Programme to explore a diverse range of topics through 12 creative hubs and corners, providing delegates with opportunities to meet, share, learn and be inspired
Dubai, 20 February 2016: Dubai Women Establishment and the Women’s Forum for the Economy & Society have announced ‘The Discovery’ programme for Global Women’s Forum Dubai, which will take place on 23-24 February 2016 at the Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai, under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai; and led by Her Highness Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, President of the UAE Gender Balance Council, President of Dubai Women Establishment and wife of HH Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, UAE.
The Discovery – the signature creativity space at the heart of Women’s Forum for the Economy & Society meetings, provides a unique opportunity for delegates to meet, share, learn and be inspired through interactive sessions and workshops which will build on the various topics explored throughout the main plenary sessions of the Forum.
The Discovery will feature 12 creative hubs and corners, including Happiness, Women and Science, Maison Guerlain, Entrepreneurship, Art and Culture, Social Impact, Energy, Women on Boards, Rising Talents, Women in Media, CEO Champions and the Scandinavian Delegation.
Over in the ‘Happiness’ hub, author, motivational speaker and lifestyle coach Jason Vale, aka the ‘Juice Master’, will be leading a session about the nutritional benefits of raw fruit and vegetable juices. Similarly, Seema Shetty, Founder and Managing Director of BiteRite, BRS Catering, Zari Zardozi, FoodWorld, Woodlands and Zari Spa will share some of the secrets she has learnt on the job and from her father and mentor, Dr. B.R. Shetty, to build a business empire dedicated to providing healthy solutions for eating and living well.
The Happiness Hub will also provide Global Women’s Forum Dubai participants with a place to unwind, with a focus on rest, relaxation and refreshment. Participants can try the Somadome, a personal meditation pod, and meet its inventor, Sara Attia, as well as discover a surprisingly simple one-minute DIY technique for relaxation, providing the de-stressing equivalent of a half-hour massage.
Aerospace will be another key theme throughout The Discovery sessions, kick-starting with a workshop about Airbus Little Engineer, an initiative which is specifically designed to inspire students in the MENA region to pursue careers in the aerospace industry, through instilling an appreciation of science, technology, mathematics and engineering among the grass roots talent of the region. The workshop will be hosted at the Women and Science hub.
The Women and Science hub will also host a session with Sarah Amiri, Emirates Mars Mission Science Team Leader at the Mohammad Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC), and Chairperson of the UAE Council of Scientists, a talk about why women matter in science, featuring speaker H.E. Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, President of the Republic of Mauritius, as well as interactive workshops with the Emirates Mars Mission Team. The workshops will provide delegates with a glimpse into how the Emirates Mars Mission team is preparing to head into space and what they’re planning to discover when they get there. The sessions will provide a walk-through from conceptualisation of the actual mission to the gathering and processing of the data necessary to unlock the mysteries of Mars.
In the ‘Maison Guerlain’ hub, participants can discover the art and process behind the creation of a bespoke perfume, or enjoy a makeover and emerge with a professional photo portrait. Maison Guerlain is the orchid-filled oasis at Global Women’s Forum Dubai, hosted by the venerable perfume and skincare house founded in Paris in 1828. During the ‘Haute Couture of Perfume’ session, Global Women’s Forum Dubai delegates can discuss the scents and sensibilities of perfume with Sylvaine Delacourte, Fragrance Evaluation & Development Director of Guerlain-Paris and the company’s first-ever female ‘nose’.
Building on the “Let’s Innovate!” theme of Global Women’s Forum Dubai, the ‘Entrepreneurship’ hub, which is led by the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards, will be hosting three key sessions throughout the two days. The first session will explore the challenges and opportunities of striking a work-life balance, whilst the second workshop will provide insights into the achievements of the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards, a business plan competition which supports and encourages businesses run by women entrepreneurs, over the past 10 years. The hub will also feature a session about ‘Creating Your Dream Team’, exploring cross-cultural management and the challenges of finding the right team to develop and support a business.
The ‘Art and Culture’ hub will provide Global Women’s Forum Dubai participants with an opportunity to unlock their creative potential to inspire innovation. Psychologists insist that colouring inside the lines can be therapeutic, allowing the brain to focus without succumbing to boredom or becoming bogged down in complexity. Participants at Global Women’s Forum Dubai can discover the mindful practice of colouring at the Forum, and pick up colouring books featuring illustrations by Emirati artist, Maryam Al Zaabi.
Participants can also interact with a stunning integrated art and technology mural which will innovatively push the boundaries of storytelling within a space. Using unique conductive ink, this specially-commissioned mural artwork by The Cultural Office of HH Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, allows each illustration to come alive upon touch with digital animations designed by Suzanne Mahfouz, a shortlisted artist of the Sheikha Manal Young Artist Award 2012. The ‘Art & Culture’ hub will also host performances by Sherif Moghazy, the premier handpan (hangdrum) player in the Arab World.
The first ‘Art and Culture’ talk will explore innovations in the field of art conservation, which have enabled museums to deploy new technologies to preserve the aspects of art and cultural heritage that are the building blocks of a society, whilst Hunter Lee Soik, the founder of ‘Shadow’, the world’s largest dream database, will be leading a session about the future of dreaming and the creative brain, explaining how a small idea has turned into a big movement and unlocked a new creative process while sleeping. Additionally, attendees can learn how to use simple drawing techniques and infographics to support innovation and creativity at work during a special workshop with Maja Rottboell, a renowned graphic facilitator from Denmark.
Shamsa Saleh, CEO of Dubai Women Establishment (DWE) said: “Drawing on the agenda streams of the event, The Discovery will be at the heart of Global Women’s Forum Dubai, with interactive sessions and activities built around ‘learning from the past, building in the present and growing for the future’. Global Women’s Forum Dubai participants will have unique opportunities to learn and participate in engaging conversations, as we showcase the UAE’s leading role in innovation and social development, and reiterate His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s message that innovation – which has always included empowered women – is part of our nation’s heritage.”
The ‘Social Impact’ hub, led by UAE telecom operator Du, will explore the potential for SROI (social return on investment); showcase a cloud-based app that’s helping children with autism; and host the inventor of pioneering, low-cost technology to diagnose and monitor eye disease.
The ‘Energy’ hub at Global Women’s Forum Dubai will be showcasing Al Saada, a new CSR initiative launched by Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA). This initiative aims to turn people’s kinetic and mechanical energy from exercise into electricity, with specially designed – and innovative – recreational equipment that anyone can use, including people with special needs and children of six years and older. Participants at Global Women’s Forum Dubai can also pedal bicycles to recharge their telephones, as well as attend sessions to learn how women are designing applications to help them reduce their household energy budget, and preview how tomorrow’s “smarter homes” will achieve greater energy efficiency.
The ‘Women on Boards’ hub, led by Dubai Holding, is the place where current and potential boardmembers share experience and best practice to support a more significant presence of women at the highest corporate levels. Participants at Global Women’s Forum Dubai will discuss how to achieve maximum effectiveness in the boardroom, and how to build a personal roadmap and action plan for effective board service.
The ‘Rising Talents’ hub, led by one of the UAE’s leading banks, FGB, will spotlight women of under 40 years of age, across all business sectors, who have demonstrated remarkable skills and courage in their professional and personal lives, acting as catalysts for change within their companies and communities. The Rising Talents initiative will recognise seven talented women from the GCC region, who will participate in a variety of activities and sessions during Global Women’s Forum Dubai, in addition to a pre-program workshop.
The ‘Women in Media’ initiative, now in its sixth year, aims to strengthen women’s voices and to promote their representation as experts and professionals in the media as a whole, whether traditional or digital. The exciting sessions scheduled during this special edition of Women in Media at Global Women’s Forum Dubai include “Empowering Arab women online” (with Twitter); media training workshops hosted by the official media organisation of the government of Dubai; “Connecting with CNN’s Becky Anderson”; and “Digital News: 2016 Predictions”. The Women in Media hub will also provide individual television, radio and social media coaching by teams of top reporters from Dubai Media Incorporated, France Médias Monde and Twitter.
The ‘CEO Champions’ initiative by the Women’s Forum for the Economy & Society serves as a platform for global leaders – both men and women – to gather to establish new and innovative ways to drive the corporate empowerment and advancement of women in the public and private sectors. These global leaders are pioneers of change who engage in fruitful discussions on the most pressing issues facing the global business community today. CEOs, senior executives and gender diversity experts in the private and public sectors will gather together at Global Women’s Forum Dubai, for the first-ever CEO Champions initiative in the MENA region. McKinsey & Company, as knowledge partner, is helping to lead the private CEO Champions working session with a study – The Power of Parity in the Workplace – and a report of the proceedings.
An official delegation of business and government leaders from Scandinavia will also be guests of honour in The Discovery at Global Women’s Forum Dubai.
Expected to attract more than 2,000 participants and 100 speakers and international delegates, Global Women’s Forum Dubai will bring together leaders from around the world – women and men – with the aim of considering new perspectives for today and tomorrow; creating a powerful, global network capable of boosting the influence of women throughout the world; conceiving innovative and concrete action plans to encourage women’s contribution to society; and promoting diversity in the business world.
Building on the theme “Let’s Innovate!”, Global Women’s Forum Dubai will explore what innovation really means in today’s technology-focused era. The event will address women’s sustainable role in this revolutionary world, with the aim of strengthening the influence of women globally, maximising their contribution to socio-economic development, and inspiring future generations of women to actively participate in nation-building. Global Women’s Forum Dubai will build on the theme of innovation through five key pillars, Achieving, Creating, Giving, Energising and Sustaining, addressing the sustainable role of women in innovation and building long-lasting networks designed to empower societies through women’s participation.
CEO Champions, a Women’s Forum for the Economy & Society initiative launched in 2010 to drive progress and accountability for women’s advancement in the private and public sectors, will also be part of Global Women’s Forum Dubai 2016, in addition to other key Women’s Forum initiatives such as Rising Talents, Women in Media, and the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards.
Global Women’s Forum Dubai is supported by local, regional and international organisations, including: Main Partner, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA); Platinum Partners: NMC, UAE Exchange, and Travel Ex; Strategic Partners, Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company Du and Dubai Holding; Leading Partner, Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards; Strategic Media Partner, Dubai Media Incorporated; Official Carrier, Emirates Airline; Exclusive Social Media Partner, Twitter; International Media Partners, CNN, International New York Times, France Media Monde and France Culture; Media Partners, Sky News Arabia and CNBC Arabia, Radio Partner, Arabian Radio Network; Official Car Partner, Audi (Al Nabooda Automobiles); Partner of the Rising Talents Initiative, FGB; Partner of CEO Champions, Mckinsey & Company; Support Partners, Thomson Reuters Foundation, The Dubai Mall, Emirates Transport and Uber; Official Destination Partner, Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) ; Outdoor Advertising Partner, Hills Advertising; Discovery Partners, Guerlain and Airbus Group; Technology Partner, Lenovo, and logistic partner, Aramex.
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