PAST EVENT SUMMARY 2011

2ND MIDDLE EAST BUSINESS LEADERS SUMMIT & AWARDS
17TH -18TH APRIL 2011
ARMANI HOTEL BURJ KHALIFA, DUBAI, UAE

This year’s event was once again organized by the Leaders Magazine International, with its new brand name to reflect the expected launch of the inaugural edition of the magazine on 17th April 2011. The event was managed by My Events International, a smart collaboration between this business magazine and a full-fledged international events management company based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The theme chosen this year was ‘Thriving Leadership and Sustainability of Business in The Middle East’. The event was conceptualized to recognize and highlight leaders and their achievements during the post-recession recovery era, after bracing through the economic turbulence that hit the global markets some 2 years ago. Key pointers were to being resilient and prudent while engaging trade and expanding into new markets globally.

Breaking from the previous year’s start off agenda, the organizers had decided to put forward the Gala Dinner & Awards presentation on Sunday, 17th April 2011 while the Leadership Summit was held on Monday, 18th April 2011. This change was gladly accepted by attendees whom felt that the second day should be business orientated.

The venue chosen this year was the prestigious Armani Hotel, the only one in the world, located at the Burj Khalifa, Dubai. This event was proudly marked as being the first by a Malaysian Event Management company to organize a Gala Dinner and Awards ceremony in the world’s tallest building. It placed the event’s status as being world class complemented with unique features and excellent facilities offered by the hotel.

For the advertising and publicity campaigns, the organizers engaged CommuniGate UAE, a professional PR company based in Dubai whom were responsible for all pre, during and post event activities in generating interest and creating larger awareness pool around the Gulf Region.

Logistical support was provided by ARTES, an events production company based in Dubai whom were engaged for all event related back of house activities, stage design and build up, sound and light systems, entertainment and conference logistics support activities.

Sponsors of this event were Future Pipe Industries, HSBC Middle East, NAZA World being the Gold Partners and strategic partners comprised of ICLIF, Return 2 Green, PNB, RAK Ceramics, QInvest, PTL Solar and Pharmaniaga. Supporting partners were AirAsia, Malaysia Airlines, The Consul General of Malaysia Office in Dubai, MIDA UAE, Tourism Malaysia and MATRADE UAE.

This year, the following organizations were approached for as supporting authorities and endorsement bodies of the event:

Federation of GCC Chambers, based in Dammam, Saudi Arabia – was appointed as the joint organizer of the event, providing logistical, vital contacts and database support to the organizer

Dubai Chamber, UAE – the establishment had consented to be to be endorsing body of the event. 
Malaysia Business Council, UAE – a non-profit Malaysian organization based in Abu Dhabi and Dubai supported the event in terms of business contacts and providing leads

Government of Dubai, Road Transport Authority (RTA, Dubai) – accorded their part as supporting agency of the event.

ZAWYA – was appointed as the official knowledge partner of the event. The organization carried out awareness campaigns and mass web based publicity all over the Gulf Region.

Khaleej Times – came in as the event’s official media partner, covering the pre, during and post event newspaper coverage.

The organizers had also engaged Dr. Tommy Weir, the leading international author, advisor and speaker on strategic leadership, to advise on the event’s contents and quality control. Dr. Weir was also included in the honorary panel of judges.

1. Pre-event sales & marketing activities

The following marketing activities were carried out prior to event commencement in line with the event’s core strategy of encouraging corporate companies around the Gulf Region, Malaysia and other parts of Asia to participate and submit their nominations.

		Total sales personnel whom had worked on this project were 05 persons leaded by a Senior Sales Manager.
		Target audience was corporate companies, high income status organizations and Governmental agencies.
		Obtaining and compiling of leads and potential nominees for the awards offered, total of 25 categories.
		Website design, maintenance and daily update of event’s latest news and happenings. This includes uploading of winner’s profile, sponsors and placement of logos and brand name.
		Sales missions to UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Egypt beginning February 2011 to create awareness of the event and subsequently market the product.
		Connecting with the relevant Malaysian Embassies and Consul General Offices around the Gulf Region to obtain the correct networking contacts for pitching of nominees and summit invitations.
		Advertisement and press releases carried out extensively in Gulf Countries targeted to the UAE, Bahrain and Qatar to promote the event and encourage delegation for the summit. This included pre-event interviews and write ups carried out in several newspapers, business magazines, TV stations and radio channels.
		A total of 280 companies were approached for nominations comprising of countries around the Gulf Region namely, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Syria, Lebanon, North Africa, Asia, the US , Europe , China and India.
		Sales and pitching was carried out through email blasts, one to one telephone calls, faxing and capitalizing leads given by contacts globally.

GALA AWARD DINNER

The highlight of the event was the Gala Award Dinner held on Sunday 17th April 2011 at the Armani Ballroom from 7.30pm till 10.30pm. The evening kicked off with a cocktail and networking session, serenaded by a violinist from Russia. The attendees comprised of invited guests, media members and VVIPs. The event recorded a total of 12 various newspaperand magazine reporters, 03 TV stations and 09 online media coverage personnel. CNBC Arabia and Dubai TV took the opportunity to interview some of the award winners and personalities.

The guests of honour were invitees from the UAE royalty, Dubai Government and UAE top government officials which included HH Sheikh Khalifa Bin Khadim, H.E Hisham Al Shirawi, H.E Dr Abdul Jarrar, H.E Dato Yahaya Abdul Jabar (Malaysia Ambassador to UAE) and the Group CEO of The Leaders Mr. Shahul Hameed Shaik Dawood.

A total of 230 guests attended the black tie ceremony which kicked off with speeches from Mr Shahul Hameed, H.E Abdulrahim Hassan Nazqi and H.E Hisham Al Shirawi.

The honorary panel of judges for the awards were honoured and mentioned:

Master of ceremony for the event was engaged from Malaysia and entertainment performances were slotted in during dinner and presentation ceremony intervals comprising of 2 piece Jazz Band, the Tanurah Dance sequence and 02 modern dance routines which added glitter and colour to the event.

The highlight of the Gala Dinner was the awards presentation ceremony and the award winners for the year 2011 are as follows:

AWARD WINNERS OF :

DAY 2 , LEADERSHIP SUMMIT, MONDAY 18TH APRIL 2011

Venue: Armani meeting room, Armani Hotel, Dubai, UAE.

The summit on day two gathered some 85 delegates and 15 speakers from 38 corporations and companies around 09 countries, namely the UAE, Bahrain, UK, the US, Malaysia, China, India, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Attendance for the summit was on invitation basis and confined to senior management and C-level delegates. The prime focus of the leadership summit was to address issues and share knowledge on business best practices, investment opportunities and networking build up among the business fraternity, while soliciting new contacts.

The summit opening took off at 9.15am with a brief remark by Mr. Norman Kumar, COO of the Leaders International and a special address by H.E Khadeem Al Saeed from Bahrain Chambers. In his address, H.E Khadeem Al Saeed urged the business community to forge closer relationship and leverage on each other’s strength in trade while propagating healthy business practices.

Dr. Tommy Weir, took the stage next to deliver his topic on Leadership Legacy and Challenges in the Middle East & Asia. Interestingly, Dr. Weir pointed out some critical issues faced by business leaders on grooming the next level of successors and ensuring continuity of legacies left behind. He used current real time issues and examples in his presentation and delegates participated in his active sessions and responded positively. A very well received session and relevant issues were raised during the Q&A session later on.

The first plenary session was participated by some prominent corporate leaders namely Mr. Nabil El Hage (USA) , Mr. Essa Abdulla Al Ghurair (UAE) and Dato Farshila Emran (Malaysia). The session was chaired by Dr. Tommy Weir.  The in depth discussion on Leadership Legacy was then continued with various seasoned leaders on stage talking about the challenges faced. This included elements of good corporate governance, strategic leadership and managing issues pertaining mergers of companies during a transitional leadership period. During the Q&A session, panelists were questioned on their advise and expertise on handling leadership issues in their organizations.

The summit was then continued with the 2nd discussion session titled GO INVEST! Increasing Global Investment Appetite – Strategic Gateways of Trade & Investment for the Middle East Investors. Invited panelists were Mr. Amin Mahmud (MIDA), Mr. Raza Jafar (ENSHAA), Mr. Vishnu Deuskar (SALVUS) and Mr. Jean Marc Paufique (ZAWYA). This interesting session was chaired by Mr. Tariq A Nizami (CEO Clubs UAE) and speakers were given an opportunity to highlight the business opportunities available in Malaysia, UAE, India and France. Focus was given to SUKUK trading and opening new gateways of trade in Asia and the Middle East. It also addressed the current political changes taking shape in the region which affects businesses and ways to address it effectively. Issues on investment challenges and chances were brought up during the Q&A session

Enabling SMI and SMEs to Go Global, was the 3rd and final topic of the summit discussed. Panelists were Prof P Ramaness and Dr. Ismail with Dato Hafsah Hashim, CEO SME Corp Malaysia chairing the session. In her address, Dato Hafsah emphasized on the importance of SMEs being recognized as the core drivers of any nation’s economy currently. She used models and success stories from Malaysia and other parts of Asia in her paper. Panel discussion later placed focused on SME development while educating future SME players to be involved and stay connected.

A special luncheon talk was organized this year and the topic Too Many Bosses Too Few Leaders was presented by Mr. Rajeev Peshawaria from ICLIF. Rajeev touched on various challenges faced by leaders in ensuring their skills and knowledge of running businesses remained relevant while they propagated policies and procedures. After the luncheon talk, Rajeev launched his own book on the same topic spoken and complimentary signed copies were given out to delegates. Attendees for lunch was 100 person.

CLOSING REMARKS