At a glittering evening that made it worth the several months of anticipation and preparation, serial entrepreneur par excellence and social activist Sir Richard Branson took centre-stage at du’s recently-held 5th CEO Forum – comprising of an eager power-packed audience of more than 500 of the top business leaders of the UAE and beyond. 

This year’s theme was titled ‘Innovation Odyssey’. It focused on innovation – with a thrust on leadership and entrepreneurship, people and giving back to the community and drew from Sir Branson’s experiences in business and life.

Osman Sultan, CEO, du, said: “It was a great honour and our privilege to host Sir Richard Branson at CEO Forum this year. His words will continue to be a reminder that we can all make a difference to the world around us if each of us is truly committed and follows it up with determination and passion. I hope the audiences were as much moved and inspired as I was. I thank everybody for his deep support and engagement in making our event memorable and I look forward to yet another successful edition next year.”

Excerpts from Branson-speak at du’s 5th CEO Forum:
• A Company is an idea to make a difference in somebody’s life. Most successful businesses come from the heart. Having moral purpose is very important.
• The best companies in their respective areas never go bankrupt. Don’t go into a business unless you are significantly better.
• Employees must be made to commit mistakes. Good leaders must early on find people better than themselves so that they can spend more time innovating instead.
• Human capital – a company is simply a group of people, it’s not the brand or product – none of these matter if it’s not for the people. Make sure they are loved and praised. People do not flourish when they are not praised.
• If every company would adopt one or two  major problems in the world, we would get on top of all the problems we face today.

Under the umbrella of du’s Leadership Series, the CEO Forum 2014 was an invitation-only business event, and was held on 24 March this year in Dubai. Through innovative, inspirational events such as the CEO Forum, du brings UAE’s CEOs and top executives together with some of the world’s most motivational and successful personalities. Previous forums have hosted Malcolm Gladwell, Chris Anderson, Robin Sharma, Pranav Mistry, and Professor Clayton Christensen. 

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