Launched by the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry in early June, the Chamber Talk Initiative, which brings local businesses and the biggest consulting firms in one place, has organized 16 webinars with more than 6,000 participants taking part. There are 23 webinars in total while the remaining ones are scheduled to take place over the next month.

His Excellency Mohamed Helal Al Mheiri, Director General of the Abu Dhabi Chamber, said that the Chamber was one of the first establishments to support businesses since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Chamber Talk Initiative helped spread awareness on the best methods of tackling the impacts of the novel Coronavirus, which contributed to equipping them with the necessary knowledge and the best international practices and experiences to overcome the negative impacts of the crises.

The Director General pointed out that the launch of Chamber Talk is the result of hard efforts and continuous coordination with the biggest international consulting firms around the world that are specialized in the economic and business sectors Including Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, PWC, Ernst & Young, KPMG, Gartner, and Salloum & Partners. He pointed out that the program is the first of its kind considering that it’s an interactive platform that covers most of the key aspects of the economic sector and helps in navigating safely around the unprecedented circumstances the world is witnessing as a result of COVID-19 and its negative effects on the global economy and businesses across the globe.

“The Chamber sets itself apart by launching the Chamber Talk program, which comes in the form of an integrated interactive program that brings all consulting firms together onto a unified interactive platform,” he said.
Al Mheiri added that the goal behind the new program is to spread awareness and provide consultation on the best ways of dealing with the impacts of the novel Coronavirus on businesses, which will help overcome the negative implications of the crisis and benefit from the opportunities it presents.
Al Mheiri expressed his pleasure and praised the program since its launch as a free interactive initiative to spread awareness on how to act during crises, pointing out that the program created a valuable opportunity to answer the enquiries of businesses concerning different aspects.
The initiative is targeting pivotal sectors including retail, education, financial services, constructions, trade, services, healthcare, hospitality and food and beverages, etc….

In its 16 sessions, the initiative has tackled a number of key topics including Post COVID-19 Strategic Thinking: Pivoting and Adapting to the “New Normal”, How the work environment post COVID-19 is going to change and how to plan accordingly, and How impacted businesses can manage employment relationships under UAE law perspective.

The webinars also shed light on Accounting and disclosure implications of COVID-19 what companies should be doing, and Crisis Management: Returning back to business and what are some of the key considerations that companies should think.

Other topics included Education: An Enabler of Economic Activity in the Context of COVID-19, Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends that organizations need to explore in 2020, What can the UAE consumer and retail businesses do to weather the COVID-19 crisis?, Managing Fraud risk: How to prevent the global pandemic from becoming a fraud pandemic, Liquidity solutions (cash management), Working capital optimization and Third party credit risk (supplier risk mitigation), Financial and Business impacts of COVID-19 in Financial Services, COVID-19: An opportunity to protect the business by protecting the family, and The evolving role of Data & Analytics and AI during disruption.