BrazilPwC hosts Global Leaders Exchange at Future Blockchain Summit in Dubai
The Middle East arm of professional services firm PwC has been busy this week, in attendance, hosting and sponsoring several events across the region.
Even with an overall headcount of more than 5,000 employees across 12 countries region-wide, the digital team of Big Four professional services firm PwC might have been feeling a little stretched this week with a packed schedule of events and appearances – headed by the Global Leaders Exchange at the Future Blockchain Summit in Dubai, now the largest such festival of its kind with over 10,000 people passing through the gates.
Hosted by Smart Dubai in partnership with the Dubai World Trade Centre, the second edition of the Future Blockchain Summit featured over 170 speakers covering a range of blockchain advancement and implementation topics across sectors such as real-estate, retail, healthcare, transport, supply chain, education, government and finance – spread across a number of exhibitions, workshops and forums.
Among the major events: the annual closed-door Global Leaders Exchange presented by PwC. Following a productive roundtable last year, which focused on accelerating blockchain and covered themes on education, interoperability, collaboration and the role of government in affecting change, this year delegates gathered to further build upon those concepts, as outlined in PwC’s Accelerating Blockchain whitepaper.
Alongside PwC experts Dan Johnson, Stephen Anderson, Clement Chan and Oliver Sykes, participants in the round-table discussion included among others Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger; Kathryn Harrison, Director of Global Offering for IBM; Ramez Danda, Microsoft National Technology Officer; Ivar. Wiersma, ING Head of Innovation for Wholesale Banking, and; Chamber of Digital Commerce founder Perianne Boring.
Coinciding with the Future Blockchain Summit, but finishing today, is the Sage Enterprise Management Partner Summit, with PwC the event’s diamond sponsor. Held this year down the road from the Future Blockchain Summit at the JW Marriott Marquis Hotel in Dubai, the summit is the largest annual gathering of Sage Business Cloud Enterprise Management partners – with more than 400 delegates in attendance for talks, networking, and demonstrations.
“I am thrilled to be hosting Sage Enterprise Management Partner Summit in Dubai, welcoming partners from over 30 countries around the world to this exclusive event,” said Jennifer Warawa, EVP of Partners, Accountants and Alliances at Sage. “We know that our partners appreciate the opportunity to network with their peers from across the globe, and this is a fantastic opportunity to do just that. We are confident partners will leave feeling empowered, motivated and inspired.”
Meanwhile, PwC’s ‘Town Halls’ roadshow continues across the region, having so far taken in Jordan/Iraq, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Kuwait and Oman among the firm’s Middle East outlets. Led by Middle East senior partner Hani Ashkar, the Town Halls roadshow is an opportunity to address and hear from regional staff, and forms part of a region-wide digital upskilling initiative for local PwC employees – said to have been met with great enthusiasm to date.
