Ruwaad CEO representing MEA region at prestigious Forbes Global CEO Conference this month

He will provide insight and thoughts on investments and real estate developments in the Middle East and Africa region.

Hayan Merchant, who is also Managing Director of the Dubai 9 Group, will speak alongside leading CEO's and Presidents who will be representing a range of diverse industries including banking and finance, real estate, energy and technology.

The esteemed annual conference - this year entitled 'Drivers of Success' - which invites high level CEO's and key business leaders from around the globe will this year be held in Singapore, and will act as a forum for senior business decision makers to meet and discuss new challenges going forward in the global economy.

As head of Ruwaad - a company whose mission is to create iconic destinations around the world - Merchant recently signed on a prominent $2.5 billion dollar deal with US giant - Paramount, in a long-term partnership that will create the region's first Paramount Pictures-branded multi-purpose destination. The planned development will incorporate boutique hotels and resorts, large themed retail areas, attractions and adjoining lifestyle properties based around the vast Paramount Pictures' intellectual property library.

The selection and invitation to the conference for representing the Middle East and Africa region is a testament to the young entrepreneur's astute business acumen and achievements in the UAE's investment and development sector.

Merchant will be addressing a niche audience of the top decision makers in the world, and his focus will be "Global real estate: the new location for investment". Merchant will draw on his business knowledge and experience to demonstrate the UAE and the Gulf region as a strategic location for real estate, hospitality and tourism investment and development.

Major global real estate players will join Merchant in the conference including Kwek Leng Beng - Executive Chairman of the USD 20 Billion Empire of the Hong Leong Group; Lawrence Ho, Chairman and CEO of Melco International Development, Hong Kong; and Kushal Pal Singh - Chairman of DLF India - the largest real estate company in India.

"It is an honor to be invited to this influential conference, not just as an ambassador for Ruwaad, but as an ambassador for the Middle East and Africa region as a whole. The opportunity to interact with so many important and accomplished global business leaders and to communicate the strong fundamentals of our regional economies, will help in further creating awareness of the strong investment and business opportunities available in the region," Merchant said

As the only delegate invited from the Middle East property sector, Merchant will be discussing what's behind the trend of investors looking to put their money into bricks and mortar, and which prime geographical locations are worth investors taking a look at - in discussions which are likely to point to the huge potential for development and investment in the Middle East and Africa region.

Merchant, who has an accolade as one of the youngest, most prominent CEO's in the Gulf region has pioneered and structured a number of strategic partnerships in various industries, in his capacity as Managing Director of the Dubai 9 Group. The Group is a stakeholder and one of three founding members of Enshaa Holdings, a premier property development holding company which is developing, among other destinations, the Palazzo Versace Resort Development in Dubai and the Palazzo Versace Resort on Australia's Gold Coast through Emirates International Holdings, and Emirates Sunland.

Other key speakers at the event include the Honorable Prime Minister of Malaysia; Michael Spence - the 2001 Nobel laureate in economics; John Mullen - Global CEO of DHL and Sheldon G. Adelson - Chairman of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation.