On 8th June, 2020, Dubai Business Associates celebrated the Year 6 associates as they graduated from the programme. The online graduation was an uplifting commemoration of the associates’ dedication and perseverance during a very challenging year.
Highlights from the ceremony include a keynote address from His Excellency Dr. Tariq Al Gurg, CEO of Dubai Cares, and remarks from His Excellency Tom Fletcher (former British Ambassador), Dr. Noah Raford (Dubai Future Foundation’s Futurist-in-Chief and Chief of Global Affairs), His Excellency Li Xuhang (Consul General, Chinese Consulate), His Excellency Mohammed Shael Al Saadi (CEO of Corporate Strategic Affairs for DED), and Ji Yongjun (Deputy Director General, Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries).
Associates Hassan Abul-Enein and Hiba Saif Altamimi received the Falcon Award for demonstrating outstanding leadership skills during the programme. This is the first year the Falcon Award was presented to two associates!
Associate Daniyar Batyrov received the Best Fellow Award, as voted by his peers, for being the associate who had the greatest impact on the cohort’s programme year.
Associate Jiajing Hu received the Faculty Award, recognized for his remarkable contributions to learning and the classroom environment.
And, in another first, two teams received the Outstanding Project Award: the DED project team – Ana Paula Poppi, Gloria Mu, Hiba Saif Altamimi, Nadia Mahmood – and the dnata project team – Abdelrahman Budair, Jiajing Hu, Monica Yao, Thomas Rivard.
To conclude the ceremony, associates Mary Awortwi-Tandoh and Hiba Saif Altamimi delivered speeches on behalf of their fellow associates.
Congratulations to all of the associates for an amazing end to an incredible year!