MELA Program Description
Participants
Every year, approximately 50 young "up and coming" leaders from business, government and education sectors from Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestinian Territories, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates and Yemen will be selected. Participant recruiting and selection employs an application process which culminates in personal interviews to assess a prospective participant's strengths. Recommendations will be made to the Advisory Board for final participant selection.
Program
This intensive 11-day experiential program is designed to expand leadership, team building and business abilities, and create personal relationships that accelerate personal and business success. The training includes extensive leadership activities and practical exercises conducted by experienced business leaders that challenge each participant to greatly increase the productivity, effectiveness and performance of the team in a globally competitive world - and to do so with a peer group of other leaders from around the region. Business skills are critical regardless of the organization you lead. The program includes case studies, simulations, small group problem solving - all designed to improve the decisions needed for building a successful enterprise. Key topics addressed will be how to build a successful business strategy, how to use social media to expand business around the world, and how to grow the enterprise across all stages of its development.
Participants will also have the opportunity to customize sessions during the program that addresses their specific business needs whether it is starting a business, moving from a family owned business to a publicly held corporation or growing a an established enterprise.
All instructors are successful business leaders with extensive international, personal and professional networks. The MELA program is designed to take full advantage of each participant's experience and insight. Those individual insights and experiences significantly enrich each participant's personal, professional, regional, and global perspectives which dramatically enhance decision-making abilities.
Participants spend many hours with colleagues and facilitators through small, varied breakout sessions, team exercises, and hundreds of impromptu exchanges. This opportunity for participants to engage in interaction with other participants provides real-time cross-learning, mentoring and sharing opportunities as well as access to personal networks and years of follow-on leadership and personal development interaction.
Completion of the program will provide participants with an expanding network of leaders across the region and the world that overcomes the time and distance barriers which frequently inhibit successful organizational growth. A huge benefit of the program is that it provides participants the benefit of connecting instantly to other peer leaders in the region and abroad on a constant and life-long basis. That kind of expanding network greatly reduces the time it takes to obtain useful information and make quality decisions.
MELA Network
The 11-day program is the initial step in the building of a life-long set of regional and global relationships and insights designed to sustain leaders through years of international, regional and local experience. Five factors distinguish MELA's approach:
- The MELA commitment to its participants is long-term. It recognizes that enhancing leadership abilities is the beginning of a journey. Every year, each MELA class will nominate two members to join the advisory board for a three year term and, by 2015, the board will consist solely of MELA graduates.
- The MELA networking concept is broad-based. It seeks to enhance existing leadership abilities by introducing and involving participants in a select global network giving them access to the best worldwide experiences, strengths, knowledge and support of its members and those of other regional networks. As a member of the MELA network, you will be able to gain instant access to other regional and global leaders. A series of annual local, regional and global information conferences will be offered. There will be annual trips to different parts of the world where participants will be introduced to key business and political leaders. Special meetings will be arranged that will enable participants to meet the leaders of successful companies and discuss the lessons they have learned.
- The MELA approach is cross-sectoral. It brings together participants from multiple sectors (business, government, education, civil society and media) to create a rich and varied learning environment as well as a network with multiple experiences and perspectives.
- The MELA approach is also multi-level. It brings together national, local and regional leaders, thus opening the way for exchanges of ideas, best practices and perspectives. SIBF as program sponsor has learned the importance of networking among business leaders and envisions high merit in Arab leaders interacting more with their colleagues around the world and building on a strong base of managers and leaders that already exists in the region. The challenges of leading in these times of change are produced by a simultaneously interdependent and competitive world. Success now depends on rapid access to relevant information, proven business skills and the vitality of international personal networks.
- The MELA Network will be locally managed and led. Every two years, the 11-day program will rotate to a different regional location. There also will be annual member reunions and local conferences held throughout the Middle East in order to strengthen personal relationships. The topics for these meetings will be developed by members of the network.
