The Middle Eastern world of advertising and communication is seeing the first signs of green shoots, on of the region’s most powerful media figures said on Monday.
Joseph Ghossoub, president and CEO of MENACOM, speaking at an Arabian Business conference on the economy, said the industry was in “uncertain times”, but that positivity was central to recovery.
“This year has been very hard. Here in the Middle East 2009 has been one of the toughest years in memory,” he said.
“Despite all these recent international headlines about Dubai, I am not and will never be a pessimist.
“We’ve faced crisis, this is not the first that we’ve faced and we have faced much worse before.
“This is a tough neighbourhood, and just to remind us that we provide 33 percent of CNN news coverage worldwide, we are used to living tough.”
Ghossoub, who founded Holding Group, one of the Gulf’s most successful communication companies, in 1997, said the financial crisis had provided some opportunities.
“Today is a unique opportunity to refocus our goals. If you look for bad news you will find bad news, and especially in our Arab world we don’t like bad news because it’s seen as a loss of face. We like to think about things that we can do better.
“We’ve been pushed back in everything that we do. 2010 does look like it will be a much more stable year for the industry, provided we enter the year refocused.
“The world of advertising and communication is seeing the first signs of green shoots.
“Is this crisis behind us? I’m not sure and I don’t know anyone who can say anything else,” he said.
“There comes a time, and now is that time, for achievers, who look back at the past and eye the future. Achievements come one at a time,” he said. Ghossoub is also chairman and president of the International Advertising Association (IAA), roles he has held since March 2006. He was speaking alongside other leading executives at Monday’s one-day Arabian Business conference in Dubai.
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