| Kippreport.com

Nemir Kirdar

March 29, 2009 12:58 by Dana El Baltaji

Nemir Kirdar is the founder and CEO of Investcorp, the first Arab-owned global investment group.

In a recent interview with Arabian Business, Kirdar commented on the economic recession saying: “We are facing the worst global recession in living memory… to put the situation into context, the past six months have seen an unprecedented downturn across virtually all asset classes.”

He went on to explain that people cannot simply throw money at the problem and hope it goes away. There must be ‘smart’ spending such as “investment in the development of human capital to build a skilled workforce, competent management and distinguished business leaders,” he said.

At the end of 2008, Investcorp announced that it would be laying off 60 employees due to the financial crisis. However, despite the economic slowdown, Investcorp still has $13 billion invested assets.