The Women in Renewable Energy (WiRE) leadership team, President & CEO Joanna Osawe and Vice President Aisha Bukhari, visited the UAE in January 2022 to collaborate with local partners to promote the role of women in the cleantech sector and to grow WiRE’s presence in the MENA region. WiRE is especially thankful to the Canadian Ambassador to the UAE (H.E. Ambassador Marcy Grossman and Consul General at the Consulate of Canada in Dubai – H.E Mr. Jean-Philippe Linteau and the Canadian Consulate in Dubai – Trade Commissioner at the Consulate General of Canada in Dubai – Gabriel Jabbour & Trade Commissioner Louis-Philippe Duhaime for their partnership and support over the last 2+ years in supporting WiRE’s growth in the UAE. Highlights from the trip are summarized below.

H.E. Jean-Philippe Linteau, Consul General of Canada in Dubai, and the Northern Emirates, provided the opening remarks for the event. Joanna Osawe did the keynote address highlighting the growing role of women in the cleantech sector amidst the transition to net zero. Aisha Bukhari participated in a panel discussion “Women Leadership in Cleantech: Shared Experiences and Practices from both UAE and Canada”. Speakers and panelists that participated in the event include:  

• Mhairi Main Garcia, Partner at Dentons and Vice-chair of the CEBC

• Dr. Carole Nakhle, CEO, Crystol Energy & Director, Access for Women in Energy

• Katarina Uherova Hasbani, Partner and Global Director of Strategy and Advisory, AESG and Founder, ENRUPT

• Dina Storey, Director - Sustainability Operations - Sustainability-Real Estate at EXPO 2020 Dubai

• Ahmed Samir Elbermbali, Managing Director, CEBC

• Gabriel Jabbour, Trade Commissioner, Consul General of Canada in Dubai, and the Northern Emirates

WiRE met with the delegation from Malta to share experiences related to advancing the role of women in the cleantech sector and discussed collaboration opportunities. 

A big thank you to the delegation from Malta for an engaging conversation:

• Josephine Farrugia, COO at Malta Free Zones - Malta Enterprise

• Abigail Cutajar, Advisor to the Minister Ministry for Energy, Enterprise, and Sustainable Development

 The Masdar team organized the WiSER annual forum as part of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week - ADSW. The event was hosted and moderated by the inspiring Amandeep Bhangu, an international presenter-reporter and filmmaker. Joanna Osawe and Aisha Bukhari participated in intimate roundtable discussions at the forum. The insights from the forum will be published in a white paper next month. 

 The WiRE team attended the Hydrogen conference in Abu Dhabi to learn more about emerging opportunities between the two countries and explore collaboration opportunities. 

 WiRE participated in the Global Cleantech Summit at the Swedish Pavilion at Expo 2020. Joanna moderated the "Industry Towards Net Zero" panel and Aisha participated in "Women in Cleantech Investment" panel. You can read the highlights from the event here. 

WiRE attended the panel hosted at the Women’s pavilion with speakers H.E. Ambassador Marcy Grossman and Mónica Zalaquett, Minister of Women and Gender Equity of Chile. The speakers reinforced the message, "when women win, we all win". 

WiRE was delighted to meet with Minister Jeremy Harrison and Counsellor and Sr. Trade Commissioner Lindsay Margenau - at the Canadian pavilion and share the work that WiRE is doing in Canada and the UAE. 

WiRE was delighted to participate in the Terry Fox run at the Expo organized by the Canadian pavilion. You can read the news coverage of the event here. 

H.E Ambassador Marcy Grossman and the Second Secretary (Political and Public Affairs) at Embassy of Canada to the United Arab Emirates Nancy Odeh at the Youth Pavilion at ExpoDubai2020