It’s been a tough year for executives across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia — especially for those in the healthcare sector.
“To be completely honest, throughout the past six months most decisions have been exceptionally challenging,” said Dr. Ahmed Ezzeldin Mahmoud Abdelaal, chief executive of Cleopatra Hospitals Group, which operates six hospitals in the Cairo area in Egypt. In May, Dr. Ezzeldin was at the helm when the group converted two of its facilities into Covid-19 treatment and isolation centers.
“The transition had to take place in a very short time frame and there was no room for error,” said Dr. Ezzeldin, who has been voted the No. 2 healthcare CEO in Institutional Investor’s 2020 Emerging EMEA Executive Team.
First place in the healthcare sector went to MLP Care chief executive Muharrem Usta, who leads Turkey’s largest healthcare provider. Usta said the safety of his staff was a top priority at MLP, which has 30 hospitals in 16 Turkish cities and has been involved in the treatment and diagnosis of patients with Covid-19, as well as public health messaging.
Both chief executives say the coronavirus has accelerated their companies’ digital transformations. Under the leadership of Dr. Ezzeldin, Cleopatra Hospitals has introduced new technologies to enhance back office and patient services. Patients can now take part in digital consultations using a proprietary app, as well as book home visits and diagnostic services – all without stepping foot in a clinic.
The digital transformation was already well underway in MLP hospitals when coronavirus hit, according to Usta. But the pandemic has expedited the testing of new services, especially remote access for patients who cannot go out due to lockdown. Now, MLP is looking forward to a new era of artificial intelligence in healthcare and aiming to launch a new AI center that, Usta said, will “take our clinical skills to a higher level.”
To determine the members of Institutional Investor’s 2020 Emerging EMEA Executive Team, we surveyed buy-side analysts, money managers and sell-side researchers at securities firms and financial institutions that cover the region, including those who cast and received votes in this year’s Emerging EMEA Research Team survey. Survey results reflect the opinions from 385 investment professionals at 240 financial services firms.
We asked the participants to rate the chief executive officers, chief financial officers and investor relations professionals at the companies in their coverage universes. CEOs were rated on their credibility, leadership and communication. CFOs were rated on their ability in capital allocation, financial stewardship and communication. For the Investor Relations programs, companies were rated on the following attributes: productivity of NDR/road shows/conferences; conference calls; business and market knowledge; responsiveness; authority and credibility; timing of financial disclosure; consistency of financial disclosure; and granularity of financial disclosure. Additionally, voters also rated each company on the quality of investor days and ESG metrics.
All votes are weighted by rating (five being excellent; one being average) and attributes within each category were aggregated to create the CEO, CFO, IR Professional, IR Program, ESG and Investor Day rankings. The overall rankings in each of the categories are based on combined buy- and sell-side votes. Separate rosters (buy side, sell side) are also available for each award classification.
Honored Companies are companies who achieved at least one published position. To earn the designation of Most Honored Company in the overall or small and mid-cap ranking, a company must achieve a weighted score of 12 or more points across the six categories in the combined, buy-side and sell-side rankings, wherein each first-place position is worth three points; second place, two; and third place, one.
To be eligible for inclusion on the 2020 Emerging EMEA Executive Team, a company must be headquartered or have operational or executive headquarters in the region. We keep confidential the identities of the survey respondents to ensure their continuing cooperation. Voters must meet eligibility requirements, and winners must achieve a minimum vote count. All ballots are subject to review by our Research Operations Group.