Category: The 10 Most Inspiring Business Leaders to Watch in the Middle East in 2023_Profile

Dr. Nairouz Bader is the C.E.O. of Envision Partnership, a female executive search and leadership advisory organization that she established in 1997. Envision Partnership is the first executive search firm in the MENA region to be certified by the AESC and WeConnect International, two prestigious organizations that recognized the company’s commitment to excellence and diversity. Since its establishment, the company has expanded to Dubai, serving clients across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Not only is Dr. Nairouz a successful businesswoman, but she is also a pioneer in her field and is the only Arab woman leader who has served on the global board of AESC and M.C.H. Global, the parent company of Art Basel. Under her leadership, Envision Partnership has also become the only expert in the MENA region certified by the Switzerland Global Enterprise as an Official Expert on International Human Resources.

A pharmacist by profession, Dr. Nairouz holds several post-graduate degrees, including a Master’s in Managerial Leadership from the U.S.A. She has lived most of her life in the U.A.E. but has also spent her time in Europe, Canada, and the U.S.A. Dr. Nairouz is a DEI Diversity & Gender Catalyst and is passionate about gender parity, advocating for female leadership and minority-owned enterprise.

For Dr. Nairouz and her team, walking the talk is not just a buzzword but a way of life. They are incredibly passionate about placing female executives in leadership roles, not just locally but also globally. Through their coaching and development programs, they aim to build a sustainable talent pipeline for future women leaders, empowering them to take charge and shape the future of their organizations. Also, as a founding member of Rotary International in Dubai, Nairouz is committed to positively impacting her community and beyond.

About Envision Partnership

Established in 1997, Envision Partnership is a global executive search and talent management consultancy providing personalized services to help clients find and attract the best executive talent. The organization strongly emphasizes quality, professionalism, and personalization, ensuring that each client receives tailored solutions to meet their unique needs. Envision Partnership’s extensive services include executive search, talent assessment, leadership development, and organizational consulting.

With its global presence and a team of experienced consultants, Envision Partnership has an impressive track record of placing top-level executives across various industries. The

organization’s expertise and commitment to excellence have made it a trusted partner for organizations seeking talent management services.

Under Dr. Nairouz’s leadership, Envision Partnership is entirely committed to driving sustainable change and creating a more inclusive future by promoting female executives in regional and global leadership roles. The Organization’s approach includes coaching and developing talented women and creating a sustainable talent pipeline for future women leaders. Also, by promoting diversity and inclusion, the organization inspires many more women to join the workforce and continue working for a better future.

“At Envision Partnership, we believe that diversity, equity, and inclusion (D.E.I.) are crucial components of success. Our innovative approach to leadership and commitment to D.E.I. will shape the future and create a more sustainable and inclusive world,”- explains Dr. Nairouz.

Navigating the Dizzying Environment

Leadership is a challenging and complex task in today’s fast-paced and constantly evolving world. As a seasoned leader, Dr. Nairouz has adopted an approach that revolves around several key principles to navigate this ever-changing landscape.

First and foremost, Dr. Nairouz prioritizes open communication and transparency. She always likes to keep the communication line open and transparent with her team and stakeholders, so they can work together to tackle challenges and capitalize on opportunities that arise from time to time.

Secondly, Dr. Nairouz firmly believes in leading by example. As a leader, she understands that her actions and behavior significantly impact her team and organization. Hence, she strives to embody the values and principles that she wants to see in her organization.

Thirdly, she believes in fostering a culture of innovation and creativity. By encouraging her team to think outside the box and explore new ideas, she ensures that Envision Partnership stays ahead of the curve and adapts to changing environments.

Lastly, she is a firm believer in continuous learning and development. As a leader, Dr. Nairouz recognizes the importance of ongoing personal and professional growth and strives to instill this mindset in her team. Overall, Dr. Nairouz’s approach to leadership centers on communication, leading by example, fostering innovation, and continuous learning and development.

Motivating Innovation and Creativity

As a visionary leader, Dr. Nairouz recognizes the importance of creativity and innovation in driving success, but she also understands the need for a healthy work environment. Therefore, she has implemented several strategies to achieve this perfect balance.

First and foremost, Dr. Nairouz fosters a culture of open communication and collaboration. She encourages her team to share their ideas and provide feedback, creating a safe space where everyone’s voice is heard and valued. This approach allows Envision Partnership to generate new and innovative solutions to complex problems.

Additionally, Dr. Nairouz encourages experimentation and risk-taking. She recognizes that not every idea will be successful, but she believes in learning from failures to drive future success.

To stay competitive in the rapidly changing world, Dr. Nairouz prioritizes training and development opportunities for her team, which helps them build new skills and stay up-to-date with the latest industry trends and best practices.

Lastly, Dr. Nairouz is committed to ensuring work-life balance and stress management for her team. She understands that a healthy work-life balance is essential for productivity and well-being, and she strives to support her team in every way possible.

“I motivate creativity and innovation while maintaining a healthy work environment by fostering open communication, encouraging experimentation, offering training and development opportunities, and prioritizing work-life balance. By striking this balance, my team feels empowered to take risks and think outside the box while feeling supported and valued in their work,”- she explains.

Promoting Gender Diversity and Inclusion

Envision Partnership stands out in the industry with its unique focus on promoting gender diversity and inclusion, as well as its dedication to developing sustainable leadership pipelines. Envision’s team has valuable insights into women’s challenges and opportunities in leadership positions, allowing them to provide tailored solutions that genuinely help them succeed.

“Overall, Envision Partnership’s commitment to promoting gender diversity and inclusion, our focus on sustainable leadership pipelines, and unique insights about the challenges and opportunities facing women in leadership positions could all be key selling propositions that set us apart from other companies in the industry,”- says Dr. Nairouz.

Picture of the Future

On a personal level, Dr. Nairouz is determined to prioritize her well-being and continue investing in her personal development. This will involve pursuing new hobbies and interests that challenge her and allow her to learn new skills. Additionally, she recognizes the importance of self-care and nurturing her relationships with loved ones, which will be crucial for her mental and emotional health.

Dr. Nairouz intends to travel extensively and immerse herself in new cultures in line with her passion for exploration and learning. She believes this exposure will broaden her perspective and deepen her understanding of the world, undoubtedly enriching her personal and professional life.

“Professionally, my goals are to drive positive change and create impact through my work. I am committed to expanding the reach and impact of Envision Partnership, a women-focused organization that empowers and supports women to achieve their full potential. Specifically, I hope to develop new programs and services to help clients prioritize sustainability and collaborate with other organizations to achieve collective impact. In addition, I aim to reduce the environmental footprint of Envision Partnership and lead by example in our own business practices,”- Dr. Nairouz concludes.

People working with Rasha recognize her by her “persistent focus on quality and efficiency combined with a genuine concern and commitment for all who work with her.” These attributes have been the characteristics of Rasha Abusaif’s career. Representing true Jordanian entrepreneurship whose success in the ICT sector; Ms. AbuSaif is a well-rounded business leader equipped and driven to turn challenges into opportunities.

A crucial bit of advice I give people when they ask how to bounce back from failure is to always stay focused and mission aligned.

The pandemic accelerated the speed of technological change and, in turn, showed us that the capacity to be dynamic, agile, and ready to change direction at a moment’s sight will be more important than ever. Indeed, the companies that succeeded during this time were the ones that aligned their strategies with these three essentials.

Being a C-level expert, or having any stake in the business world, means you must be prepared to take risks. As Garry Kasparov, the great chess champion, once said, “If you don’t take risks, you don’t drink champagne.”

Since then, that was the philosophy I’ve adopted throughout my entrepreneurial journey, and it’s what’s enabled me to be dynamic- the essence of which lies in always looking forward, not back. I always say never be completely satisfied because this can quickly evolve into complacency, and complacency is the death rattle for any business.

Through the combination of my passion for technology and vision, I was able to grow different international, local, and startup companies not only by size, geographic representation, and revenue, but also in technological innovation and in the application of technology in various fields. Some of my successful journey in innovations included the development of the Arabic artificial intelligence parser and the creation of an electronic data interchange solution, implemented in many large European institutions, in addition to market one of the top education solutions, EduWave®, which currently holds the largest base of countrywide deployments and users worldwide.

“I believe that information professionals need to navigate these ethical issues effectively because they are likely to use AI in delivering services as well as contribute to the adoption of AI more widely in their organizations. In this context, I always attend podcasts and AI global and local events and podcasts to empower using AI semantic solutions that embrace CX.”

When an AI solution can switch between languages, this can answer any user inquiry and keep the customer engaged. A full-fledged AI Arabic robotic solution will be able to answer millions of requests in real-time with zero downtime. Also, understanding Arabic dialects will create a semantic automation to users’ requests and, eventually, will lead to the end of a successful request -whether this request is conversational or transactional. This will lead to creating success factors in enterprises or SMEs- including but not limited to:

1. Increase Customer Satisfaction.
2. Improve Sales and Leads
3. Decrease Complaints and obtain more Customer Loyalty
4. Boost Real Data (Historical Data) to understand customer behaviors
5. Accomplish Intelligent reports and dashboards to analyze users’ UI/UX to come up with better enhancements in the proposed solution.

“A major roadblock standing in the way of the rapid uptake of AI technology is a lack of trust in AI solutions,
which often operate in black boxes. In the MENA region, AI designed to acknowledge this fact is essential to
improving human comfortability with these solutions to automate customers’ requests in Arabic within multiple
dialects. Through better communication, collaboration, and enhanced processes, artificial intelligence will help
decision-makers act quickly when encountering unexpected situations.”

Education is essential to grow, thus I always believe in work experience yet, obtaining professional certificates to lead by example. In 2002, I received my bachelor’s degree in engineering with a specialization in architecture from the University of Jordan. However, my passion for education never stopped, and I continued my studies and obtained a professional certificate in marketing as a Professional Certified Marketer (PCM®) from the American Marketing Association (AMA). In 2019, I also obtained an advanced diploma certificate in Business Administration from Cambridge College, UK. Lately, I am joining Harvard Business Online to achieve a strategy implementation certificate.

With more than twenty years of experience in different companies in Fintech, Edutech, Healthtech, AI solutions ,and IT companies, and as an expert in the fields of Business and Partnership Development, including strategy implementation, marketing and communications, public relations management, projects planning and management, budgeting and commercial modeling, events, campaigns planning, customer experience (CX), and business growth, I was able to motivate cross-functional teams to be more efficient toward providing state-of-the-art solutions that generate more revenues and increase MENA outreach. Thus, I manage, lead, direct, and oversee the activities and operations of the business with excellent client relationship management to maintain a great customer experience impact.

Through joining FINCA in 2014, an international microfinance company located in 22 subsidiaries, I accomplished many assignments and target sets for the business through handling multiple tasks simultaneously and managing successful solution implementations in market intelligence functions, new procedures, and research, accomplishing over-indebtedness analysis, and client satisfaction surveys. Moreover, I was nominated as the top leader in all FINCA international organizations for leading CX from the inside-out and inspiring the team to achieve a growth of 35% by the end of 2016.

Naturally, moving from country to another, I learned to adapt, to appreciate not only the differences between cultures, but also the similarities between them. Above all, I learned to empathically listen to the words said by others. These invaluable skills I picked up, combined with my global experience, provided me with the perfect preparation for an entrepreneur in today’s fast-globalizing world.

In 2020, I joined WideBot, a startup company founded in 2016 and MENA’s No. 1 Arabic NLP cognitive AI business communications solutions provider, as Head of Business and Partnership, who was responsible for planning, developing, and implementing WideBot business strategies and MENA market growth. After a successful year of business growth, I was promoted to lead the company as WideBot Managing Director by offering quality end-to-end Arabic AI solutions and services worldwide. Rasha is also responsible for all development, communication, and physical facilities, leading the effort to enhance WideBot brand and increase its revenue in the MENA region.

WideBot is an intersection between scalable AI cognitive services and a customer experience (CX) platform. Founded in 2016, WideBot embraces building Arabic-focused AI solutions in the MENA region with the mission to empower businesses through AI-powered solutions that chat like human beings, so they can build strong relationships with their customers and maximize their outcomes through a seamless personalized experience.

“As Managing Director, I am glad to be engaged in supporting prospects towards using Arabic NLP AI solutions to increase customer experience (CX) and automate services seamlessly.“