Dubai: KEL Hosts Talk on 'How to Manage Stress, Its Impact on Family, Business'

Media Release

Dubai, Jun 4: Kanara Entrepreneurs Ltd (KEL) conducted their third Information and Networking seminar of the year with a specific emphasis on business and family stress. The event was held at the India Club Dubai.

The speakers for the seminar were Vikas Thapar, general manager, business banking and consumer finance at Emirates NBD and Dr George J Kaliaden, a well-known psychologist based out of Dubai.
 
Thapar, who has had a number of years of experience in handling SME’s out of the UAE, focused on aspects of business/financial stress.

He started with the definition of financial stress: "A tight cash situation in which a business or individual cannot pay the owed amounts on the due date. If prolonged, this situation can force the owing entity into bankruptcy or forced liquidation."

"Causes of financial stress are both internal and external", he said. External situations such as economic and business cycles, political, industrial and inflation risks may not be within an individual’s control.

However, internal factors are within one’s control and usually result from greed and inadequate financial planning. Internal factors can cause businesses to over-leverage and invest in high resource costs, thereby eating into their margin. This would eventually lead to downward spiral in business performance, decline in profits and lower equity.

Thapar warned that complacency or inertia were main reasons why businessmen fail to identify simple signals. Some of these signals mentioned below, if identified early, can mitigate business stress. These signals are typically,

• Elongation of Working Capital Cycle
• Cash liquidity under strain
• Pressure on Profit margins
• Moderation of Demand

Businessmen whose businesses are under stress are usually in a state of denial, like an ostrich burying its head in the sand, hoping for the dangers to pass. There are numerous instances, if handled on time could lower the impact of the fall, as well as help the business to take off. Thapar gave tips on the following

• Ensure robust financial planning
• Maintain up-to-date financial records
• Balance the terms of expense with the terms of finance
• Diversify income streams
• Have a Modus Operandi to match the economic and business environment
• Scenario Analysis / stress Tests
   

The second session on personal stress was delivered by Dr George J Kaliaden, a consultant psychologist based in Dubai with over 20 years of experience in psychological consultation and therapy. He spoke on the various types and causes of psychological stress and the impact of such pressure on family and workplace.

Personal stress being a vast topic, Dr Kaliaden, in his typical style, delivered his subject within 30 minutes. He covered various areas such as the definition of stress, understanding the stress mechanism, identifying individual sources of stress, recognizing personal stress symptoms, practical stress management and learning of use stress to achieve goals.

The event was attended by about 75 Dubai-based businessmen and professionals from various backgrounds.

Shobha Mendonca, president of KEL opened the sessions, Charles D'Souza, director, events moderated the event and Dorothy Fernandes gave the vote of thanks which was followed by dinner.