Forbes Middle East Women’s Summit 2023

The Forbes Middle East Women’s Summit 2023 in Riyadh saw over 500 delegates, speakers, and VIPs gather to network and debate the most pressing topics affecting their lives and businesses, as well as share their motivational to build confidence, inspire others, and support empowerment.

The ground-breaking summit— chaired by H.H. Princess Noura Bint Faisal Al Saud—delivered a series of expert programming from women across all sectors and walks of life. Introducing the event on day two, Editor-in-Chief and CEO of Forbes Middle East, Khuloud Al Omian, said, “Everything in our life is a kind of story, and we are just storytellers. I believe that the story we are creating here is about sharing our knowledge, passion, love, care, ideas, solutions, and more. Remember, we are stronger together.”

H.H. Princess Noura Bint Faisal Al Saud, Founder of Saudi Fashion Week, spoke about the importance of alignment and cooperation, saying, “Our common aim is to get to know each other better in order to seek alignments and maybe work together for common goals.”

Day One: Setting The Scene

The summit launched with Historical Diriyah providing the backdrop for a picturesque sunset reception and an exclusive guided tour at the Al-Turaif

UNESCO World Heritage Site. The evening culminated in an exclusive dinner held in front of Salwa Palace, where speakers and partners converged against the setting sun.

Day Two: Embracing Empowerment

On day two, Yusra Mardini began by telling her story of how she became an Olympic swimmer, having arrived in Europe as a refugee from Syria in 2015. “People are still crossing and making horrific journeys, just for a chance of a better life,” she said, crediting sport with focusing her on her future. “Sport made me who I am today, and education helped.”

Founder of Bukhash Brothers Co, Anas Bukhash, spoke of his personal journey and how he began studying something he didn’t like before going into the corporate world. “There’s nothing wrong in exploring as it teaches us what we don’t like,” he said. “Focus on what you do for a living that doesn’t feel like a job. We need to wake up happy.”

Group COO at PureHealth, Shaista Asif, talked about how technology is completely changing the healthcare industry and our lifespan potential. “Technology is as important as oxygen in our survival in the future,” she explained. “AI will be the real intelligence.”

When discussing how to leverage initiative and intuition to overcome challenges, SVP & Group Country Manager for the GCC at Visa, Dr. Saeeda Jaffar, the Founder of Augmento.com, Wesley Pabis, the Creator of Partnerships Lead for MEA and Turkey at Meta, Moon Baz, and CIB Board Member and Head of the Sustainability Committee, Hoda Mansour, talked through their own journeys to success. “Nothing comes by luck; you put in the hard work,” said Mansour. Jaffar explained how Visa is encouraging young leaders, saying, “We try to provide solutions to businesses to be able to accept payments, the second thing is education and awareness, and the third is driving and creating the ecosystem.” Pabis worked in construction before setting up his own business. “For women, there are so many more possibilities in the tech space now. Women are thriving,” he said, crediting the importance of EI. “You’re laying the ground for future leaders. This comes with challenges that make you make tough decisions sometimes,” shared Baz. “It’s about finding the balance. You need to prioritize what you need at that time.”

When discussing how transformational leadership is vital to sustaining a family business with CNBC’s Hadley Gamble, the Chairperson of ITICS at Mohsin Haider Darwish, Lujaina Mohsin Darwish, shared how her father had prepared his daughters to take over his legacy. “We thought, how can we make our father not miss a son?” she explained. “The way he mentored us, the way he made us understand that climbing the ladder is not easy. Now we are training the new generation.” Director and Owner of Al Faris International School, Sahar Hamad Al Marzouki, said, “One of our jobs is to make leaders of the future. We need to speak their language.” She explained that the new generation needs a new way of thinking from educators. “We have to know how to teach these kids in the right way for them.”

Vice President for EEMEA at Allergan Aesthetics, Agnes Lim, spoke about the evolution of the industry: “In the past, aesthetics was about vanity, about superficiality; I think this has changed,” she said. “Today, we think about ensuring confidence and emotional well-being.”

CEO of Cenomi Centers, Alison Rehill-Erguven, also spoke about female empowerment. “By the time you’re into your 30s and 40s, if you’ve chosen the path of getting married and having children, we lose a huge number of women from the workplace,” she explained. She’s exploring how to stop this loss of talent. “If we can remove some stress and provide flexibility, I think we can keep women in the workplace for longer.”

Director of Biomolecular Restoration, Nutrition & Lifestyle at The Küsnacht Practice, Dr. Antoinette Sarasin Gianduzzo, talked the crowd through the practice of reverse aging. “If you can prevent the disease of diabetes, you can prevent the disease of aging,” she insisted. “We need to look into testing what is the key process individually of aging. [We can create] a tailored, personalized, reserve-aging program.”

Presenting a workshop on fashion empowerment, Celebrity Stylist and Owner of #StyledByCed, Cedric Haddad, was joined on stage by models wearing classic business styles with a new flair, as well as new designs by top designers. He talked through how making certain fashion choices can change your sense of confidence and comfort.

Founder and Chairwoman of the Apparel Group, Sima Ganwani Ved, talked about how the company had accelerated its ecommerce business during the pandemic. “What would have taken us three years, we did in three intense months,” said Ved. She then went on to talk about gender bias. “In order for us to change the rules without leaving the arena, I believe we need to focus on empowerment, mentorship, and support.”

Discussing creative entrepreneurship, Her Highness Princess Loulwa Bint

Yazeed Al Saud, Founder of +966, emphasized how Saudi is providing for young leaders and revealed that one of her biggest challenges was her age. “I started when I was 18. People have always underestimated me,” she shared. “They would judge the book by the cover. However, I turned it into an opportunity.”

Founder of Kayali Fragrances, Mona Kattan, and Activist and Fashion Model, Halima Aden, explored championing representation in beauty with moderator UNDP Goodwill Ambassador Muna Abu Sulayman. When talking about cofounding and scaling Huda Beauty, Kattan said, “Being born into a world where social media was present really helped. If we’d created [Huda Beauty] 20 years ago, I don’t think we could have done it so fast.” She feels the pandemic helped her own fragrance brand. “We launched in 2018, but covid definitely helped it grow because people really wanted to change how they felt in their own homes,” she shared. Aden also told her story as a pioneering Hijab-wearing model. “If you want to do fashion, you need to be strong and know exactly who you are,” she emphasized.

Revealing how she overcame adversity to reach the big screen, Actress Maguy Abu Ghosn, said, “People told me no, but I achieved everything I wanted to do.” Talking through her story, she inspired the crowd to follow their dreams, insisting, “No one has the right to decide on our behalf. Only god can tell us if you can or can’t.”

CMO at The Diriyah Company, Kiran Haslam, and CEO of Kerten Hospitality, Marloes Knippenberg, debated the repackaging of the future of Saudi’s tourism and hospitality industries with moderator, Online Editor at Forbes Middle East, Samar Khouri. “The energy in Riyadh is palpable,” said Haslam. “You know great things are going to happen. The secret is to understand that it’s going to have an effect on the rest of the world.” Knippenberg agreed and highlighted how Kerten Hospitality was playing its part, saying, “As a firm supporter of Saudi Arabia’s 2030 vision, we are fully committed to playing an active and crucial role in its realization.”

Unraveling the myths of the entertainment industry, Actress Meryem Uzerli spoke to Actress and TV Host Mahira Abdel Aziz. “I was shooting a show day and night; it looks a lot easier from the outside than the inside,” said Uzerli. “After three years, I decided to leave. In my 20s, I was so much after pleasing people. I was over my limits for so long.” She revealed that she had to learn what her boundaries were. “It’s ok to say no; we are often so scared to say no.”

CEO of Jamjoon Pharma, Tarek Youssef Hosni, spoke about empowerment and engagement in the pharma industry with moderator, International Presenter Sally Moussa, saying, “I don’t think about if it’s a woman or a man when I think about whom to give a role to.”

Explaining her take on why women are the ultimate multi-taskers, Actress & TV Host Mahira Abdel Aziz asked the question, “Is how we benchmark ourselves based on what men do?” She talked about how to break the glass ceiling by embracing the achievements and capabilities of women. “We need to start unlearning all the beliefs passed on to us by society. We need to ditch the ‘Good Girl Syndrome.’”

TV Presenter and Actress Nour Al Ghandour, Opera Singer and Vocal Coach Sawsan Albahiti, and Cofounder of HuManagement, Hady Hajjar, debated with Senior TV Presenter at the MBC Group Sara Murad about how entertainers can build credibility to go global. “Success is hard, but sustainability is harder,” said Albahiti. Al Ghandour pointed out that being open to external forces is key, saying, “There’s nothing better than being authentic and happy with yourself, accepting your vices, and not allowing anyone to underestimate you.” Hajjar agreed, saying, “Stability and consistency are the challenges.”

Partner at Bain and Company, AnneLaure Malauzat, explored advancing gender equity in the Middle East workforce with International Presenter Sally Moussa. She went through data that found that gender biases are impeding women from advancing in their careers. “We have proof from the GCC that organizations have more productivity if women are on the team,” said Malauzat.

General Manager at Microsoft Qatar, Lana Khalaf, and TV Presenter at MBC and MTV, Annabella Hilal, looked into strategies for achieving gender equality and promoting diversity and inclusion with Global Keynote Speaker & Founder of Humanizing Brands, Mariam Farag. “When I wanted to start programming, everyone told me no, you should be in sales because of how you look and talk,” revealed Khalaf. Hilal also experienced similar biases. “I was sometimes judged for my looks; people thought it was easy for me because of how I looked,” she shared. “This is not true at all; I have worked very hard.”

Day Three: Positivity & Confidence

Day three kicked off with Managing Director of Sales & Development at DAMAC Properties, Amira Sajwani, and CEO at TAQA Arabia, Pakinam

Kafafi, debating how women contribute to sustainable and transformative change with CIB Board Member and Head of the Sustainability Committee, Hoda Mansour. “Working in male-dominated industries is quite different,” noted Mansour. “Energy was always a male-dominated industry, which is now changing a lot,” agreed Kafafi. “You cannot live without energy. For me, it was passion. Every day you have something new.” Sajwani explained how she was taking a different angle on real estate. “I just launched my prop-tech, and it focuses on digitizing the journey of an individual as well as a broker,” she described. “Tech is coming across all industries.”

Vice President of the Gürok Group, Esin Güral Argat, gave her insights on gender equality and how women are changing the game in non-traditional industries and hospitality. “Prejudice continues to create roadblocks in girls’ lives,” she said. “Our priority as leaders should be to enable women to play an active role in the digital world.”

Founder and Creative Director at SB Creations, Selma Benomar, and CEO of Basil Soda Fashion House, Denise Soda, spoke to Senior Presenter at Forbes Middle East, Nancy Bahmad, about style, confidence, and authenticity, describing with emotion where they found their inspiration. “Without love, you cannot do anything. I had a goal, and I had to reach it. I have passion,” said Soda, as she revealed how deeply her late husband had supported and influenced her. “We have a lot of mentors; my first was my mother,” said Benomar as she described her own journey. “It was hard to leave a successful career to start something from scratch.”

Presenting a workshop on trading, Founder and CEO of VI Markets, Talal Al Ajmi, shared with the crowd how the industry is attracting and opening up to women. “In 2015, there were very few female traders; now, more than 40% of traders are women,” he explained. “We have to be keen to deliver the right information.”

Vice President at Ignition Kuwait, Lama Al Oraiman, and astronaut and

CEO of the Deep Space Initiative, Sara Sabry, shared their unique take on progress towards sending Arabs into space with Senior Presenter Lubna Abdulaziz. Sabry, who arrived on stage in her astronaut suit, described how it felt to find out she had been selected to travel to space. “When I heard the news, I was so shocked. The period after that, I felt like I was telling the story of someone else,” she shared. However, she soon became prepared. “I had a lot of psychological training, so when it happened, instead of being anxious, I felt excited,” she added. Oraiman spoke about how far the Arab world has come to make a mark on international progress in space exploration. “We have to understand how important the role of space is,” she stressed. “In the Arab world, we have launched into space, and now we are more developed.”

Founder of Etijah Coaching and Consulting, Dina Shabib, and the Founder of Smartista, Amnah Yaqoub, explored strategies for entrepreneurs to build resilience, perseverance, and success with Visa’s Ali Bailoun. “As an entrepreneur with limited knowledge of planning and coding for a tech startup, it was challenging to build a team, especially hiring remotely,” said Yaqoub as she recalled her entrepreneurial journey. “There’s a lot of challenges we face as women when we enter the workplace. There are challenges all the time,” said Shabib. “I don’t take them as big challenges very much anymore.”

Lighting the way for female founders, the Founder of JRN Consultancy, Ruwaida Abela Northern, Cofounder and Partner at TRACCS, Sara Al Ayed, and the Founder and CEO of IAM Entertainment, Sonal Vara-Parmar, spoke to the CEO of Sparkle Media Services, Manar El Amin. “I think the media has distorted what we can and cannot do. You cannot achieve everything in one day,” stressed Al Ayed. “You set the pace. Women supporting each other; women supporting women’sbusinesses. Let’s really come together and rally together.” Northern agreed that women need more balance and realistic goals. “I think we need to change what we perceive as a hard worker. We need to try to change what we can achieve. It’s unrealistic to think we need to be chained to our desk nine to five to achieve these tasks,” she explained. Vara-Parmer agreed, saying, “It’s about being adaptive and changing with what’s happening globally. The pandemic taught us how to pivot. I believe in working smarter and not harder.”

Guinness World Record Holder, Athlete, and Fitness/Life Coach, Dareen Barbar, inspired the crowd by telling her story of how she found purpose after losing one of her legs and found the strength to pursue her dreams and exceed all expectations. “I thought that my disability was ugly and painful, and to cover it. But I reset my mind by identifying the limiting beliefs that were stopping me. I replaced the ‘I can’t’ with ‘I can’ through practice and effort,” she emphasized to the enthralled audience before receiving a standing ovation. “View failures and setbacks as opportunities for learning and growth. The best version of yourself is there, ready to be discovered, and when you discover it, how awesome the change will be. Do not allow society to categorize you.”

Group Chief Commercial Officer at Shahid MBC Group, Natasha Matos-Hemingway, discussed women’s leadership and the rise of streaming platforms in MENA with Senior Producer and Presenter at Forbes Middle East, Ramia Farrage, acknowledging that being a thriving female leader in a booming industry is not easy, but is very rewarding. “Being the number one streamer in the MENA region, we don’t say that lightly; it does come with a strong responsibility,” she mused.

Founder of Dao Derma, Sham Zhabi, told the room, “Beauty to me comes from within truly beautiful, authentic and original people no matter what their proportions are. To me, working along with standards was not part of my protocol. I wanted to change that,” as she talked about embracing inner beauty and rejecting plastic surgery pressures.

As she told her story about pivoting from banking to education, Director & Owner of the Al Faris International School, Sahar Hamad Al Marzouki, told Senior Producer & Presenter at

Forbes Middle East Ramia Farrage that she used every challenge and doubt as inspiration to forge a new path. “It was a challenge every day. Every day they punched me, I bounced stronger. These punches made me think. I wanted to create thinking; I wanted an interesting education. We are facilitators,” she emphasized.

Renowned beauty icon and Founder of Kayali Fragrances, Mona Kattan, presented a masterclass on looking and feeling empowered. She shared a selection of tips and affirmations for finding confidence and happiness in yourself, saying, “Confidence is not given; it’s built just like anything. It’s a muscle you have to strengthen continuously. The more you believe in yourself, the more comfortable you are celebrating everyone. Everyone is on their own path.”

As they explored the junction between fashion and luxury auto, Fashion designer Razan Alazzouni and

Bespoke Lead Designer at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, Michelle Lusby, described to the Founder of Humanizing Brands, Mariam Farag, how they begin creating a new piece of art. “I start with embroidery when I find a subject or emotion,” said Alazzouni. “My mum used to love to dress up. I feel that it’s very important to have your personality reflected in your style.” For Lusby, it all starts with a conversation. “I start with colors, where they are from, and their favorite place. We’re not talking about a car, we’re talking about a piece of art,” she explained. “In the Middle East, it’s really an expression of who you are. More women are coming into the private office at Goodwood and Dubai.”

Miss Universe Bahrain 2022, Evlin Khalifa, and Miss Lebanon 2022, Yasmina Zaytoun, spoke to Content Producer at Forbes Middle East, Jayda Shoukry, about how where they find purpose in winning their crowns.

“Miss Lebanon is one of the most important stations but not the final destination. It’s the bridge to reach my goals, my personal, humanitarian, and professional level,” said Zaytoun. Khalifa echoed her sentiments. “It is not just a beauty competition, it’s a platform where women stand for their rights,” she insisted. “The competition is about our focus and beliefs. It needs strength and power and confidence in yourself as well.”

In the last session of the day and the summit, Regional Director at UN Women Arab States, Susanne Mikhail, delved into surging women’s employment in the Arab world. “The reality is that many women all over the world, including the Arab states, don’t have an enabling environment,” she shared. “We have a large-scale program together with 22 Arab states to increase women’s participation in the labor force by 5% in a relatively short period of time.”

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“Who cannot give good counsel? ’Tis cheap, and it costs them nothing.”

—Robert Burton

“While I made my living as a coach, I have lived my life to mentor, and to be mentored.”

—John Wooden

“We all have a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be.”

—Jane Austen

“Advice is seldom welcome, and those who want it the most always like it the least.”

—Lord Chesterfield

“The recommendation when I’m mentoring folks—I always tell them, take a risk.”

—Ginni Rometty

“I have lived some 30 years on this planet, and I have yet to hear the first syllable of valuable or even earnest advice from my seniors.”

—Henry David Thoreau

“The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image but giving them the opportunity to create themselves.”

—Steven Spielberg