IslamicFinance.de

Hawkamah’s Private Equity Task Force aims to encourage Private Equity firms to appraise or to re-appraise their corporate governance status and to adopt best practice standards. Its remit is to assist the Private Equity Industry in the MENA region by developing corporate governance principles and practice guidelines. Leonardo Peklar, Hawkamah CEO stressed that adopting a better corporate governance culture focuses on adapting the principles to regional cultural requirements and realities. Within this framework, implementing corporate governance positively impacts performance and aligns the interests of stakeholders.

Leonardo Peklar, the new chief executive of Hawkamah Institute for Corporate Governance, is planning an initiative to encourage regional companies to appoint more women to their boards. He hopes to invite female board members from global multinationals to the GCC region to extol the virtues of women business leaders. Currently, only 1.5 per cent of board seats in the GCC are held by women, according to Hawkamah statistics. Another priority for Mr Peklar is the issue of reforming the way the region's mainly family-owned businesses are run. Banks and Islamic finance and private equity were other sectors he planned to focus on improving corporate governance.