From the heart of Dubai’s business district, the Dubai World Trade Centre rises like a monument to ambition. But inside its boardrooms, a different kind of architecture is underway. One measured not in steel and glass, but in influence, capital, and trust.
For two decades, LohMirmand has steered this transformation with relentless focus, turning GITEX from a regional event into a global diplomatic instrument. Now spanning Africa, Europe, Asia, and soon Latin America, GITEX has become more than just a tech show – it’s a signal of intent.
Breaking barriers, building resilience
LohMirmand’s professional journey began in Singapore in the world of creative advertising. Her transition to Reed Exhibitions, then the world’s largest event organiser, took her across Singapore and London. “In my late twenties,” she recalls, “I had the distinct opportunity of breaking barriers in a highly male-dominated and rugged arena to lead Singapore’s prestigious aerospace and defence show.”
For her, it was a career crucible. In London in the late 1990s, she navigated professional isolation as a young woman of colour, operating without institutional support. “It was set up to break you,” she says with characteristic understatement. “But it taught me resilience, self-reliance, and how to leverage the power of the mind, not matter.”
The experience forged her leadership style like steel in fire, grounded in grit, meritocracy, and an enduring belief that environments should adapt to talent, not the other way around. Her performance at Reed eventually earned her global recognition within the company. But the phone call from Dubai in 2005 would prove the turning point that changed everything.
The reinvention manifesto
“When I joined DWTC, my vision was to shift the organisation from evolution to elevation.” She wanted to reinvent it entirely, a task that would require dismantling entrenched thinking.
Her first major test came in 2006, when she insisted on annualising Gulfood, the region’s largest food trade event. Internal resistance was fierce, with veterans warning of market saturation. But the decision doubled the event’s economic impact almost overnight. Today, Gulfood stands as the world’s largest food industry platform, and in 2025, it will expand by another 100 per cent across DWTC and Dubai Expo City, a testament to her foresight.
Then came GITEX. Originally launched in 1981, the Gulf Information Technology Exhibition was losing relevance and direction in a rapidly evolving tech landscape. “During the 2007–08 tech infection, many counted us out,” LohMirmand says. “We made the tough call to rebuild from the ground up, sacrificing scale and short-term gains to architect a more resilient and future-proof platform.”
In 2016, she took another calculated risk. “We launched GITEX North Star in a region where the startup investment ecosystem was virtually nonexistent,” she explains. “It was a bold bet that has since become the world’s largest startup event, now playing a central role in shaping the region’s innovation economy.”
The result was extraordinary, even by Dubai’s outsized standards. GITEX became not only the world’s largest tech show by scale, it emerged as one of the most trusted conveners for governments, startups, and global giants in the digital economy.
The integration strategy
To scale globally, LohMirmand embraced a different model – vertical integration. Rather than rely on traditional event suppliers, she built internal teams to control everything from creative direction to operational delivery. “This allows us to stay true to the strategic concept,” she explains, with the precision of someone who has thought deeply about execution. “It’s what lets us execute with consistency and authenticity.”
Her hiring approach is equally unconventional, bordering on the radical for traditional corporate structures. “I don’t hire for roles, I hire for potential,” she says. “We understand what drives people and shape their roles around their strengths.”
This philosophy has created what she calls with a knowing smile “the most fluid org chart in the company.” The unorthodox approach has yielded impressive results. Teams under her leadership have launched global events in record time, often outperforming better-resourced competitors. “We build the plane while flying it,” she says. “And I’m not on the sidelines, I’m in the cockpit with my team, navigating the turbulence together.”
GITEX without borders
If Gulfood proved Dubai could scale events, GITEX proved it could scale influence.
Since 2023, LohMirmand has orchestrated perhaps the most aggressive international expansion ever attempted by an events brand. In just three years, GITEX has entered 11 markets – Marrakesh, Singapore, Berlin, Lagos, Hanoi – and shows no sign of slowing its remarkable trajectory.
Each city represents a strategic chess move in Dubai’s broader geoeconomic strategy. GITEX Africa, which debuted in Morocco, tapped into one of the world’s youngest and fastest-growing tech demographics. GITEX Asia in Singapore signalled a commitment to the East. Berlin, which launched in May 2025, was perhaps the most daring play yet on this global chessboard.
“Europe has incredible R&D talent,” she explains, “but it lacked a unified platform that matched today’s digital ambitions. GITEX Europe was our answer.” The result? The largest inaugural tech show in the continent’s history, defying skeptics who questioned whether a Middle Eastern brand could succeed in Europe’s crowded exhibition landscape.
“GITEX Europe aims to serve as a convergence point where governments, corporates, startups, and investors across the continent and beyond can connect with purpose, accelerate innovation, and create cross-border opportunities,” she says. “It fills the space between fragmented national events and the need for a pan-European tech stage that’s global in its reach and relevant in its impact.”
“It’s a vote of confidence in Dubai’s model,” she says with quiet pride. “We’ve proven that homegrown brands can scale globally, and lead.”
Digital diplomacy by design
For LohMirmand, GITEX is no longer just a trade show, but rather a geopolitical tool wielded with surgical precision.
“These platforms are accelerators for digital diplomacy,” she says. “We’re not just hosting events; we’re architecting ecosystems that reshape how technology is developed and deployed.”
The logic is elegant in its simplicity: bring together governments, capital, and innovators under one roof, and you do more than foster business – you shape alliances. “AI is now the language of diplomacy,” she says. “And GITEX is one of its most influential forums, where policies are shaped and partnerships forged.”
“In this sense, GITEX has evolved into an instrument of soft power, breaking down political barriers in a collective effort to do societal good with AI,” she explains.
“It amplifies the UAE’s role in global conversations and aligns seamlessly with national strategies like the UAE’s AI diplomacy and digital economy blueprint.”
This aligns neatly with the UAE’s national strategy. As the country eyes $27 billion in foreign trade through its D33 strategy, LohMirmand’s exhibitions offer the perfect vehicle. “We’re creating new lanes of collaboration across continents,” she explains, “from Kenya to Egypt, from Europe to Southeast Asia.”
Looking ahead, she sees AI not just as a theme, but as an operating system for the entire events industry. “AI is now at the core of both content and operational strategy,” she says. But adoption in the events industry remains surprisingly slow, mired in legacy systems and outdated mindsets.
She sees this gap as an opportunity ripe for exploitation. “There’s a great opportunity to evolve events into intelligent ecosystems, powered by data, designed for purpose, and capable of learning.” It’s the next frontier for DWTC’s portfolio, and she’s already making decisive moves. In 2024, the Ai Everything Expo launched in Kenya. In 2025, it expands into Egypt, Africa’s second-largest economy, creating new opportunities for tech transfer and investment.
The Dubai-Singapore connection
Behind her leadership philosophy stand two towering influences. “The late modern founding father of modern Singapore Lee Kuan Yew, his unwavering conviction and fearless decision-making transformed resource-scarce Singapore into a global powerhouse,” she reflects. “His courage to make difficult, often unpopular choices, and his deep investment in people, taught me the value of decisiveness, owning consequences, and enduring long-term vision.”
She sees parallels in her adopted home. “Similarly, HH Sheikh Mohammed’s belief in thinking big, acting fast, and leading with purpose continues to inspire me to defy limits and lead with clarity and conviction through very fast changing times.”
What connects these leaders, she notes, is their ability to transform limitations into strengths. “These are [the] smallest cities in the world succeeding as top paragons amongst the biggest economies, with very little resources but big ambitions.”
This philosophy has crystallised into her distinctive leadership approach. “Leadership is rarely linear. To stay relevant over decades, especially in a city like Dubai, you must evolve constantly, staying ahead of the pace at which the UAE is advancing,” she explains. “My leadership style is grounded in agility over bureaucracy, speed over inertia, making bold decisions amidst ambiguity, and in forging ahead when others retreat.”
The stakes of these decisions are rarely trivial. “These decisions carry weight, often with significant implications on the city and country, given how intrinsically our events are linked to the economy,” she acknowledges. “To achieve standout results, I’ve come to accept making bold, responsible choices that defy popular opinion, focusing on long term conviction and not short-term consensus.”
The human element
Despite the scale and intensity of her work, LohMirmand remains deeply focused on the individual impact that drives true transformation. “What drives me is opening doors,” she says. “Creating that one life-changing experience – for a delegate, a startup, or a young team member finding their voice.”
She extends this philosophy to talent development with almost maternal pride. “We’ve built careers people are proud of.” And the trust she’s earned at every level – from Dubai’s top leadership to first-time exhibitors – speaks to a legacy built as much on integrity as on ambition.
“There’s profound fulfilment in propelling the meteoric rise of a homegrown idea from Dubai to stand shoulder to shoulder with the world’s most iconic tech brands amongst the most advanced innovation powerhouses on the planet,” she reflects.
“It’s humbling to relive the trust that was built deliberately over time and earned at every level; from the confidence of Dubai’s leadership to the unwavering belief of stakeholders who invested in our ambition and fuelled by teams who pushed beyond the limits of their own expectations.”
‘Don’t be ordinary’
Her message to young women leaders is unequivocal, delivered with the conviction of someone who has walked through fire and emerged stronger.
“Never pass over the rare opportunity to be outstanding,” she says. “Be distinctive in your purpose and narrative. Don’t be ordinary when extraordinary is within reach.”
She urges aspiring global leaders to “lead with intellectual authority,” to “dare to enter uncharted industries,” and to build cross-border fluency. “Every market is different. Agility is non-negotiable in a world changing at warp speed.”
And to her younger self? “I would’ve moved faster,” she says without missing a beat. “If I’d known how exponential change would be, I would’ve executed at 20x the pace.”
“I’m known to be unapologetically intense because the business world is competitive and unforgiving towards the ordinary,” she admits. “I remain demanding of my teams to uphold a culture of continuous innovations to be distinctive. We have built a culture of urgency and strong bias for execution. Gold standards aren’t achieved by coincidence or circumstance; they’re delivered through disciplined consistency over time.”
In Dubai, ambition is often measured in vertical feet, with each new tower reaching higher than the last. But LohMirmand has built something far more lasting: a network of trust and influence that stretches across continents. “At DWTC,” she says, “we don’t build to remain. We build to rise.”
In a world where traditional power metrics are being rewritten, LohMirmand has demonstrated that exhibitions can function as instruments of soft power projection – platforms that shape global conversations, build cross-border trust, and position Dubai as an essential node in tomorrow’s innovation networks. It’s a masterclass in how commercial ventures, executed with strategic vision, can amplify a nation’s influence far beyond its borders.
As GITEX prepares to add new cities, new verticals, and new layers of meaning, LohMirmand is already planning the next move with characteristic intensity. And if history is any guide, it will be bold, fast – and unmistakably hers.
Words: Tala Michel Issa
Photography: Vaughan Treyvellan