With global women leaders and delegations from around the world, Dubai saw the start of the annual Global Women Leaders’ Conference on the International Women's Day, on March 8^th, at the Burj Al Arab Hotel. The Conference organized by Datamatix focuses very precisely on women empowerment through leadership development, entrepreneurship, knowledge management and capacity building, to effectively enable women to face the emerging challenges in an era of modern management, globally interlinked society, and integrated economy.

The Event began with Mr. Ali Al Kamali, Managing Director, Datamatix, welcoming the delegates and speaking on Datamatix’s commitment to uphold the mission of creating strong relationships amongst the global communities, through knowledge and best practices sharing. Ms. Eman Bu-Rashid, CEO, Keynotes Consultants & OnePointSix, spoke on internal and external brand building as women leaders, while Ms. Rfah Alyami, Institute of Education, University of Reading, United Kingdom, spoke on the educational scenario, especially pertaining to women in Saudi Arabia.

Ms. Suaad Sultan Al-Shamsi, an Aviation Management and Aerospace Engineering professional and leader spoke on the opportunities for women in the industry, and Ms. Shireen N. Chaya, Instructor at the College of Business Administration, American University of the Emirates, spoke on her research experience pertaining to women in management. Ms. Rana A. Al-Nibari, CEO INJAZ-Kuwait, shared her thoughts on women empowerment in the Middle East, which was followed by presentations on related areas by Ms. Mariam Maz Hakim, Presenter, Virgin Radio, Arabian Radio Network (ARN) and Ms. Asma Shabab, Territory Marketing Leader, Enterprise and Mid-Market, IBM Middle East.

The Conference, which would come to an end on March 9^th, would have the Middle East Excellence Awards Institute, recognizing and honoring notable achievements of global women leaders with the 16th Middle East Women Leaders Excellence Awards.  The objective of the award is to highlight and honor women leadership and celebrate their achievements, experience, and creativity in leading institutions. The 23 categories of the Award are specifically formulated to applaud the path-breaking leaders in various fields of government and business organizations for their outstanding contribution towards the development of regional competitiveness.

In a statement Mr. Kamali said that the Conference is a very big success this year too, like the past 19 years, and would continue contributing immensely towards reinforcing the stature of women in the society, promoting the rise of an increasing number of women leaders and decision makers in the region.