• Major uptick in female participation in Saudi Arabia’s tech mega event as dedicated program features high-level content, investment, mentorship & networking opportunities
• Women comprise almost a third of powerful speaker line up at LEAP 2024

Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – 22 February 2024: LEAP 2024, the world’s most attended technology event, will spotlight pioneering women in the global technology industry when the event’s third edition descends on Riyadh Exhibition and Convention Centre in the capital’s Malham district from March 4-7.

Organised by Tahaluf - the strategic joint venture between Informa PLC, the Events Investment Fund (EIF), and the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones (SAFCSP), alongside the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) - LEAP 2024 will feature a dynamic ‘Women in Tech’ program packed with compelling content, investment, networking, and entrepreneurial mentorship opportunities, as well as a dedicated startup award.

The inclusivity-focused program aims to inspire more women – across Saudi Arabia and beyond - to engage with the technology industry and fuel wider diversity initiatives. In-line with far-reaching equality programs being rolled out across the Kingdom, the ‘Women in Tech’ focus at LEAP 2024 comes as female participation in the event maintains an upward trajectory.

“Female representation is across all of LEAP’s features and reflects the event’s mission of driving economic diversification and providing market access to international business,” said Annabelle Mander, Senior Vice President of Tahaluf.

“Within Tahaluf itself, half of our team members are women, and women make up half of our SMT too. This even split between men and women happened naturally. For me, it's all about creating an environment where women are respected, pushed forward, promoted, and given chances to grow, and we couldn’t do it without the support and backing from our male colleagues and teammates.”

The LEAP 2024 ‘Women in Tech’ program will boast its own horizontal content track with an unrivalled speaker line-up of former government ministers, C-suite executives from the world’s most transformative tech disruptors, ethics advisors, and venture capitalists.

Among the line-up on the platform will be Sahar Albanarna of IMPACTIQUE Bahrain, the founder of ‘Women4Impact’ initiative, who believes technology can be leveraged to create positive impact globally.

“Over 26 million women worldwide with professional experience and degrees are not in the global workplace. This demographic includes a huge pool of untapped talent which technology can help unleash to fuel the co-creation of exponential solutions across multiple sectors. To help women access productive employment, we urge industry leaders to support high-impact female entrepreneurs as a means to boost their economies and accelerate the UN’s sustainable development goals by promoting inclusive and sustainable economic growth,” commented Albanarna.

Another woman making significant strides in the tech sphere is Nadine Hachach Haram, CEO and Founder of Proximie. The company, which leads surgical innovation and is digitally connecting global operating rooms for superior healthcare, will also be exhibiting at LEAP 2024. With a mission to deliver quality surgical care and optimise healthcare systems, Proximie digitises operating rooms, ensuring safety and efficacy. Committed to global surgical access, their ongoing projects include surgical data integration and real-time telepresence.

“From the outset, Proximie was designed to facilitate smooth interactions between surgeons operating in-person and observers via a multi-sensory experience,” said Haram. “This was born out of my experience as a surgeon. I knew what surgeons needed to effectively adopt and utilise technology. Our company is thrilled to be exhibiting at LEAP, a global platform that provides an opportunity to meet leaders from across industry and experience the dynamism and innovation which is making Saudi Arabia one of the most exciting global hubs for technological advancement and development.”

Female-led startups and entrepreneurs will also put forward their cases for funding and support at the program’s dedicated Women’s Investor Forum, Entrepreneur Mentorship Scheme, and the Rocket Fuel pitch competition’s Aviatrix Award, which carries a US$150,000 prize purse for the best and most innovative startup pioneered by women founders.

LEAP 2024’s laser focus on AI will see titans of the technology and business worlds share their perspectives, visions, and hopes for a digitally enabled future across the event conference and knowledge exchange stages. Empowered by the Saudi Ministry for Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), LEAP organisers anticipate a record-breaking turnout of over 180,000 visitors in March, surpassing the February 2023 attendance of 172,000.