Middle East & North Africa

Cairo, Dubai, Istanbul, Tel Aviv

HBS continues its efforts to build a deep understanding of and expertise in global business practice and innovation around the world, including throughout the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The School opened the MENA Research Center in Istanbul in 2013, followed by offices in Dubai and Cairo. Separately an office was opened in Tel Aviv in 2016 reporting to the Europe Research Center. All play an important role in helping HBS develop and strengthen relationships with business and academic leaders in the Middle East, Turkey, North Africa, and Central Asia. Support for faculty research, student programming, Executive Education, and Harvard Business Publishing are enabled by these HBS locations.

Locations

Middle East and North Africa Research Center Istanbul, Turkey

Cairo Office
Cairo, Egypt

Dubai Office
Dubai Design District
Building 3, 3rd Floor, Unit 341
Dubai, UAE

Tel Aviv Office
Tel Aviv, Israel

News & Highlights

MARCH 2023
ALUMNI

Alumni Amal Enan’s (MBA 2014) Investment Impact in Egypt

Amal Enan (MBA 2014) has been making a difference in the Egyptian startup scene with her thoughtful and strategic investments. As Executive Director of the Egyptian-American Enterprise Fund, Enan works to promote financial inclusion, job creation, and private sector development in Egypt, with a strong focus on supporting female entrepreneurs. She says, “we need to build sustainable businesses and create a competitive track record for the country, if we’re going to improve opportunities for the next generation.” Learn more about the work she is doing in the MENA region through her alumni story here.

NOVEMBER 2022
EVENT

Alumni Events in Istanbul, Riyadh, Cairo, and Dubai with Professor Paul Gompers on his New Book

In October and November, the MENA Research Center hosted alumni events in Istanbul, Riyadh, Cairo, and Dubai in collaboration with HBR Turkey, Harvard Club of Saudi Arabia and Harvard Business School Clubs of Egypt and GCC. Professor Paul Gompers discussed his book, Advanced Introduction to Private Equity, with HBS alumni and allies. The book, which he co-authored with University of Chicago Professor Steven A. Kaplan, can serve as a source of insight for everyone who has an interest in private equity, whether they are academics, students, young professionals or industry veterans. Over 100 alumni and friends of HBS attended.

NOVEMBER 2022
Event

Virtual Book Discussion with Professor Jeremy Friedman

Professor Jeremy Friedman gave his insights from his new book, Ripe for Revolution: Building Socialism in the Third World. The book seeks to tell the story of the global evolution of the socialist project during the Cold War through an iterative process of trial and error. The book explores how socialists sought to build a model of socialism that would fit the conditions of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, then referred to as the “Third World,” and now more often called the “Global South.” This event was co-hosted by the Africa Research Center with nearly 50 HBS alumni and community members attending the virtual event.

SEPTEMBER 2022
Event

Virtual Conversation with Professor George Serafeim

The MENA Research Center and Africa Research Center co-hosted a virtual event with Professor George Serafeim. With his new book Purpose and Profit: How Business Can Lift Up the World, Professor Serafeim provided answers to the following questions: Are purpose and profit in conflict, or can both be achieved simultaneously with the right mindset and tools? What are the forces that are reshaping the relationship between the two? What can we all do to strengthen the relationship between purpose and profit as entrepreneurs, managers, employees, consumers, and investors? Approximately 50 HBS alumni and community members attended the event.

New Research on the Region

March 2023
Teaching Material

Allianz Türkiye (B): Adapting to a Changing World

By: John D. Macomber and Fares Khrais

March 2023
Teaching Material

Allianz Türkiye (C): Managing the 2017 Hail Storm

By: John D. Macomber and Fares Khrais

Allianz Turkey is a property casualty insurance company operating in a region experiencing increasing losses from natural catastrophe events related to climate change, for example hail, wildfire, and flooding. There are also substantial other natural catastrophe exposures including earthquakes. The operating environmnent includes high inflation and worsening exhange rates, both of which make it challenging to set premiums and to resolve claims when those milestones can occur years apart. In many ways the existence of these natural and financial pressures and the high awareness among the population of natural catastrophe hazards makes Turkey a precursor to what might occur in Europe and North America in the face of possible increasing perils related to climate change. The company has a dilemma at the time of the case regarding how to satisfy customers and settle claims from a hailstorm without historic precedent, which damaged tens of thousands of automobiles as well as other assets. How should the company satisfy these customers today? Should it avoid writing policies in higher risk areas in the future? Are there other ways to identify and manage risks in addition to contracts? The "B" case discusses the earthquake of 2023 and the "C" case discusses informatoin techology, sensors, and predictive analytics that the company now uses to help manage the onset of and response to natural catastrophe situations.

March 2023
Teaching Material

Hikma Pharmaceuticals Governance Journey

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Jonah Goldberg

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 318108. The case opens with Said Darwazah, chairman and CEO of Hikma Pharmaceuticals, the multinational generics company, anticipating the company’s 2017 AGM and reflecting on changes made over the previous year to address concerns expressed by proxy advisors and some shareholders about Hikma’s reliance on a combined chairman/CEO position, the long tenure of some directors, and the company’s approach to executive pay. The case describes Hikma’s origins as a Jordanian pharma company founded by Darwazah’s father in 1978 and traces the evolution of its governance as a private family company, then as a publicly traded company listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2005, and finally as a member of the FTSE 100, beginning in March 2015. Ahead of the 2017 AGM, Darwazah is confident that shareholders will approve changes made to the company’s executive incentive plan (EIP) and steps taken to accelerate the turnover of long-serving directors, but he wonders how much longer the company will be able to continue with a combined chairman/CEO and, more generally, how to marry the high level of governance expected by shareholders with the entrepreneurial spirit that had driven Hikma’s growth and development.

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