4 ways stakeholder capitalism can create a more resilient post-COVID MENA region

4 ways stakeholder capitalism can create a more resilient post-COVID MENA region

Public-private collaboration and stakeholder capitalism can build resilience.. Overall, lower levels of societal and economic resilience across the region - due to high youth unemployment, the presence of swelling refugee populations and weakened regional economic integration mechanisms - make the impact of Covid-19 particularly challenging for the region.. Effective containment of the pandemic and ensuing recovery requires a holistic and integrated regional response, which is currently hindered by low levels of intraregional trade and cross-border collaboration between the region's diverse economies.. As the resilience of MENA societies and economic development more broadly is hindered by the fragmentation of the region, leaders have called for greater public-private collaboration to foster integrated economic and trading systems.. Leaders have called for greater collaboration to leverage a number of crucial factors specific to the region, such as available digital infrastructures, high rates of internet penetration and tech-savvy youth populations, in order to connect the region's digital economies, provide delivery platforms for services and leverage fintech solutions to foster greater financial inclusion through digital payment systems.. The crisis serves as a potent reminder of the extent to which a black-swan-type event can disrupt economic and political life globally.. By endorsing the principles of stakeholder capitalism