Startup MGZN
Startup MGZN

Obai & Hill hosts the first AND largest Women Power Summit for female empowerment, here are 13 AMAZING highlights you missed

by
May 9, 2018

We don’t know about you but the beginning of the week was incredibly phenomenal! A lot of amazing women from across the globe came to Bahrain to attend the first and largest summits in the region dedicated solely to showcasing and empowering women: The Women Power Summit.

The summit was organized by the PR agency Obai & Hill, and powered by Imtiaz for Her under the patronage of Her Royal Highness Shaikha Hessa bint Khalifa Al Khalifa, Executive Director of Injaz Bahrain, and was held in strategic partnership with Tamkeen and Bahrain Economic Development Board.

The two-day summit, held on May 6th and 7th at the Isa Cultural Center, invited over a 100 women influential women from various different fields and backgrounds to come share their memorable experiences, journeys, and failures with us. More than 700 women registered for the summit and they all showed up to the summit. It was the perfect opportunity for women to connect and network with one another and get inspired. Startup MGZN had the pleasure of being there and witness these profound women such as Dr. Maryam Matar, Mishaal Alshemimry, Eman Nooruddin, Shaikha AlShaiba, Alaa Balkhy, Bryony Cooper, Dr. Mary Collins and more!

Couldn’t make it to the summit? It’s okay, we’ve got you covered. Here are some of the BEST highlights of the Woman Power Summit.

  1. CEO and Founder of Obai and Hill Wafa Al Obaidat’s inspiring speech at the opening of the summit, where she stressed on the importance of women empowerment: “In order to eliminate gender inequality, we need a platform like the Women Power Summit to empower women and help them achieve their dreams.”
  2. The spectacular goody bags with some wicked gifts and coupons from Imtiaz for Her, Namaste, Talabat, Azhar Hubail, Chantilly, Dental Club, Royal Hospital.
  3. The awesome vendors Grind, Papercup, and Co.Lab at the summit who kept us wide awake and alert for the two-day summit with their aromatic coffee! A shout out to Grind for the first-free 500 cups!
  4. The mouthwatering food from the Culinary Company, and Baker & Spice. It was simply delicious.
  5. Oh and if you’re vegan you’re going to love this, because Bare Chocolates and Perfectly Pressed was also present at the summit! Both are Bahraini-based and made by awesome Bahraini women. Bare Chocolates is owned by May Mahmoud, and Perfectly Pressed is by Saniya Abdulaal.
  6. The Power Pitch Competition, the first pitching competition for females was a success. It was organized by Obai & Hill, Tenmou, StartUp Bahrain, Rowad, Manama Shapers, Brinc, and Startup MGZN. The jury consisted of Hala Suleiman, Co-Founder and Managing Director at Alrawi Media, Hadyah Fathalla, Executive Director of Bahrain, C5 Capital Ltd, Pakiza Abdul Rahman, Manager, Business Development – ICT/Startups at Bahrain EDB, and Budoor Kamal, Manager – Development Services Division at Bahrain Development Bank.
  7. Don’t worry, we’re not going to leave you hanging there! The 3rd prize winner of the Power Pitch Competition was Yallabety, an online platform that connects home chefs to hungry customers. The startup won one economy class ticket from Bahrain to Dubai courtesy of Cathay Pacific and a consultation session with Kooheji Systems.
  8. The 2nd prize winner of the Power Pitch Competition is Weiiak, a pharmaceutical e-commerce marketplace app that allows users to order pharmaceutical products and have them delivered right to their doorsteps. They won one economy class ticket courtesy of Cathay Pacific and a mentorship session with PayTabs’ CEO, AbdulAziz Al Jouf.
  9. You’ve probably been waiting for the first place winner, haven’t you? The first place winner of the Power Pitch Competition is The Stories Studio, a platform that create commercial video games for social impact. The startup won two business class tickets from Bahrain to Dubai courtesy of Cathay Pacific, in addition to branding support courtesy of Obai & Hill, a co-working space at Brinc for 3 months, 3 months Rowad Essentials Package, a mentoring session with Elissa Freiha, founder of Womena, and lunch with a Board Member of Tenmou. Oh, and by the way, The Stories Studio have started a crowdfunding campaign to launch their awesome video game “Musa”, if you’d like to show some love and support, you can pledge here!
  10. Not just that, but Elissa Freha, an angel investor and founder of Womena, a Dubai-based angel investment platform was at the Women Power Summit where she had a session on Women Investing & Investing in Women. Elissa was also present at the Power Pitch Competition where she offered free spots for female entrepreneurs to participate in their recently launched accelerator-program called Womentum.
  11. A pledging session led by Eman Nooruddin, where attendees and companies at the summit took a pledge to hire more women and to encourage them to become leaders in their field in addition to empowering them.
  12. In just two-days, the Women Power Summit hosted over 50 sessions featuring prominent women. The sessions ranged from spotlight sessions, roundtable discussions, panel discussions, workshops, seminars, and a movie screening. Some of these amazing sessions included :
  13. The summit included some amazing sessions for FREE for aspiring entrepreneurs. These included a mentorship session with Co.Lab, a free website setup with GudJuju, and free consultation sessions from KPMG.
  14. The speed networking event where women were able to sit down and have a chat with a number of inspiring female leaders.

To summarize it, the atmosphere at the Women Power Summit was simply incredible! It was refreshing to see women supporting and encouraging one another. It was the perfect platform to showcase and celebrate successful women and at the same time inspire other women.

If you’re dying to see what actually happened at the summit, you can check out our Instagram highlights for a recap.

We’ve also got some great news for those who did not attend! The Woman Power Summit is definitely coming back to Bahrain next year, so make sure you’re on the lookout!

And lastly, we’d like to extend our gratitude and appreciation to the team at Obai and Hill for bringing this summit to life, in addition to the sponsors and partners that supported this event, including Ministry of Industry and Commerce, KPMG Fakhro, The Domain Hotel and Spa, Al Ayam Media Group, Woman This Month, Ohlala, Zain Bahrain, Bahrain Development Board, Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Boost Bahrain, Gud Juju, Brinc, SME Society, Careem, Powerup Magazine, C5, Majra, PayTabs, Space 340, Manama Hub, Dj Leil, and Rowad.

Startup MGZN

Bahrain-based digital platform and publication for startups in the Middle East. Exclusive events, in-depth workshops, insightful content, and informative news. In strategic partnership with Tamkeen Bahrain, Zain Bahrain, National Bank of Bahrain, Zoho, Tenmou, and StartUp Bahrain.

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