As we in the GCC navigate yet another political and security crisis, founders, CEOs and investors need a blunt reminder: cash is the only real buffer.
Liquidity trumps everything. It gives you the confidence to keep building without panic, without knee-jerk decisions, and without sacrificing the people and capabilities you have spent years assembling.
When you have liquidity, you stay focused on products, on clients, on execution – not on firefighting. And when you are scaling, liquidity is what allows you to keep serving customers with discipline and attention even when the world outside is shaking.
I learnt this the hard way, and many times over. During my years running Aramex, I felt most secure in a crisis when we had cash. And we went through plenty: from the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s and regional shocks to the 2009 financial crisis.
Every time, the pattern was the same. When we had liquidity, we performed well; we found solutions to our clients’ challenges during the crisis, we gained market share and we emerged stronger the day after.
