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


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.
Tech News
CABSAT and SATExpo 2026 head to new Expo City Dubai home with expanded focus on content, Mediatech & Pro AV and the commercial space economy
CABSAT and SATExpo will take place from 5–7 October 2026 at their new home, Dubai Exhibition Centre (DEC), Expo City Dubai, bringing together international leaders across media, content, broadcast, Pro AV, satellite communications and space technology.
Now in its 33rd edition and held in strategic partnership with Dubai Studio City, CABSAT 2026 arrives as the region’s unified sourcing platform for media technology, content creation, broadcast and professional audiovisual (Pro AV) solutions. Co-located SATExpo, now in its second edition and held in strategic partnership with the UAE Space Agency, will connect the international satellite, space and advanced-connectivity ecosystem across infrastructure, connectivity and emerging commercial applications.

CABSAT 2026 is expected to welcome more than 18,800 visitors, 450+ exhibiting companies and 700+ brands from over 120 countries, alongside more than 150 speakers and 50+ hours of industry content. Confirmed international exhibitors include Grass Valley, Ross Video, Evertz, Imagine Communications, Haivision, LiveU, NAGRAVISION and Qvest, spanning broadcast, production, content and media technology.
SATExpo 2026 is expected to bring together more than 8,000 visitors, 150+ exhibitors from over 70 countries and 80+ expert speakers. Participating companies include Eutelsat, SES, Telesat, APSTAR, Space Norway and ST Engineering iDirect.
Rajendra Salgaonkar, Head of Sales, Exhibitions, inD, said: “The media, entertainment and space industries are evolving at remarkable speed, creating new opportunities across technology, content and connectivity. CABSAT and SATExpo have evolved alongside these industries, bringing together the people, technologies and ideas shaping what comes next. With CABSAT now bringing together media technology, content creation, broadcast and Pro AV, and SATExpo connecting the satellite and space value chain, our new home at Expo City Dubai provides an exciting setting for international business, knowledge exchange and collaboration.”
Contentverse explores the forces reshaping media and content
At the heart of CABSAT’s knowledge programme, Contentverse Director’s Cut, the evolution of Content Congress, will bring together international and regional media leaders to examine how artificial intelligence, new storytelling formats, changing audience behaviour and emerging commercial models are reshaping content creation, distribution and monetisation.
The programme will feature international and regional industry leaders including Amith Jain of JioStar, Moon Baz of Meta, Assad Ghanem of Viu and Ellie Habib of OSN+ contributing perspectives across creator-led content, vertical storytelling, production, technology and evolving audience behaviours.
The programme comes as the MENA media and entertainment market continues to expand. The sector is projected to reach USD 18 billion by 2028, with digital platforms expected to account for 74 per cent of the market, while the UAE and Saudi Arabia are projected to represent 66 per cent of the regional media and entertainment share. Globally, the industry is expected to reach approximately USD 4.2 trillion by 2030.
From content development to production in action
Beyond the conference programme, CABSAT 2026 will create further opportunities for industry collaboration, industry access and recognition. Co-Production Salon in partnership with H-consult will facilitate curated meetings between content creators, producers and investors, connecting creative projects with potential production partners, financing opportunities and international collaboration. The Dubai Studio City Sound Stage Tour will offer a behind-the-scenes look at Dubai’s production infrastructure and capabilities, while the BroadcastPro Manufacturer Awards 2026 will recognize technologies and solutions advancing the broadcast and media-production industry.
Exhibitor perspective
Across the exhibition floor, CABSAT will also showcase how technology providers are responding to changing production requirements, as broadcasters and media organisations increasingly move towards more flexible, software-defined and IP-based workflows. Exhibitors will demonstrate solutions spanning production, broadcast engineering, cloud and IP workflows, reflecting the wider transformation taking place across the media technology ecosystem.
Klaus-Joerg Jasper, Sales Director Middle East, Lawo, stated: “CABSAT remains one of the most important meeting points for broadcasters, media organisations, and technology innovators across the Middle East. At this year’s show, we are demonstrating how open, software-based and IP-native technologies are helping media companies transition from fixed infrastructures to more flexible, service-oriented production models.”
SATExpo connects the future of satellite and space
Held under the theme ‘Connecting the future’, SATExpo 2026 will bring together the international satellite, space and advanced-connectivity ecosystem. Covering the complete value chain from satellite manufacturing and launch services to ground systems, connectivity, downstream applications and space-data analytics, the event will connect governments, satellite operators, technology providers, investors and emerging space businesses.

The SATExpo Summit, themed ‘From Space Race to International Collaboration in Orbits – A Future for All’, will examine three areas shaping the sector: orbital safety, liability and sustainability governance; future in-space infrastructure and services from GEO to LEO; and human spaceflight and space exploration.
Alongside the Summit, the Satellite Innovation Showcase, Startups and Space-Tech Demonstrations will highlight emerging technologies and practical applications. The Matchmaking Programme will facilitate curated meetings between satellite operators, solution providers, investors and government stakeholders, creating opportunities for commercial discussions and international partnerships.
Together at their new Expo City Dubai home, CABSAT and SATExpo 2026 will provide distinct but complementary platforms for the content, mediatech, broadcast, Pro AV, satellite and space technology communities, creating opportunities for technology discovery, international collaboration and business exchange.
Tech News
UiPath Launches UiPath Cartographer, Helping Enterprises Turn Scattered Process Knowledge into an Actionable View of How Their Business Runs
UiPath, Inc. (NYSE: PATH), a leader in business orchestration and automation, today announced the launch of UiPath Cartographer, a new product for building the Map of Work, a living, governed view of how an enterprise process actually runs. Combined with coding agents, orchestration, and continuous improvement, UiPath Cartographer replaces the interviews, slide decks, and outdated documents used to capture the operational knowledge that drives successful automation and AI projects.
Enterprises have spent years mapping their data, creating a structured knowledge base of every customer, invoice, claim, and contract. Yet very few have mapped the operational knowledge that guides the work itself. The rules a process follows, the exceptions employees quietly handle, and what happens when something goes wrong. All of this lives in the heads of the employees and in the disconnected collection of documents, spreadsheets, and threads accessed and shared at every step and for every exception – knowledge that must be retraced, repeatedly. Every new automation or AI initiative has to rebuild that understanding, but without the critical enterprise context, the Map of Work, showing how that knowledge is used.
UiPath Cartographer is how that Map of Work gets built. It gives business analysts the ability to replace the weeks of interviews and handwritten documents generated when trying to improve a process with a guided conversation. By synthesizing context (documents, steps, rules, and exceptions) that usually lives in various systems and formats, UiPath Cartographer builds an implementable Map of Work of that process aligned to business goals, identifying opportunities for re-engineering and supporting the continuous capture of live feedback over time. It’s the authoritative, customer-owned source of truth, defined by the customer, of how business runs, with a named owner who approves every change.
From the Map comes the design documents teams still need, and the working automations themselves, so nothing drifts out of sync. And as people make judgment calls while the work runs, those decisions are captured and offered back as proposed changes, which the Map’s owner approves or rejects. Nothing changes on its own. Each process cycle makes the next one faster, because the objects and rules already captured carry forward. And because UiPath Cartographer runs on the UiPath Platform™, Cartographer inherits the same identity, security, and governance as the rest of the platform already uses.
Using UiPath Cartographer, enterprise have everything they need to start the building of agents, workflows, and automations to improve the process on the UiPath Platform using:
- Prebuilt Maps – Based on UiPath’s experience in helping customers with its portfolio of UiPath Solutions for some of the most common and business-critical industry- and function-specific processes (such as loan origination, healthcare claims review, source-to-pay, and others), these maps arrive drawn and configured.
- Process Atlas – A curated library of deep maps of complex processes across industries, grounded in domain knowledge and built from authoritative sources. It contains the whole shape of the process, with case plans, KPIs and benchmarks, standard policies, and rules.
- Build your own – For those organizations with very specific and highly-governed processes, UiPath Cartographer captures what is native and proprietary, then gives the blueprint to build from.
Once built, those agents and automations can be orchestrated using UiPath Maestro™, with built-in governance and observability for that workflow. Lastly, the Decision Ledger records and maintains what was decided and why throughout the process, feeding those curated decisions back into the Map of Work as operating knowledge or new rules, creating a continuous improvement loop that leaves the Map better than the last.
“For years, businesses have digitized their data without ever capturing the enterprise context of how that data is actually put to work,” said Daniel Dines, Founder and CEO of UiPath. “Map of Work is how we translate that gap into something concrete. A process map tells you how work is designed to run. UiPath Cartographer is the key to uncovering the operational knowledge of how that work actually runs, with every exception and every judgment call included. It’s the first product built to capture both and keep them in sync.”
Tech News
SCC Middle East appoints Shams Hasan as VP of Sales as regional expansion accelerates
SCC Middle East has appointed Shams Hasan as Vice President of Sales as the company expands its UAE-based team and accelerates its growth plans across the Middle East.
Hasan will lead the company’s commercial development across the region, with responsibility for expanding SCC ME’s customer base and strengthening its engagement with government, critical industries and large enterprise.
He joins SCC from VAST Data, where he most recently led sales and strategy across the Middle East, Türkiye and Africa and was part of the regional leadership team that built the business from the ground up.
Prior to VAST Data, Hasan held senior roles with Dell Technologies in the UK and across the Middle East, Türkiye and Africa. During his time with Dell, he also fronted the company’s Realizing 2030 research in the region.
His appointment comes as SCC ME builds its regional operation around growing customer demand in areas including AI, cybersecurity, cloud, data and mission-critical infrastructure. The company is investing in the people and capabilities needed to support its next phase of regional growth, as organisations look for partners that can bring together technology, expertise and delivery capability rather than simply provide another technology solution.
Daniel Valle, CEO, SCC Middle East, said:
“The timing of this appointment is important for us. We are building the business quickly, but we also want to build it properly and around people who genuinely understand this market.
“Shams understands it extremely well. More importantly, he knows the people and organisations shaping it. He brings relationships, credibility and experience in areas that are becoming increasingly important to our customers, particularly as AI moves from experimentation into real operational environments.
“Our opportunity is to put the customer at the heart of that technology conversation and help turn ambition into measurable progress. Shams will play a very important role in helping us do that.”
Hasan’s appointment also brings significant AI infrastructure experience into SCC ME at a time when organisations across the Gulf are looking more closely at the infrastructure, data, security and sovereignty requirements behind AI adoption.
Over recent years, he has worked alongside organisations across the region as they have moved from exploring the potential of AI to addressing the practical challenges of putting it into production.
The appointment also comes ahead of AI Everything Abu Dhabi, where Hasan will join Valle and the SCC ME team alongside VAST Data, meeting customers, partners and prospects and discussing the practical requirements behind secure and sovereign AI implementation.
Hasan said:
“What drew me to SCC is a combination that is genuinely quite rare. There is more than 50 years of experience behind the business, but it remains independent and family owned. That matters because we are not tied to one technology or one answer. We can start with what the customer is actually trying to achieve and then bring together the right technology, partners and expertise to get them there.
“I’ve spent a large part of my career working with customers and partners across this region, and relationships here are built over time. SCC understands that. It is a business that measures relationships in years and decades rather than quarters, and that long-term mindset resonates strongly in this market.
“My focus is straightforward: get in front of the right organisations, deliver sales growth and turn the opportunity we see across the region into long-term customer relationships.”
Hasan holds a BSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. He also holds an MBA from Columbia Business School, where he received Dean’s Honors, and an MBA from London Business School, where he graduated with Distinction.
SCC’s investment in its Middle East operation forms part of the privately owned technology group’s longer-term international growth strategy.
Founded more than 50 years ago, SCC has remained under family ownership while growing into one of Europe’s largest independent technology solutions and services organisations. Its ownership structure has allowed the business to take a long-term approach to investment, customer relationships and the markets in which it operates.
James Rigby, Executive Chairman, SCC, said:
“Being a family-owned business shapes the way we think about growth. We have been building SCC for more than 50 years and that naturally gives you a different perspective. You invest in people, you build relationships and you think about where the business needs to be in five, ten and twenty years, not simply the next quarter.
“That is the approach we are taking in the Middle East. We are here to build something meaningful and sustainable, based on the same values and customer-first philosophy that have earned SCC trust over many years.
“Shams has spent much of his career building businesses and relationships in technology markets and I think that builder’s mindset makes him a very good fit for what Daniel and the team are creating in the region.”
SCC ME’s regional strategy is centred on putting customers at the heart of technology, helping them turn ambition into progress that strengthens organisations, advances national capability and creates lasting value for people and society.
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