Dubai, UAE: Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) successfully concluded its second Agility Week, featuring several activities and events aimed at consolidating the concept of enterprise agility among employees. This supports Dubai Government’s strategies to prepare for the future and contributes to achieving the sustainable development of the UAE. The event took place at various DEWA buildings and saw the participation of about 1,200 employees from all DEWA divisions.

HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA, said that enterprise agility is a key pillar for DEWA to ensure that it keeps pace with the ongoing changes, noting that DEWA was one of the first utilities worldwide to implement this concept as a part of its efforts to ensure readiness for the future.

Al Tayer explained that DEWA established an agility department to support in developing agility practices and contribute to spreading an agility culture and practices among employees, supporting DEWA’s strategy to be a fully agile utility within a comprehensive system of integrated corporate work that covers all activities and operations. This increases efficiency and productivity, as well as encourages creativity and innovation. 

Agility Week activities included workshops, as well as in-person and virtual lectures, in addition to an exhibition of enterprise agility projects implemented by DEWA's divisions.

Day One:

Al Tayer inaugurated the Agility Week activities with the Business Agility Forum held at One&Only One Za'abeel hotel. Officials from local and international organisations spoke at the forum, including Mohamed Alabbar, Founder and Managing Director of Emaar Properties; Helmut von Struve, CEO of Siemens Middle East; Naim Yazbeck, General Manager of Microsoft UAE; Firas Al Msaddi, CEO of fäm Properties; Yi-Wei Ang, Chief Product Officer of Talabat; and Shant Oknayan, Vice President of Global Business Solutions at TikTok.

Day Two:

Day two activities, held at the Innovation Tent at DEWA’s headquarters, included a speech by Michael Smith, Portfolio Management Director at HSBC Bank, titled ‘The Transformation of Banking Services’. The programme also included a workshop titled ‘Scenario Planning and Future Readiness’ presented by the Future Foresight Team at DEWA, as well as another workshop titled ‘Stakeholder Happiness – People and Culture’ delivered by the Stakeholder Happiness Team at DEWA. In the accompanying exhibition, DEWA's division showcased their most prominent projects and initiatives aimed at enhancing enterprise agility.

Day Three:

Day three of DEWA Agility Week took place at the Power Transmission Division at DEWA's building in Warsan. The opening speech was delivered by Hussain Lootah, Executive Vice President of Transmission Power at DEWA. Prof Melodena Stephens from the Mohammed bin Rashid School of Government delivered a speech titled ‘Agile Governments’.

Day Four:

Day four activities took place at DEWA’s building in Al Ruwaiyah. The programme included a speech by Rashid Bin Humaidan, Executive Vice President of Distribution Power at DEWA, as well as a speech on ‘Agile Transformation’ by Mischa Zielke from McKinsey & Company.

Day Five:

The activities of the final day, held at DEWA’s Sustainable Building in Al Quoz, included a speech by Abdullah Obaidullah, Executive Vice President of Water & Civil at DEWA, as well as a speech by Sajith Vitel from Protiviti on ‘Enhancing Performance through Enterprise Agility’.

DEWA staff expressed their appreciation for the top management's dedication to keeping employees informed on the latest developments in enterprise agility, enabling them to keep pace with the rapid changes across DEWA’s operations.