One hundred of the region's leading business influencers are gathering in Dubai next month to knowledge-share innovative approaches to directing future regional growth through people. And disruption is on the agenda.

Dubai, UAE -- (ReleaseWire) -- 04/27/2015 -- With the UAE Government's official designation of 2015 as the Year of Innovation, it is apt that the 10th anniversary of the Human Assets Expansion Summit MENA focuses on this agenda. On a practical level, the region is taking the concept to heart, with CEO of Dubai-based Great Place to Work, Ronald Thomas firmly asserting: "Innovation and creativity will be the hallmarks of the future."

Regional C-level executives from the public and private sectors are set to address the Summit in terms of 'disruption' to the way we traditionally recruit, develop and retain personnel, as a route to ultimately innovating corporate prosperity. According to Sophie Le Ray, CEO of Human Assets Expansion Summit host organisation, naseba, the nominations for the MENA HR Excellence Award are showing a more focused desire to retain and develop employees as a means of leading overall growth.

"We have seen some clever and surprising strategies from MENA people managers who understand that developing human assets delivers a solid ROI -- real thought-leadership in action. We will be highlighting cases of MENA-led HR innovations that we expect to be very influential at the Summit next month. One thing is for sure, it works against us to simply repeat old practices. Innovation needs to happen if we want to maintain not only our regional growth, but also our region's commercial reputation."

But why do we need either innovation or disruption in our HR practices? Disruption is needed for two main reasons. Firstly, because innovation comes from people, and applying some disruption to the traditional way of managing human assets can be a real game-changer. Secondly, if we want to maintain our 'firsts' and 'bests' in the region, we need to instill an innovation culture in our people.

The UAE was recently ranked as the most creative country in the MENA region in a report by Bayt.com, and commissioned by Dubai Knowledge Village, one of the headline Knowledge Partners for the Human Assets Expansion Summit this year. Dr. Ayoub Kazim, Managing Director of Dubai International Academic City and Dubai Knowledge Village, comments: "It is an impressive achievement to migrate from a knowledge-based economy to an innovation-led one. It is therefore important that we work together at the Summit to identify the barriers to us furthering this creativity."

While it has been decisively proven that innovative people can shape entire organisations, the Summit will explore the need to see disruption in order to lead to this innovation in the workplace, and also to develop the economic potential GCC nationals, as they are the ambassadors of 'the GCC brand'.

The 10th Annual Human Assets Expansion Summit MENA takes place on May 20th and 21st, at the Sofitel The Palm in Dubai, UAE.

About The 10th Annual Human Assets Expansion Summit MENA
The summit is being supported by CCM Consultancy, Oracle, Sundus Recruitment, Maximum, Pfizer, Gulf Bank, Agthia, Dubai Knowledge Village, Bayt.com, Great Place to Work and MiH Training Academy among others.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Saudi Arabia constitutes more than half of IT and Telecommunication spending in the MENA region with around 5% growth over last year.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- (ReleaseWire) -- 04/14/2015 -- Saudi Arabia is expected to exceed USD 37 billion in ICT spending in 2015, as originally reported in a recent IDC report. This investment, by far the highest ever by any country in the Middle East and North Africa region, is dominated by the government's spending towards achieving complete e-transformation and adoption of smart technologies.

Smart technology and services integration have gained rapid momentum within the region. This was highlighted by the launch of the new GCC e-Government Portal by the GCC e-Government Ministerial Committee.

Saudi Arabia is embracing a new phase of Smart-Government by investing heavily in ICT infrastructure, cloud and datacenters, web and mobile applications, mobility, analytics, cyber security and social networking.

In line with the Saudi Arabian government's vision, French information group Naseba, supported by the Ministry of ICT's Yesser e-Government program, is hosting the 6th Annual Kingdom e-Government Summit on the 10th and 11th May 2015 at the Burj Rafal Hotel Kempinski in Riyadh.

The summit will gather over 120 CIOs, CTOS and IT professionals to discuss the future of government technology and innovation. The Director General of the Yesser e-Government Program, Eng. Ali AlSoma will deliver the opening speech titled 'Interconnecting GCC nations through the GCC e-Government portal'.

Talking about the summit, Eng. Ali AlSoma noted "Much to the benefit of citizens and businesses, leveraging technology to offer smart electronic and mobile services has almost become a mandate in the GCC region. The timing of the e-Government Summit is advantageous as it comes just a few weeks after the launch of the new GCC e-Government portal. The event has consistently served as a significant platform to communicate our national plans and vision, and also offers a high level of knowledge sharing and networking opportunities to participating government officials".

Managing Director of Naseba, Nicholas Watson added, "Yesser's continual support towards the summit demonstrates their pledge in assisting Saudi government entities achieve smart e-transformation. In addition to the knowledge sharing and networking opportunities, the summit is focused on helping local stakeholders access the latest technologies and benchmark against international best practices."

Leading IT solution providers taking part in the summit and looking to further the Kingdoms e-initiatives include Oracle, SAP, Everteam, FutureTech, Horizon IT, SMCE, Axios Systems, Kodak Alaris, Wacom, Altair, CORCOM, GAVS, Infrability, LINK Development, Massilatech, Nortal, Omnix, Opentext, Shift Technologies, Pagero, and Tasheel.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Race Across America (RAAM), known as the “toughest bicycle race in the world”, stretches across 5,000 km from Oceanside, California to Annapolis, Maryland, requiring participants to cycle approximately 20 to 22 hours a day for 12 days. UAE cycling enthusiast and chairman of Dubai-based naseba group, Scott Ragsdale, will be once again attempting to complete the endurance challenge starting on June 16th, 2015.

Dubai, UAE -- (ReleaseWire) -- 03/23/2015 -- Ragsdale attempted to complete it in 2013, however the grueling race proved to be exceedingly demanding, both mentally and physically. On day seven, half way to the finish line, Ragsdale was forced to stop due to saddle sores and lack of sleep. The DNF ("did not finish") was disappointing, but also made him more determined to go after his goal again.

Now, Scott Ragsdale is back on the bike and training to cross that finish line with the help of his trainer, top ultra-cyclist Marko Baloh, who holds multiple world records, such as the Ultra Marathon Cycling Association's record for the fastest 100 miles. He has also participated in RAAM seven times, winning in 2008 in a two-person team. Baloh's experience and Ragsdale determination make them an undeniable match.

International sportswear company PUMA is once again lending its support to Scott Ragsdale as the official apparel & merchandise sponsor. The brand has shown commitment by consistently backing him in past events preceding Race Across America. In 2011, Ragsdale completed naseba7, seven ironman-distance triathlons across the seven Emirates of the UAE, over seven days, which was also supported by PUMA and endorsed by the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the UAE.

"We are excited to be supporting Scott Ragsdale, a UAE based super-athlete and chairman of Dubai's naseba group, as he takes on the challenge of the Race Across America (RAAM) once again," said Abdelhamid Oraibi, Head of Marketing for PUMA Middle East and East Africa. "We have worked closely with Scott many times before and we are delighted to extend our long-term relationship with such a successful figurehead in the sports community. This longstanding friendship between Scott and PUMA allows the brand to continue to work alongside ordinary people doing extraordinary things."

Scott commented, "I'm honored by PUMA's continuous support throughout many of my challenges. Their performance products are ideal for my training, and help immensely with recovery".

To him, all the pain, both physical and emotional, is ultimately worth it, as one of the main reasons he does these challenges is to inspire his family and employees to go after their goals. "Too many people are sitting on Facebook, completely wasting their lives ... dreaming about what they are 'going to do' one day." Ragsdale states, "If I could inspire people by going after these endurance challenges, ideally it will get them thinking of their own dreams and goals. However, in life it comes down to this simple thought: 'but we have to make it happen...' A goal or a dream means nothing if one doesn't go after achieving it."

About PUMA
PUMA is one of the world's leading Sports Brands, designing, developing, selling and marketing footwear, apparel and accessories. For over 65 years, PUMA has established a history of making fast product designs for the fastest athletes on the planet. PUMA offers performance and sport-inspired lifestyle products in categories such as Football, Running, Training and Fitness, Golf, and Motorsports. It engages in exciting collaborations with renowned design brands such as Alexander McQueen and Mihara Yasuhiro to bring innovative and fast designs to the sports world. The PUMA Group owns the brands PUMA, Cobra Golf, Tretorn, Dobotex and Brandon. The company distributes its products in more than 120 countries, employs more than 10,000 people worldwide, and is headquartered in Herzogenaurach/Germany.

For more information, please visit http://www.puma.com

About naseba
naseba offers business facilitation platforms for clients who want to develop in growth markets. We conduct exhaustive research, match buyers and sellers and then produce high-profile events, all with a strategic focus on facilitating deals -- all in the right place and at the right time.

We work in six key sectors, leveraging our expertise to create deal flow, foster networking and train leaders. naseba has the capacity to help you enter new markets, raise capital, secure partners and close sales.

Our global team works to meet your needs, tailoring our diverse service base to keep you at the forefront of the latest market and industry trends.

We provide business opportunities to a target audience of executives, investors, leaders and thinkers who share our goal of making deals happen in the world's most liquid markets.

naseba's clients rely on our expertise, drive and commitment to make success happen for them.

naseba has fostered productive working partnerships with the governments of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Malaysia and India. We also selectively collaborate with key figures in media, industry and academia to add real value to our network worldwide.

Since inception in 2002 naseba has produced over 500 events and played host to 65,000 executive delegates globally.

naseba is a French group with on-the-ground presence in Algiers, Bangalore, Cairo, Dubai, Chicago, Riyadh and Shanghai.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

The Global WIL Report 2015 examines the key challenges to achieving gender parity in the workplace and provides simple recommendations to enable women in leadership principles

Dubai, UAE -- (ReleaseWire) -- 03/08/2015 -- This International Women's Day, naseba, a French business information group, releases the first ever Global WIL Report 2015 focused on raising awareness about the key challenges and barriers to achieving gender parity and women in leadership principles in the workplace.

"The report is a new initiative, stemming from our commitment to making change happen" noted Sophie Le Ray, CEO of naseba and Founder, WIL Forum. Supplemented by references to the keynote presentations and panel discussions by business and thought leaders from the WIL Economic Forum series by naseba, this report is based on primary and secondary research, and investigates men and women's perceptions of barriers to the advancement of women into leadership roles.

The report comprises of the business case for women's inclusion in the workplace, the top barriers to women achieving their full economic potential and the subsequent steps that individuals and organisations can take to address those issues.

Starting with its release on International Women's Day 2015, the report will be accessible for free for on http://www.wilforum.com

The report is an initiative of the Global WIL Economic Forum 2015, held under the patronage of HE Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy for the United Arab Emirates. To be held on November 23rd and 24th 2015 in Abu Dhabi, UAE, the forum is hosting over 650 global business and thought leaders to discuss women in leadership principles.

Highlighting the key theme for the forum, Sophie Le Ray noted "the question we need to ask is; how can we build a global economic model that moves beyond the one-way road of mere economic growth to one that is also based on principles of equality and human well-being? Such economic transformation is needed in all countries – developed, emerging and under-developed – and requires action from multinational companies, small and medium-sized enterprises, governments and consumers."

Official sponsors of the forum include PepsiCo, Roche Diagnostics, Amgen and Cummins Middle East.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Nominations are now open for the 7th Annual MENA HR Excellence Awards, which recognise prominent individuals and employers for excellence in the HR function.

Dubai, UAE -- (ReleaseWire) -- 03/04/2015 -- The awards are a highlight of the 10th Annual Human Assets Expansion Summit MENA which will take place on May 20th and 21st at the Grosvenor House in Dubai, and is organised by French business facilitation group, naseba.

The categories currently taking nominations for the awards include the coveted 'Employer of the Year', recognising the winning organisation for its commitment to supporting employees at all levels. Additional categories include exceptional nationalisation initiatives, talent management and employee engagement strategies, learning and development practices as well as outstanding HR professionals from both public and private sectors.

Nominations are open to individuals and organisations within the Middle East who meet the criteria specified in the nomination forms, available for download from the official website, www.humanassetsmideast.com.

Centred on the theme 'HR Innovations: Transforming People, Processes and Technology', this year's summit focuses on advancing human capital management through innovative practices in order to achieve organisational excellence. Furthermore, it addresses the essential role of analytics and how HR leaders can leverage data to improve operational performance, showcase best practices on employee retention and talent management as well as present nationalisation strategies that drive change.

"HR is no longer an isolated discipline. HR leaders must work hand in hand with senior management in order to translate their business goals into a cohesive human capital strategy. We are experiencing tremendous change in our profession -- we have actually become change agents ourselves and this brings along extraordinary opportunities and certain challenges," explains Paolo Emilio Testa, Director of Human Resources MEMA at Hewlett-Packard and speaker at the upcoming summit. "Such platforms enable us to openly review our challenges with industry peers and share best practices, which is essential for progressing the HR function," he continues.

About The Summit
The summit is bringing together up to 120 HR experts and thought leaders from leading organisations in the Middle East. Confirmed speakers for the event include: Taha Khalifa, Regional General Manager MENA at Intel; Matt Ayoub, Associate Director – Human Capital at Mubadala; Daniel Nerron, Corporate Executive Director HR & IT at Arabian Bemco Contracting Company; Fareda Abdullah, VP – Human Capital and Corporate Communications at Majid Al Futtaim; Haitham Samman, Global HR Director for Alcatel-Lucent; Edward Matti, Managing Partner at CCM Consultancy; Khalid Al Almeri, Youth Motivator and Social Columnist at The National; John King, Head of Leadership & Development at Landmark Group; Dr. Yazan Hatamleh, Group Chief HR & Admin Officer at Arabtec; David Al Ashhab, Head of HR at Standard Chartered Bahrain and Murad Salman Mirza, Board Member of the Global Diversity & Inclusion Foundation.

Creator of the Human Assets Expansion series and CEO of naseba, Sophie Le Ray, emphasised: "The Middle East is undergoing a seismic shift in its employment and HR landscape, and we need strategies to cope with the challenges ahead. Nominations for the 7th Annual MENA HR Excellence Awards recognise the thought-leading individuals and organisations that draw on expertise from all corners of the globe, their visionary outlook and forward-thinking leadership, to help model the strategies that we will all be adopting over the years ahead in the changing HR world. "

To date, the Human Assets Expansion series has connected up to 1,500 HR professionals over the last 9 years. The event features two days of high-quality networking, inspirational speakers, and potential business opportunities.

For further information on nominating an individual or organisation, please contact: Hammad Khilji, naseba Marketing Manager, on:

Tel. +971 43 67 13 76, or visit the website: http://www.humanassetsmideast.com

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Following a day focused on ensuring that cyber security is a boardroom discussion, day two of the Cyber Defence Summit was opened by Eng. Mohammed E. Al-Ghamdi, Assistant Director General, National Center for Digital Certification (NCDC), Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT).

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- (ReleaseWire) -- 03/03/2015 -- Eng Mohammed in his opening keynote commented: "In 2007, the E-Transaction Act was passed which gave the legal framework for a public key infrastructure in Saudi Arabia. Since then, NCDC has been able to pass several third party audits and receive the Web Trust seal; also the Saudi National Root Certification Authority was added to the list of Root CAs trusted globally by Microsoft systems. Now we are paving the way for Mobile PKI in the Kingdom allowing access to it anywhere and anytime. "

With a lot of companies focused on cost cutting and efficiency, an increasing number of enterprises are embracing cloud and mobile technologies to have a competitive edge and to better serve their customers. The volume of information being collected and processed has grown manifolds. People and companies are now more connected to the outside world and hence are more vulnerable.

The first panel discussion of the day focused on securing third platform technologies - social, mobile, cloud and big data. The discussion featured Abdulkareem Alsheha, Head of Information Security of a financial sector giant, Eng. Suliman Alsamhan, Head of Computer Forensics Lab, CERT-SA, Dr. Zaidan Alenezi, Strategy & CNI Coordination, National Cyber Security Center (NCSC), Ministry of Interior, Abdulrahim Said, Senior Security Architect, IBM and was moderated by Ahmad Alanazy, Information Security Evangelist, STC.

Abdulrahim noted, "Companies are bandwagoning on new technologies and touch points for their customer base including social media without potentially realizing the risks associated with them. Policies, procedures and processes need to be set in place before a company decides what information flows into and out of the organisation. Then they need to be religiously monitored to realise any risks associated with this information flow."

Abdulkareem said, "Employees need to be made aware of compliance policies which should be regulated with strong legal binding and penalty clauses. Compliance policies with regular cyber security standards give us a better chance of security and protection from internal threats."

Eng. Suliman added in on the human aspect, "Humans are the weakest link in security. Hence there is a need for them to be addressed first. Installing latest cyber security technologies and policies without properly educating your employees is counter intuitive and not the holistic approach that is required."

The following panel discussion spoke about how necessary it is to consider cyber risk management as a critical aspect and highlight the requirement and benefits of business continuity planning and disaster recovery. Dr. Hosam Rowaihy, Director, Information Technology Center, KFUPM; Gregory Nowak, Principal Research Analyst, Information Security Forum (ISF) and Eng. Yasser Alruhaily, Head of Information Security Risk Management, STC featured on the panel discussion moderated by Director of Information Security, King Fahad Medical City, Fahad Al-Hussein.

Gregory said, "The board should define what is critical to the business and then it should be the responsibility of the IT team to devise an action plan for the protection of these critical assests. For this to be stress free and for a smooth process you need to understand how all the stakeholders define information security, engage with agencies with a good repute in threat intelligence, be relentless in demonstrating the business value of your plan and then proactively review your plan's results for improvements."

Dr. Hosam stressed about identifying the 'crown jewels' and the potential threats against them. He noted "Risk management is not a new concept and has always existed in business. Though what is required is the involvement of management in cyber risk management as all businesses are technology reliant. Identification of crown jewels and what is quintessential for a business is not the sole responsibility of the CIO. It requires the entire board to come together."

The day ended with a simulation workshop conducted by Nasser El-Hout, Managing Director, Service Management Centre of Excellence. The workshop provided a real time understanding of which processes are running in parallel and identified which were important or mission critical.

About The Summit
The summit, organized by French business information group naseba, enabled cyber security experts from Saudi Arabia to meet in one location and formulate comprehensive, forward thinking plans to defend the Kingdom's sensitive information-- and specifically its critical infrastructure -- from possible cyber threats.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

Regional and local experts gather to address cyber security with global solution providers to secure their critical assets through a proactive approach.

Dubai, UAE -- (ReleaseWire) -- 03/02/2015 -- In a world where everything is connected, from intelligent fridges to driverless cars, technology is playing a prominent role in our lives. It has influenced the way we socialize and connect at a personal, enterprise and international level. As a result, we need to collaborate to protect what matters to us and fight against cyber attacks.

The 6th Cyber Defence Summit, organised by naseba, a French business information group, provided a perfect platform for CIOs and CISOs to address cyber security issues and the importance of protecting critical infrastructure and sensitive information in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

In his opening remark today, the summit's chairperson, former Deputy DG of Yesser and current CEO of (ITS)2, Eng Ahmad AlKhiary said, "Cyber security is no longer just an IT priority. It must be addressed at the board level. In the event of a cyber-attack, business security is at stake so shouldn't the business heads be worried? We must address the issue collectively to arrive at feasible protective measures."

A keynote featuring Tareque Choudhury of BT Global Services helped define critical assets and the role of the Chief Security Officers in this new environment by giving tangible examples of how private and public Saudi brands can protect and preserve themselves. He also shared some of the learnings from the BT cyber security team deployed to defend London Olympics 2012 and BT Sports from malicious attacks.

He noted, "We have brands everywhere in our lives, we consume them and trust them. It is an asset that needs protection."

"A lack of cyber protection has had catastrophic results for brands for example look at Target, hackers stole 40 million debit and credit card numbers from the retailer's data banks as well as the personal data of as many as 70 million Target customers, which lead to their CEO's resignation and the company suffering massively in terms of value."

A hot topic of discussion, 'Legacy and Next Generation Threats' featured Eric J. Eifert, SVP of Cyber Security Solutions at ManTech; Mamdouh Khawaji, VP of IT at SEDCO Holding; and Ray Kafity, VP of META region at FireEye. The discussion was moderated by Dr. Mansour A. Aldajani, Governor's Advisor and CIO of Electricity and Co-generation Regulation Authority (ECRA).

Ray highlighted, "We are now dealing with Generation Y threats and as we progress the threats will keep on becoming more complex and difficult to detect. With the threats being innovative, the cyber security has to keep up and be forward thinking and proactive."

Eric noted "One critical aspect majority of the companies fail to address is internal threats due to lack of awareness. This needs to be addressed carefully when developing cyber security; employee training and standardization of internal laws and regulations is something that should be mandatory."

An important aspect is to highlight the key cyber security challenges and present practical solutions to combat these issues through effective planning and application of innovative hardware and software security solutions. Three cyber security briefs were given by Websense, Fortinet and Global Security Network.

Neil Thacker from Websense noted the importance of going beyond just procuring cyber security solutions.

Strategic approach against increasingly sophisticated threats was briefed by Emad Abu Jazar, Country Manager or Fortinet and Khalid Laban, CEO at Oxygen Middle East.

Gilles Loridon, CEO of Global Security Network, stressed on bridging the gap between SCADA/ICS and corporate IT security and given equal importance to both.

Last panel session of day1 discussed cyber security capacity building and collaboration and featured Dr. Jalal Al-Muhtadi, Director, Centre of Excellence in Information Assurance (CoEIA), King Saud University, Nasser El-Hout, Managing Director, Service Management Centre of Excellence (SMCE), Dr. Zaidan Alenezi, Strategy & CNI Coordination, National Cyber Security Center (NCSC), Ministry of Interior and Mamdouh Khawaji.

The day 1 of the summit concluded with a simulation workshop on 'Real Time IT and Security Decision Making'. The workshop was led by Nasser El-Hout and provided attendees with real time understanding of which processes are running in parallel and identify which are important or mission critical.

Day 2 of the summit will continue tomorrow with emphasis on enhancing cybersecurity readiness and future of information security controls.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm