Emirati women leaders gave me faith in the power of community

Although I have lived in the UAE for almost two decades, today is only the third time that I am celebrating Emirati Women’s day. My past employers did not celebrate this day the way that many of our leading UAE companies do, and I am grateful to have the opportunity to take part.

Over the past three years I have been privileged to meet and work with some of the UAE’s most talented women. I always believed this talent existed, but I still feel I underestimated it.

Connecting with Emirati women leading their profession has challenged and encouraged me to dream bigger, to have faith in my own abilities and the power of community.

Today I am sitting writing to you and taking a short pause to reflect upon the last three years of my life at Aurora50 and the wonderful Emirati friendships I have made along the way.

It has been a momentous journey so far but I see far greater impact on the horizon.

The support and encouragement we have received from Emirati women across the country has spurred us on to serve more women, to be bolder and braver and to challenge our own beliefs about impact. It has challenged me on both a personal and professional basis.

For every initiative we ask ourselves: does it SIT well with the Aurora50 mission? We consider three things:

• S: Will it be sustainable? If the initiative cannot sustain itself financially, it is unlikely to leave the lasting impact we desire
• I: What impact will it make? Impact like revenue can be measured and we want to invest our resources into areas which are strategic. If it already exists, what is missing that would make a difference?
• T: Is our team equipped for success? We have a wonderful skilled team at Aurora50 and they are driven by purpose. With this passion and ambition, we need to be careful not to over-commit. This lens helps us consider the resources we have, the team’s skills and competencies.

Sustainability also means meeting our own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

The ‘50’ in Aurora50 is a nod to sustainability. We always wanted to ensure that what we built would support future generations over the next 50 years.

The next three years will lay the foundations for Aurora50 and our community to be a driving force for impact. We’ve been looking for a more scalable way forward. A way that is simpler for us to scale, and an enabling platform for our community to make an impact.

On 31 July we launched NOORA, the new community for corporate women leading with impact. With the support of our founding partners – Accenture, Emirates Global Aluminium, The Emirates Group, ENOC and TAQA – the first 50 corporate women were confirmed as members. All of our corporate partners are committed to addressing the gender gap and keen to collaborate to make a lasting impact.

NOORA is dedicated to corporate women across the UAE and provides members with unlimited access to a real-world community of like-minded and ambitious women, who are on their wavelength and at their level.

The fresh thinking – or, as I like to think of it, ‘the light’ that women can bring to complex problems – provides opportunities for new perspectives to be seen.

With the support of NOORA, corporate women will rise within organisations across the UAE.

Connected across industries, they will bring fresh ideas into their businesses. Together we are creating a future where gender-balanced teams, at every level, is the norm.

• Corporate companies: Join NOORA and achieve your gender balance goals
• Individuals: Join NOORA and accelerate your own corporate career
• C-suite women, male allies: Inspire NOORA members with your personal stories (email us to discuss)
• Technical experts in digital transformation (AI) and decarbonisation: Help NOORA leverage AI and tackle complex challenges by partnering with us (email us to discuss)

I look forward to witnessing the sustainable solutions that NOORA members will create, to seeing women build their networks and to looking back on this time with pride.

I thank the many Emirati women who have supported us, cheered us on and thanked us for how we have, in turn, supported them. I wish our team at Aurora50 and our founding members every success.

Individually, we can all make an impact – but together, we can leave a lasting legacy.

On this Emirati Women’s Day, I invite you to build this legacy with us.

Happy Emirati Women’s Day to everyone celebrating and uniting on this very special day.