KT Plus 150: Judges' panel welcomes new set of leaders, innovators
As part of the initiative, 150 trailblazers under 40 will be celebrated for making waves across 15 industries, from tech and healthcare to sports and design.
The winners will be announced on September 15. Nominations are now open, and you can cast your vote here to choose the next generation of changemakers.
A panel of expert judges will be helping spot the achievers as part of the KT Plus 150 initiative. Each judge, bringing deep industry knowledge to the table, will pick out only the best among the nominated names.
Six judges have already joined the panel. They are: Ali Al Ali, horse racing strategist; John Wilson, media & entertainment expert; Emily Mottolese, visionary designer behind the iconic Burj Khalifa; serial entrepreneur Mona Kattan, strategist and communicator Miki Hirasawa and super-influencer Mr Taster aka Hubert Sepidnam.
Joining them now on the panel are three more leaders and innovators who have inspired many in their respective fields.
Take a look:
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The UAE's economy grew by 4 per cent last year, driven by a strong expansion in its non-oil sector. The country's real gross domestic product reached Dh1.776 trillion, the Ministry of Economy said in June. The non-oil economy grew by 5 per cent annually to Dh1.34 trillion, accounting for more than 75 per cent of the country's economic activity, while oil-related activities contributed Dh434 billion to overall GDP. The UAE Central Bank expects real GDP to expand by 4.4 per cent in 2025 and increase to 5.4 per cent next year, it said in a report last month. This performance is driven by the "expected robust dynamism" of non-hydrocarbon activities and a "robust increase" in the hydrocarbon sector following updated Opec+ production plans, the regulator said. Non-hydrocarbon GDP is expected to grow by 4.5 per cent in 2025 and in 2026, it added. Geopolitical headwinds, including the 12-day war between Israel and Iran that threated to derail crude oil supplies from the energy-rich region, have not dented the UAE's economic growth prospects and the country's perception as a safe destination for global investment flows, Mr van Linder says. 'From my perspective, if anything, it has shown the world that this is a haven, an oasis … that it's the envy of the world,' he says. 'Right now, it's the best place in the world to live, the best place in the world to do business. If you ask for my personal view, I think that it will continue to be the case and I don't expect any outside influences or events changing that.' Retail to drive growth Looking ahead, CBD is pushing to further boost growth with a focus on retail banking operations. 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If you look at the UAE, there are banks that got it right and there are also banks that have taken hits by operating in this segment,' he says. CBD's loan book, which grew 11.7 per cent annually to Dh93 billion at the end of the last year, is set to hit high single-digit growth this year. Net profit is expected to hit high single-digit to low double-digit growth level in 2025, he adds. While focus remains on organic growth, CBD is also not shying away from mergers and acquisition opportunities, if the asset on offer makes commercial sense and aligns with the bank's strategic plans. 'We're open to anything, but the working assumption is organic all the way,' Mr van Linder says. CBD has already acquired the UAE credit card portfolio of Saudi lender Samba Bank, as well the Najam card business of Majid Al Futtaim. 'We've done that twice … we're open to doing that again,' he says. No deal is currently brewing on the front burner, he adds. Focus on tech In line with the global push towards technology, CBD's capital expenditure on digitisation in the past five years has risen more than fourfold and Mr van Linder sees that investment continuing to increase in the short to medium term. 'We're ready for open finance,' he says. 'There's more to be done on digitising services that we haven't done yet and there will be continuing investments.' The need to invest more in digitalisation as well as incorporating AI into banking is also driven by the emergence of digital banks in the UAE that have grabbed 'some market share' from conventional financial institutions in the country. But what is more significant then the market share is the 'wake-up call' for banks from their digital-only peers when it comes to customer experience, he says. 'This is your competition and you will only be able to compete with these guys if you get your end-to-end processes right. And this is not just about delivering a fancy banking app.' Biggest challenge With competition heating up from conventional peers as well as digital-only lenders in the UAE, staying relevant to customers is the biggest challenge for Mr van Linder. 'We operate in a market with 52 licensed banks, where the top four have an 80 per cent market share, we are number seven and there's an enormous tail of all kinds of smaller banks. 'In this market, every customer always has a choice … how can we make sure they pick us … that really is the thing that keeps me awake.' However, the father of 15-year-old triplets says he has no regrets in moving from a bigger bank and adds 'what's not to love about Dubai, and also this bank?' CBD is 'big enough to do everything' and yet small enough for him to get involved in every level of operation. Mr van Linder's vision for CBD has not changed much since taking charge, with the goal still in place of turning the bank into a 'high-performance organisation'. 'To me, an achievement is a midpoint to something else. We're not there where I want to take this bank, and for sure, there's much more to be done,' he says. 'We doubled in size, we tripled in net profit … but this is definitely not the end.' Mr van Linder sees CBD evolving into a 'bank of everything' for its customers. He wants to be remembered as the man 'who did it … who put an institution in place that was so well organised, well structured and resilient that, in a way, anybody could run it'.
