The Board of Directors of the Dubai Women’s Foundation convened for its third meeting of 2025, led by Mona Ghanem Al Marri, Chairwoman and Managing Director. The session reviewed the foundation’s significant achievements in the third quarter of this year and discussed upcoming initiatives that continue to support women in various fields.
Mona Al Marri emphasized that the numerous programs organized and planned by the Dubai Women’s Foundation this year, under the guidance of Her Highness Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairwoman of the Foundation, demonstrate a strong commitment to bolstering the country’s efforts in enhancing women’s impactful participation in numerous development paths through supportive policies, legislations, and exchange programs.
She also highlighted the foundation’s focus on developing leadership programs that are flexible and capable of adapting to the rapidly changing demands of the job market and addressing future challenges.
Mona Al Marri appreciated the directives from Her Highness Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to broaden access to these advanced programs to benefit as many promising female leaders as possible across governmental, private, and semi-governmental sectors, thus helping to capitalize on leadership opportunities available to women in all fields.
This effort reflects our visionary leadership’s forward-thinking approach to establishing a global model for sustainable development based on diversity and equal opportunities.
She noted that the past months were marked by the launch of quality initiatives and the implementation of programs and workshops aimed at enhancing mental health and leadership skills for Emirati women. The successful organization of the Emirates Women Forum on August 28 has set new operational standards in the foundation’s journey, reinforcing its support for women and highlighting their successes across various sectors.
Board members present at the meeting included Hala Badri, Director General of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, who serves as Vice Chairwoman of the Foundation; Huda Al Hashimi, Assistant Minister of Cabinet Affairs for Strategy; Moza Saeed Al Marri, Executive Director of the Executive Affairs Sector at the Roads and Transport Authority in Dubai; and Khawla Rashid Al Mehairi, Executive Vice President for Strategy and Government Communication at the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority.
Also present were Huda Issa Bouhamid, CEO of Marketing at Dubai Holding; Khadija Al Bastaki, Senior Vice President at Tecom Group – Dubai Design District; Faheema Abdul Razzaq Al Bastaki, former CEO of the Business Development Sector in local financial markets; and Naima Ahli, Executive Director of the Dubai Women’s Foundation.
Naima Ahli, a Board member and Executive Director of the Dubai Women’s Foundation, presented an overview during the meeting of the key initiatives and programs carried out in the past period, including the first session of the Emirates Women Forum.
Coinciding with the 10th anniversary of the celebration of “Emirati Women’s Day,” the forum brought together numerous officials, experts, academics, and over 700 executive leaders from government, semi-governmental, and private sectors, featuring 10 panel discussions led by ministers, officials, and inspiring leaders.
The presentation also addressed the organization of the “SheLeads” program for future female leaders, in collaboration with Hult International Business School in the UK. This initiative included 26 Emirati women in mid-management from 13 government and semi-government entities, aimed at building future leaders ready to effectively contribute to development efforts across various sectors and enhance Dubai’s and the UAE’s global competitiveness.
The foundation continued to organize several events and workshops as part of the “Empowerment Plus” program, which involves 19 chairwomen of women’s committees from governmental and semi-governmental bodies in Dubai for a full year, designed to enhance their analytical thinking and decision-making skills while providing them with effective leadership tools. This included a workshop on artificial intelligence in collaboration with London Business School and training activities for participants in cooperation with Sole Art Center.
Naima Ahli mentioned that this program, launched last June, encompasses multiple workshops, interactive sessions, and educational courses in leadership, artificial intelligence, mental health, meetings with officials and inspiring leaders, among other activities that enhance communication skills in professional and social settings within and outside the country.
Future Projects
Board members reviewed future initiatives and programs outlined in the foundation’s strategy for the upcoming months, aimed at promoting women across various fields at all professional levels. This includes the organization of the “Media Literacy for Women Leaders” program scheduled for next October.
This program focuses on empowering female leaders in the government and semi-governmental sectors in Dubai, in partnership with the Dubai Media Academy, as part of a memorandum of cooperation signed during the recent Arab Media Summit held in May.