadership needs to be clear, consistent and transparent to guide a successful organisation.
Entropy - or the gradual decline into disorder - will only lead to a loss of productivity and slowly losing sense of the company’s strategy, vision and mission. At the end of the day, an organisation is a group of people, and if that group is not functioning correctly, the entire entity could collapse.
To avoid that, leaders must actively work on company culture and communicate with teams. As you go along, you will identify who really aligns with the culture and who does not. Non-alignment this is not necessarily a bad thing. The clearer you are about your culture and what the company stands for, the more likely you are to attract and retain a team capable of achieving the company’s goals.
Finding and retaining the ‘right’ talent
Finding the right talent can be tricky, especially within small organisations where every team member represents a sizable part of the company.
Personal networks can be a great source of qualified talent. But keep in mind that this is an easy way to get the hiring process done as quickly as possible but not always in the most diligent way. It is crucial to give the role its time and respect, to scope it properly, to understand what type of talent you are looking for and avoid bias in defining the ‘right talent’ means for your organisation and the role.
Lucy d’Abo recommends that strong founders “do their due diligence on hiring, both on a technical perspective and a cultural one,” to avoid biases.
Retention is also essential for startup founders. The panelists highlighted how critical it is to put the right time and energy into the hiring process, which will help retain the right talent moving forward. Churn can be costly.
It is also essential to recognise that retention and tenure are only sometimes signs of success. People grow out of places, and the organisation's needs constantly change. Keep looking at talent and culture in a dynamic and agile way. This will mean you avoid being stuck with the same pool of talent that might not always be capable of achieving the organisation’s plans. Changing your people can help a company evolve.
A close-up on UAE and regional talent
Christian Eid believes that “the UAE has positioned itself as a hub for innovation, attracting talent from across the globe.”
The local market is highly competitive: with major corporations headquartered in Dubai, attracting top talent to startups becomes challenging with competitive opportunities and packages.
Going to the top of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, once employees have secured their basic needs through a decent salary, they will start searching for self-fulfillment and purpose in their jobs.
Startups, especially impact-driven ones, can offer more and be more flexible. Working for a company with a purpose and a great culture brings many benefits beyond the package and the salary. Patricia Keating explains, "Top talent are looking for more meaningful and impactful opportunities to be at the forefront of innovation,” which is an excellent opportunity for founders to leverage.
While technical talent shortage can be a challenge in the MENA region, Christian Eid invites founders to look beyond regional markets for such talent. Remote work presents an opportunity to attract talent from other places to find the right skill set for the organisation. Countries like Portugal and Moldova have been dubbed a hotbed for tech talent.
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