All posts by : Safaa alsayagi

In a unique event, the Yemeni Institute of Directors, one of the entities of the Yemeni Business Club, in cooperation with the International Finance Corporation, launched on Tuesday, May 21, 2019 the Small and Medium Enterprises Governance Guide after an effort that lasted nearly two years from the guide’s partners and the work team consisting of many local and international experts, academics and businessmen .
It is worth noting that the launch event of the guide took place in conjunction with the closure of the Yemen SMEs 25 Governance Project, which continued during 2018 by preparing the Yemeni version of the project and implementing specialized trainings in the field of governance for boards of directors and executive leadership of companies and banks participating in the project and implementing quick reforms Governance at various levels in the general assembly, boards of directors, and administrative practices within institutions.
The event was attended by representatives of the private sector from various industrial, commercial and service fields, representatives of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Central Bank of Yemen, the General Federation of Chambers of Commerce and the Sana’a Chamber, in addition to microfinance institutions and representatives of local and international organizations.

As an extension of the advisory services provided by the Yemeni Institute of Directors, the Institute implemented for the second time the Yemen Mobile Company Governance Project for Mobile Phones 2021 after the company submitted a request to implement two board evaluation services (self and external) and diagnose the company’s governance practices and prepare reports for the project to be presented to the General Assembly. The project is approximately 5 months old and has passed through the following stages:

The Institute’s advisory team obtained a set of basic files about the company.

– Coordinating the implementation of the external evaluation interviews of the Board of Directors (10 interviews with the stakeholders of the Board of Directors and its committees and several shareholders in the company).

– Coordination to attend two workshops that include the Governance Committee in addition to the Executive Director, the Financial Director, the Director of Human Resources, Internal Audit and Risk Management, to diagnose governance practices within the company and analyze the gaps.

– Coordination to attend the meeting of the Board of Directors to do the self-assessment of the Board.

– Unpacking and analyzing data related to the self- and external assessment tools of the Board of Directors and diagnosing governance practices within the company.

– Read and interpret information to conclude.

– Preparing reports on the results of evaluation and diagnosis, including recommendations for improvement, which will form an action plan for corporate governance applications during the coming stages

In the aspect of advisory projects, the Yemen Institute of Directors has implemented the Yemen Mobile Company Governance Project for Mobile Phones for the year 2019, after the company submitted a request to the Institute to implement the company’s board of directors evaluation service, which aims to verify the board’s fulfillment of the basic requirements that must be met so that it can perform the roles assigned to it according to For best practices in companies working in the field of telecommunications in particular and joint

 stock companies in general, in addition to implementing a service for diagnosing governance practices, through which the company will be able to know where it is now. And where is the position you want to reach? In essence, they are two questions: “Where are we?” And “Where do we want to be? As it enables it to measure best practices in various key dimensions of governance and to develop a plan to improve the performance of the company’s governance internally, the project went through several stages as follows:

The Institute’s advisory team obtained several basic files about the company.

– Coordination to attend a workshop that includes the Governance Committee in addition to the CEO, the Financial Director, and the Director of Human Resources, Internal Audit, and Risk Management to diagnose governance practices within the company and analyze the gaps on April 28, 2020.

– Coordination to attend the Board of Directors meeting to make a general assessment of the Board of Directors on April 29, 2020.

– Unpacking and analyzing the data of the two tools of board evaluation and diagnosing governance practices within the company.

– Read and interpret information to conclude.

Preparing a report on the results of the evaluation and diagnosis that includes recommendations for improvement, which will form an action plan for the implementation of corporate governance in the company during the coming stages.

In the aspect of advisory projects, the Yemeni Institute of Directors team visited Al-Hodeidah Governorate during the period (14-16 July-2021) to implement the project of governance of the Abdul Jalil Radman Group of Companies, after the group submitted a request to the Institute to implement one of the advisory services, which is the diagnosis of governance practices, through which the group will be able to know where she is now? And where is the position you want to reach? In essence, they are two questions: “Where are we?” And “Where do we want to be? As it enables it to measure best practices in various key dimensions of governance and to develop a plan to improve the performance of the group’s governance internally, the project went through several stages as follows:

The Institute’s advisory team obtained several basic files on the group.

– Coordination to attend a workshop that included specialists from the group on the board of directors, in addition to several employees of the group companies, in which they talked about the benefits of governance and its importance in the continuity, growth, and stability of companies. and internal audit and risk management.

– Unpacking and analyzing the data of the diagnostic tool for governance practices within the group.

– Read and interpret information to conclude.

Preparing a report on the results of the diagnosis that includes recommendations for improvement, which will form an action plan for governance applications.

In cooperation with the International Finance Corporation, the Yemeni Institute of Directors is implementing the first governance trip to three governorates to introduce the principles of Yemeni corporate governance.

Hodeidah Governorate was the first stop on the trip. On Thursday morning, May 18, 2017, the first introductory workshop on corporate governance was held, which targeted several businessmen in the governorate. In the workshop, Dr. Muhammad Ismail Hamna, Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Yemeni Business Club, gave a welcome speech at the outset. With the participants, he reviewed the goals of the Yemeni Business Club and an overview of the emergence and development of activities in the field of governance leading to the establishment of the Yemeni Institute of Directors, which became the main carrier of the concept and message of governance and its applications in the Yemeni private sector, reviewing the efforts made by the Yemeni Institute of Directors in cooperation with its strategic partner, the International Finance Corporation.

For his part, Mr. Mohamed Abdel Wahed, Director General of the Hodeidah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, gave a brief speech in which he welcomed the attendees, thanking the organizers of this workshop for their interest in educating the private sector in the governorate with such concepts that their application would improve performance in private sector institutions and companies. The Hodeidah Chamber was then honored with the shield of the Yemeni Institute of Directors, presented by M. Ghadeer Al-Maqhafi, Acting Director of the Yemeni Business Club and the Yemeni Institute of Directors

This was followed by the start of the training workshop, which lasted for about three hours, and included the definition of governance, its concepts and basic principles, the responsibilities and tasks of the relevant parties, in particular the boards of directors of companies, and the desired benefits from the application of those concepts and the challenges facing the applications of governance.

The meeting was attended by several commercial houses in the Hodeidah governorate and a group of businessmen and interested persons.

The second phase of the trip was in Ibb governorate, where on Sunday morning, May 21, 2017, the first induction workshop was held in Ibb governorate on corporate governance, which targeted several businessmen in the governorate. At the outset with the participants, he expressed his happiness with the presence of an economic partner such as the Chamber of Commerce, reviewing the efforts made by the Yemeni Institute of Directors in cooperation with its strategic partner, the International Finance Corporation.

For his part, Mr. Abdulelah Al-Khatib, member of the Board of Directors of the Ibb Chamber of Commerce and Industry and head of the Services Department, gave a brief speech in which he welcomed the attendees, thanking the organizers of this workshop for their interest in educating the private sector in the governorate with such concepts that their application would improve performance in private sector institutions and companies. Then the Ibb Chamber was honored with the shield of the Yemeni Institute of Directors, presented by Eng. Ghadeer Al-Maqhafi, Acting Director of the Institute.

 It is worth noting that most of the reputable commercial houses in the governorate attended the workshop and expressed their interaction with the concepts that were presented by the institute’s team, and Sheikh Qassim Al-Absi, the deputy of Ibb governorate, also attended for his part. This was followed by the start of the training workshop, which included the definition of governance, its concepts and basic principles, the responsibilities and tasks of the relevant parties, in particular the boards of directors of companies, and the desired benefits from the application of those concepts and the challenges facing the applications of governance.

The last stop of the trip was Aden. On the morning of Wednesday, May 24, 2017, an introductory workshop was held on the principles and applications of Yemeni corporate governance in the meeting hall at the Emirates Sky Hotel in Bakhoor Maksar Aden. This workshop was organized by the office of the Yemeni Business Club in Aden and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Aden in partnership with IFC (International Finance Corporation – an arm of the World Bank for lending to the private sector) and the Yemeni Institute of Directors, who ran the workshop and presented interventions and working papers in the workshop by Dr. Muhammad Hamna and Eng. Ghadeer Al-Maqhafi. In the workshop, serious discussions took place about all aspects of corporate governance and its necessity, and the experiences of the governance of some family companies in Aden were reviewed. and services to achieve development in its capabilities and performance, and thus in its profitability.

On the side of advisory projects, the Yemeni Institute of Directors implemented the governance project of Al-Diaa National Group for Trade and Industry Ltd. on June 25, 2022, after the group submitted a request to the Institute to implement one of the advisory services, which is diagnosing governance practices, through which the group will be able to know where it is now? And where is the position you want to reach? In essence, they are two questions: “Where are we?” And “Where do we want to be? As it enables it to measure best practices in various key dimensions of governance and to develop a plan to improve the performance of the group’s governance internally, the project went through several stages as follows:

The Institute’s advisory team obtained several basic files on the group.

– Coordination to attend a workshop that included specialists from the group on the board of directors, in addition to a number of the group’s employees, during which the diagnostic session was carried out in the presence of the owners, the general manager, the financial director, the director of human resources, internal audit and risk management.

– Unpacking and analyzing the data of the diagnostic tool for governance practices within the group.

– Read and interpret information to conclude.

Preparing a report on the results of the diagnosis that includes recommendations for improvement, which will form an action plan for governance applications in the coming stages.

Today, governance has occupied great importance in the world in light of the transition to the capitalist economic system, in which private institutions play a large and influential role, with the consequent necessity of monitoring and evaluating this role on an ongoing basis. And the continuity of business institutions, especially after the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, which witnessed the collapse of huge international companies due to a lack of awareness of the importance of adopting the principles of good management (corporate governance). Therefore, the Yemeni Islamic Insurance Company submitted to the Yemeni Institute of Directors a request to design a corporate governance system that considers its characteristics and privacy and ensures It has obtained a useful and effective system of supervision and guidance, and through which the company can enhance its competitive position among the peer companies. will be done.

To implement this project, an implementation plan for the project has been prepared according to the following steps:

First: Obtaining the main documents of the company.

Second: Coordination to attend the Board of Directors meeting in the presence of the Chairman of the Board, the Executive Director, members of the Board, and the Advisory Team of the Institute to implement the Board Evaluation Service, which aims to assess the Board of Directors to verify the fulfillment of the basic requirements that must be met by the Board so that it can perform the roles assigned to it by the best practices in Companies in particular.

Third: Unloading and analyzing the data of the Board of Directors evaluation tool.

Fourth: Reading and interpreting the data to conclude.

Fifthly: Prepare a summary report on the report’s results, including recommendations for improvement.

Sixth: Starting to build the Board of Directors evidence (Governance Guide – Board Charter – Guide for Disclosure and Transparency Rules – Code of Ethical Conduct – Mechanism for Reporting Unethical Practices) and handing it over to the company after review and arbitration. All evidence was delivered after review, arbitration, and final output to the company.