Future promising for Arab women, says 'Leaders in Dubai' corporate ambassador

Speaking after her appointment as a corporate ambassador for the ground breaking 'Leaders in Dubai' event, which will be staged at the Dubai International Convention Centre from 29-30 November, Al Anjari said family support is vital to Arab women leading successful professional lives.

"Building a leader begins at home and the family must believe in the ability of women to be successful," said Al Anjari. "Arab women no longer have to fight to reach their goals, but are supported to reach them.

"Education is the key to future success and now, especially in Kuwait, women are encouraged to further themselves - the country has stopped distinguishing between men and women and those who hold the highest leadership positions do so on merit."

A member of the Women's Affairs Committee and Women's Cultural Social Society in Kuwait, Al Anjari recently acted as Project Director on the Kuwait Tourism Master Plan, formulated under the supervision of the World Tourism Organisation and the United Nations Development Programme. With her appointment as a corporate ambassador for 'Leaders In Dubai' - the first women to take up the role - Al Anjari joins some of Arabia's biggest business names including, Bharat Jashanmal, Managing Director of leading retailing house, Jashanmal Group; Khamis Al Muqla, Chairman and Managing Director of Gulf Saatchi & Saatchi and founder of Gulf Hill & Knowlton; Lebanese businessman Jacques J Sarraf, the former head of Lebanon's Association of Industrialists and Chairman of the country's giant Malia Group and Saudi industrialist, Abdulla Al Zamil, COO of Saudi Arabia's Zamil Industrial Investment Company.

"Nabila's appointment is a reflection of the changing Middle East corporate scene which now increasingly sees women taking up key governmental and boardroom positions," said Jessica Sutherland, General Manager, IIR Exhibitions & Conferences, owners of LEADING MINDS, which is organising 'Leaders In Dubai'.

"The corporate ambassador programme was initiated at the request of our keynote speakers who wanted a group of the region's most recognised and contemporary business leaders to be their VIP guests at the event to network ideas for future regional leadership development. The fact that they will now hear from a female perspective is a necessary element in the development of the ambassadorial role.
"In her role as Project Director of the Kuwait Tourism Master Plan, Nabila helped formulate a strategy to bring Kuwait's tourism industry to the fore through close cooperation between the public and private sectors. Her appointment as corporate ambassador recognises her role in this ambitious plan."

'Leaders in Dubai' will see seven of the world's premier speakers on leadership address an expected audience of 1,500 of the region's top business executives. The speakers are: former Mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani; Harvard Business School Professor, Michael Porter; Tom Peters, the Ur-guru of management; best-selling author Frank Maguire; MIT's Professor of Management and Economics, Lester Thurow; influential futurists, Alvin Toffler and former GE Chairman and CEO, Jack Welch, who will address the audience via a live satellite link.

"With five months to go before the event, almost half the seats have already been sold," said Sutherland. "We are on course for a sell out event."