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GCC BOARD GENDER INDEX 2026 HIGHLIGHTS CONTINUED PROGRESS AS WOMEN’S REPRESENTATION REACHES 7% ACROSS GCC BOARDS

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Heriot-Watt University and Aurora50 have today released the ‘GCC Board Gender Index Report 2026‘, marking the third edition of this comprehensive study of women’s representation on the boards of publicly listed companies in the GCC.

For the third consecutive year, the report remains the only index of its kind to provide a unified view of board composition across all GCC local stock exchanges. The findings continue to highlight steady, incremental progress towards more inclusive corporate leadership across the region.

Key findings from this report are as follows:

  • As of January 2026, women hold 7% of board positions across the GCC, up from 6.9% in 2025, reflecting a 1.4% year-on-year increase. While growth remains gradual, the data points to sustained momentum in advancing gender diversity in boardrooms.
  • The index now covers 759 publicly listed companies across the GCC. Over the past year, the total number of board seats has increased from 5,668 to 5,755, representing a 1.5% rise.
  • A total of 341 women now hold 403 board positions, up from 334 women and 390 seats in 2025. This reflects growth in both the number of women directors (2.1%) and board positions held (3.3%) across the GCC. Some women hold more than one directorship, indicating a broader increase in representation and participation at the board level.
  • Country-level data shows that the UAE continues to lead the region for the third year running, with women holding 15% of board seats across its three stock exchanges, compared to 14.7% in 2025. Bahrain retains second position, with women occupying 10.5% of board seats, followed by Oman at 7%.

Country-wise, the percentage of board positions held by women at publicly listed companies across the GCC is as follows:

UAE: 15.0% (191 of 1,274 seats)

Bahrain: 10.5% (36 of 342 seats)

Oman: 7.0% (51 of 731 seats)

Kuwait: 5.6% (52 of 927 seats)

Qatar: 3.2% (15 of 467 seats)

Saudi Arabia: 2.9% (58 of 2,014 seats)

This year’s report also introduces sector-level analysis across 12 industries in all six GCC countries. Notably, the UAE and Saudi Arabia are the only countries in the region where women hold board positions across every sector. The financial sector accounts for the highest number of female board seats, followed by the industrial sector.

The top three sectors in the UAE by number of board seats held by women are Financial services, with 86 of 564 positions; the Industrial sector, with 35 of 214; and Consumer Staples, with 15 of 94.

Commenting on the launch of the GCC Board Gender Index 2026, Her Highness Sheikha Shamma bint Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, Chairperson of diversity and inclusion agency Aurora50, said,  “Aurora50 is proud to partner for a third time with Heriot-Watt University Dubai on this authoritative GCC-wide benchmark that continues to deliver consistent tracking and provides transparent data in and for the region.

“It’s particularly encouraging to see the UAE’s progress in this space, with women’s board representation in the nation growing from 3.5% to 15% since 2020. This is a true testament to the vision of the UAE’s leadership in advancing gender equity in the workplace. Women in board positions bring broader perspectives, stronger governance, and significant organisational growth – at a time when the world demands resilient, adaptive business leaders, my hope is that the value of diversity will continue to be recognised and leveraged.”

Provost and Vice Principal of Heriot-Watt University Dubai, Professor Dame Heather McGregor, said, “The GCC Board Gender Index has, over time, become an important benchmark for understanding how boardrooms across the region are evolving. What stands out in this year’s findings is not just the increase in representation but also the consistency of that progress, underpinned by a growing breadth of data and insights.

The UAE continues to demonstrate what is possible with sustained focus, but there is a clear opportunity to accelerate more broadly across the region. Our collaboration with Aurora50 is grounded in a shared belief that rigorous, transparent data can play a meaningful role in shaping better outcomes. It is encouraging to see the region continuing to move in the right direction, and I am keen to build on this progress through our ongoing work, informed conversations and contribution to long-term, systemic change in board composition across the GCC.’

The GCC Board Gender Index, supported by Board Intelligence, AlixPartners and Grant Thornton, includes detailed data on board directors. Each company and director is uniquely identified to ensure accuracy and avoid duplication, particularly when companies are listed on multiple exchanges or directors serve on multiple boards. This approach enables the report to serve as a single, authoritative source of data for researchers, policymakers and industry stakeholders, while also elevating the visibility of women currently serving on boards and recognising the region’s ongoing progress.

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Anomali to Address the Next Phase of AI-Led Cyber Defense at GISEC 2026

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Anomali, the leading global Managed Intelligence and Agentic SOC platform, announced its participation at GISEC Global 2026, taking place through 16-18 September at Dubai Exhibition Centre (DEC), Expo City.

The company’s discussions at GISEC will center on Autonomous SOC with Governed AI, Agentic AI, Actionable Threat Intelligence and Unified Security Data Lake capabilities that are changing the manner in which security teams investigate threats, manage workflows and make decisions.

Samer Jadallah, Vice President, Middle East & Africa at Anomali, will represent the company at GISEC and will focus on the growing impact of AI on both attackers and defenders, emerging shifts in the threat landscape, including the need to counter CEO impersonation attacks as well as key challenges facing modern security teams. He will also highlight AI’s role is helping organizations respond more effectively to evolving threats, Anomali’s commitment to the region and ongoing product innovation and plans to expand adoption of the Anomali platform across global enterprises and government organizations.

A key focus at this year’s event will be the changing nature of cyberattacks. As threat actors promptly adopt AI to scale campaigns and further accelerate attacks, security operations centers (SOC) are under growing pressure to process rising volumes of alerts with limited resources. To help with this, Anomali will demonstrate how AI can support analysts in multiple ways like surfacing higher- value insights, reducing manual effort and enabling quicker, informed responses.

Visitors can find Anomali at Booth E156 and Booth A80.

  • Event: GISEC Global 2026
  • Booths: E156 and A80
  • Location: Dubai Exhibition Centre (DEC), Expo City
  • Dates: 16 th to 18 September 2026
  • Time: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm GST
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HONOR BRINGS ITS ALPHA PLAN TO LIFE AT LEAP 2026 WITH THE WORLD’S FIRST ROBOT PHONE AND RENEWED “DARE TO BE” BRAND DIRECTION

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HONOR, a global leading AI device ecosystem company, concluded its participation at LEAP 2026, bringing its “ALPHA PLAN: From Vision to Reality” to life through the world’s first Robot Phone, advancements in robotics, cinematic imaging and connected AI experiences. The participation also marked HONOR’s renewed “Dare to Be” brand direction reflecting its continued transformation from a company predominantly known for smartphones into a broader global AI device ecosystem company.

Commenting on the participation, Lei Kunming, CMO HONOR Middle East & Africa said, “LEAP 2026 showed how HONOR’s ALPHA PLAN is moving from vision to reality. From the world’s first Robot Phone and Robotics to our connected ecosystem, we demonstrated how AI can work more naturally around people.” He added “Our ‘Dare to Be’ direction gives that transformation a stronger identity, with Saudi Arabia remaining central to our growth in AI and digital innovation.”

Bringing the HONOR Booth Experience to Life

Visitors explored HONOR’s expanding ecosystem through interactive experiences spanning sports, gaming, smart office, learning and everyday scenarios.

The booth demonstrated how smartphones, PCs, tablets, wearables and other smart devices can work together to deliver more seamlessly, across work, entertainment, sports and health, reflecting the ALPHA PLAN’s ambition to create a more intelligent, connected and human-centric ecosystem around the user.

Introducing the World’s First Robot Phone

At the centre of HONOR’s showcase was the world’s first Robot Phone, a defining proof point of the ALPHA PLAN and a new category combining AI, robotics and cinematic imaging.

Its integrated robotic gimbal can move, track subjects and respond to its surroundings, enabling more intuitive and proactive content creation. LEAP also marked the Robot Phone’s reveal for the Middle East and Africa, making the region the first overseas market to experience the new category.

HONOR also highlighted its collaboration with ARRI, bringing more than 100 years of professional cinema and image science expertise together with HONOR’s AI and robotics capabilities to make cinematic content creation more accessible to everyday users.

Advancing a Future Built on Human and AI Collaboration

Beyond the Robot Phone, HONOR showcased its ambitions in robotics through HONOR Robotics D1, reinforcing its vision of a future shaped not by humans competing against AI, but by humans working with AI to achieve more. The company also explored the future of AI devices and robotics through its LEAP keynote and panel discussions.

Entering a New “Dare to Be” Era

Reflecting this evolution, HONOR’s renewed“Dare to Be” direction reflects its evolution beyond individual devices towards an open AI ecosystem connecting technologies, industries and lifestyles. Supported by innovations including Agentic OS and AiMAGE, HONOR’s journey progresses from an intelligent phone to an intelligent ecosystem and, ultimately, an intelligent world.

Driving Growth Across MEA

HONOR entered LEAP with strong regional momentum. In H1 2026, the company grew by 35% while the Middle East smartphone market declined by 13%, making HONOR the only leading smartphone brand in the region to grow and the second-largest smartphone brand in the Middle East. This followed 73% year-on-year growth in Q1 2026.

Within this regional growth, Saudi Arabia remains a particularly important market for HONOR, supporting the company’s broader ambitions across AI devices and its connected ecosystem.

Strengthening HONOR’s AIoT Presence in Saudi Arabia

As part of this momentum, Saudi Arabia remains a strategic market for HONOR and an important part of the ALPHA PLAN. The Kingdom is now HONOR’s number one tablet market by share, while its AIoT business has grown by more than 500% and HONOR Earbuds Clip has surpassed 100,000 units sold locally.

Building on this strong foundation, HONOR continues to strengthen its presence through retail, after-sales, local partnerships and deeper engagement with the Kingdom’s technology ecosystem.

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greytHR expands agentic AI-powered HR execution across Middle East region with greytHR NAVOS

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greytHR, a leading full-suite Human Resource Management System (HRMS) platform, launched greytHR NAVOS across the Middle East region, bringing agentic AI competencies directly into its platform. The new capability enables HR teams  to find information, navigate workflows, while completing authorised HR activities through simple, natural-language commands.

The Middle East rollout comes as agentic AI begins to reshape HR functions globally. According to McKinsey’s August 2026 research on the agentic era of HR, roughly two-thirds of today’s HR activities, including recruitment, payroll, onboarding and benefits administration, could be largely automated by 2030.

Unlike conventional AI assistants that primarily focus on answering questions, greytHR NAVOS follows an execution-first approach, helping users move from finding information to initiating and completing supported HR actions. Its three core functions – Navigate, Operate, and Support – enable information and workflow discovery, authorised action execution and contextual guidance.

Girish Rowjee, Co-founder & CEO of greytHR, said: “We have evolved from a system that you work on, to a platform that works with you. As a full-suite HRMS, greytHR already connects the entire hire-to-retire lifecycle across key HR operations. With the launch of greytHR NAVOS, we are adding an agentic AI layer across this connected ecosystem, enabling users to manage everyday HR activities through conversational commands rather than searching through multiple menus or disconnected tools. Furthermore, greytHR NAVOS works within each organisation’s existing security and access controls, reducing administrative friction and accelerating everyday HR execution.”

greytHR NAVOS supports a wide range of workflows across core HR, leave and attendance, workforce management, performance management, recruitment, platform navigation and support. HR teams can use the capability to update employee information, generate and publish letters, access attendance records, manage leave and regularisations, support performance reviews, search for job openings and candidates, handle recruitment approvals and generate hiring content.

Based on early greytHR NAVOS usage in comparable markets,  HR administrators have reported productivity savings of approximately five hours per week by replacing repetitive manual workflows with conversational requests. In one practical example, an attendance-muster export that previously required around five separate steps can be completed through a natural-language prompt in approximately 10 seconds. By simplifying routine processes and reducing time spent on software interfaces, greytHR NAVOS enables HR professionals to devote more time to employee engagement, workforce planning and strategic decision-making.

greytHR NAVOS operates within each organisation’s existing role-based access control (RBAC) system, ensuring that access to employee information and platform actions remains aligned with individual user roles and permissions. Moreover, sensitive or irreversible actions require explicit human confirmation before execution. The platform also maintains a traceable audit record of AI-assisted activity, including the initiating user, timestamp, prompt and action details. Meanwhile, greytHR’s established privacy, security, and governance framework extends to greytHR NAVOS, including alignment with SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001:2022, and GDPR frameworks, supported by human oversight.

The new capability is available across all paid greytHR plans, including essential, growth, and premium, with no per-seat AI fees, usage caps or separate purchase required.

The launch showcases the evolution of HRMS platforms from traditional systems of record towards systems of action, where technology can understand user intent, identify the relevant workflow and support the execution of the next authorised step.

greytHR currently supports over 34,000 organisations and 3.5 million users across over 30 countries, providing a strong foundation for expanding its agentic AI capabilities across the Middle East region. With greytHR NAVOS, the company is helping regional businesses simplify HR administration and narrow the gap between intent and execution.

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