Whether it’s focusing on liquidity management, dealing with commodity and particularly oil price volatility, or managing the mounting deal activity and business opportunities that the Middle East represents, treasurers in this part of the world face plenty of challenges.
Their commitment to excellence and to sharing experiences and know-how is exemplary, however, and the ACT, in turn, is committed to providing opportunities to help treasurers in the region increase knowledge and share expertise. Don’t miss the upcoming webinar on 4 May on China-UAE trade in partnership with Arabia Monitor, and the ACT-Kyriba breakfast briefing on 23 May on win-win supply chain finance.
In this issue, we talk to Mona Lockett, head of treasury at food and FMCG distribution company Webcor Group, about her career and the value that her AMCT qualification brings her. That Webcor, which has operations in challenging territories such as Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, now has a streamlined centralised treasury operation with much enhanced cash visibility is largely down to her skill and persistence. Lockett’s recent projects include a treasury management system installation (one of only a handful in Angola) and managing finances for industrial projects. She sets out the challenges and pays tribute to the role her treasury network plays when it comes to shared solutions to issues specific to the Middle East in our profile of her on page 4.
For more on career challenge, you might want to look at our feature on turnaround treasurers, on page 10. Gary Slawther, who advises corporates on treasury issues in pressurised situations, including business turnaround, offers an overview of the skills and qualities required to operate during a testing point in a business’s life cycle. Along with three other experienced turnaround treasurers, he describes the importance of holding fast to treasury principles and ACT training so as to maintain the integrity of the organisation’s cash management and its relationships with banks and lenders.
In addition, on page 20, we recognise the hard work and flair among the region’s student population, who were commended at the Middle East Annual Summit last November.
Plenty of reasons to applaud and celebrate; enjoy the issue.
Liz Loxton, editor