What keeps Malta’s CEOs awake at night?

Behind the boardroom confidence, CEOs are juggling competing demands. So, we asked five of Malta’s business leaders what keeps them up at night. Their candid answers reveal the tensions, trade-offs and frustrations influencing leadership in 2026 – from AI disruption and workforce strain to bureaucracy, cash flow and changing regulations.

Across Malta’s business landscape, pressure points are multiplying, and they rarely arrive one at a time. The country’s CEOs describe a constant balancing act: growth versus control, investment versus restraint, speed versus risk. In addition, artificial intelligence (AI) is accelerating change, but not always with clarity, and skilled people are essential, but harder than ever to retain.

Nevertheless, opportunity remains strong, including international expansion and research breakthroughs, such as quantum-secure communication. Yet the systems that should support progress often lag behind. Permits take too long, invoices go unpaid for months and immigration processes can feel hostile – effectively undermining the workforce the Maltese economy now relies on.

Despite these frustrations, many leaders return to the same counterpoint: appreciation for the people who keep adapting and delivering, even when the conditions make progress much harder than it should be.

In light of this, we asked Harald Roesch (CEO of Melita), Cenk Kahraman (CEO of Finance Incorporated Ltd), Dr James Cassar (Managing Director of 242 Group), Josef Said (Executive Director of Konnekt), and Alexander Chetcuti (CEO of Lift Services Ltd), what keeps them up at night.

Find out what they have to say as the interviews will be uploaded on MaltaCEOs.mt throughout the week.

This forms part of a feature first published on Malta CEOs 2026, the sister print brand to MaltaCEOs.mt, both owned by Content House.