Speakers at National Achievers Congress address entrepreneurship

Top international business leaders and experts at the National Achievers Congress inspired participants in line with Dubai’s drive towards entrepreneurship and its happiness agenda.

The two-day event was held under the patronage of Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Culture and Knowledge development, and aimed to equip participants with the strategies, skills and tools to dream bigger, perform better, be more innovative, think differently and attain the lifestyle they deserve, by applying what they learn.

The concluding session was led by Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, Chairman of the Board of Trustees at Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan Humanitarian and Scientific Foundation, as he highlighted how exposure to art stimulates the mind and the UAE’s efforts towards attracting global establishments that promote cross-cultural enrichment.

"It is my pleasure to have been invited to speak to you today, in what is a supercharged environment, where we can all see our way to inspiration, success and achievement. I want to encourage you to take a different approach, to remember that the logical, left hemisphere of the human brain is paired with its equally important partner, a right hemisphere that is responsible for our creative, intuitive and more insightful selves,'' Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan said.

''The right hemisphere is also responsible for our awareness and appreciation of art, music and culture. It helps us see issues and challenges not as black and white, but as more open to interpretation and above all, collaboration. Exposure to the arts stimulates the right hemisphere and allows expansion of the mind, opening us to ideas beyond the rational, logical and scientific. In short, the arts are a superfood for the brain," he added.

"Participants were exposed to thought-leaders who have each found success and happiness using different strategies. The great value of this multi-speaker congress is that the diversity will ensure participants connect with different speakers that can help them to decide what strategy to use in order to succeed," said Zina Al-Zuhairi, Co-founder and Executive Director of Najahi, the event organisers.

During the day, some of the most renowned business leaders and speakers from around the world provided actionable advice and valuable insights to participants.

Lady Michelle Mone, renowned British entrepreneur, addressed the difficulty of having limited resources when running a business and shed light on the mind-set required to optimise what you have in hand and how to effectively manage your employees and succeed when given any challenging task.

Commenting on her participation in the Middle East’s first National Achievers Congress, Lady Michelle said, "It gives me great pleasure being part of the congress and in a country that has been recognised with its fast-growing entrepreneurship rate. The UAE has been encouraging the entrepreneurial spirit and enabling new ideas to flourish for years now. I am also happy to see so many woman entrepreneurs thrive and succeed in business in this region. I hope that during these two days we have especially managed to give them valuable knowledge that will help them achieve their aspirations. "

The United Kingdom’s property landlord, Business Coach and Investor, Kevin Green, provided insights to the audience on how to thrive in the property and metals business, as well as leverage the current economic situation to their benefit. In addition, participants were lucky enough to receive business training on investment from Green on the day.

Putting himself under the spotlight, Andy Harrington, who is well known for his ability to move, inspire and influence people, took centre-stage and was able to demonstrate the importance of effective public speaking for any business owner. Harrington taught participants how to influence and persuade an audience and showed them strategies, tactics and techniques to become a confident speaker that people want to learn from.

The National Achievers Congress 2016 closed with renowned businessman and motivational speaker Robert Kiyosaki shedding light on the importance of financial education and why it is currently the best time to start a successful business, particularly in the UAE.

"I hope that after attending this congress people take an action, and change within themselves. Investing in yourself and education is the key and whoever has attended has taken the extra mile to gain knowledge from all of the speakers on hand. I truly hope that I have managed to change the way people think and expanded their mind-set to see that there are three sides to every coin; heads, tails and the edge," Kiyosaki said.