The 2021 Top 25 Consultants: Fadi Farra

View Fadi Farra's interview with Consulting magazine here.

Fadi Farra is the Founder, Director & Partner at Whiteshield Partners with more than 20 years of experience in strategy consulting and policy advisory globally, including industrial and innovation policies, micro-economics, private sector development and competitiveness policies.

Fadi Farra is also an academic and senior lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government since 2009. Prior to founding Whiteshield Partners, Fadi was Head of Unit at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris working on a broad range of economic and public policy topics. As a trained economist, he had joined the OECD after a career in strategy consulting with the Boston Consulting Group and AT Kearney in New York and London. As founder of Whiteshield Partners, Fadi Farra was awarded the 2019 Global Leaders in Consulting Award with Excellence in Innovation by Consulting Magazine.

Fadi chaired the Global Agenda Council on the Future of Manufacturing Council of the World Economic Forum and is a regular commentator in global media.

Whiteshield Partners now serves more than 20 governments globally at the highest levels of authority. For example, Whiteshield developed an algorithm that helped many governments address the Covid crisis linking health, economy and social impact with live data. Fadi and his team have also had a direct impact on global trade growth based on the innovative concept of the World Logistics Passport that is transforming trade and impacting trade with an impact of 2-3% globally, working with more than 25 countries across the planet.

What does winning this award mean to you?

"A global recognition that Whiteshield investment in innovation, R&D and disruptive thinking has helped position us as a thought leader in the industry. This is first and foremost recognition to our staff and clients that help turn those new ideas into reality every day ultimately helping people have a better life."

What's been the biggest factor in your success?

"Innovation – always pushing the boundaries to rethink from scratch any pre-conceived assumption, putting behind it the R&D means to support it with facts and above all having the courage disruptive ideas against the tide. This thinking is now being codified in a new book called 'Quantum governance' that puts the citizen back at the center of public policy with a new set of public accounts that put the human at its center."

"… and 'connecting the dots', specifically developing with our team of economists and data scientists' innovative algorithms that can help policymakers see the 'whole of country' big picture to find sustainable solutions."

What has motivated you to excel over the course of your career?

"Having a wide and positive impact on the life of people and building a firm geared to support this purpose in an efficient and innovative way."

"For example, we have been working with many policymakers over the past 2 years to help them face the covid 19 challenge with a unique and innovative algorithm that could anticipate covid impact on society, in effect saving lives. This was a very proud moment in moments of despair."

"Equally, re-igniting global trade by applying a Nash equilibrium in the form of a loyalty program encouraging countries to work and not compete with each other to grow trade, jobs and prosperity – The World Logistics Passport

"Life is short, using my experience and learning to make it a better place has always been my inner driver."