Hamdan bin Mohammed honors the winner of the “71 Challenge for Young Government Leaders”

His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, and Chairman of the Executive Council of the Emirate of Dubai, affirmed that investing in people, building and supporting young government leaders and empowering them with expertise and skills, represents a fundamental axis in the visions of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the State, may God protect him, and the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, may God protect him. To enhance the UAE’s readiness for the future.

This came while honoring His Highness the winner of the “71 Challenge for Young Government Leaders”, the national initiative launched by His Highness during the annual meetings of the UAE government in 2024, and its implementation was supervised by the Office of Government Development and the Future, as a platform to motivate and enable young government leaders to contribute to shaping the future of the Emirates. The initiative included 32 members of the elite leaders in the federal and local authorities, and covered four challenges that focused on empowering society, resilience and flexibility in the face of challenges, and building… Leadership personality enhanced by cooperation and team spirit.

His Highness said: “A year ago, we launched Challenge 71 for young government leaders, in a platform that brought together the elite Emirati cadres in federal and local authorities, who competed in major leadership challenges, distinguished by proactive thinking, with the aim of enhancing the UAE’s readiness for the future. Challenge 71 set a new standard for leadership, the foundation of which was inspired by the principle established by the wise leadership that the one who makes the difference is the one who leads the change…and today as we honor the winner of this challenge, the certainty is renewed that building Human beings are the best investment for the future. We look to the youth of the Emirates and our creative government cadres to pioneer development in all fields. The leadership’s expectations for their contributions are high. Its confidence in them is great. Their country expects a lot from them.”

His Highness congratulated the winner of “Challenge 71” and praised the initiative’s 32 participants, with whose participation an unprecedented national initiative was launched, which adopted the spirit of participation and positive competition, the mentality of continuous learning and building on experiences, and the culture of flexibility, proactiveness and readiness in designing and innovating solutions to challenges. His Highness stressed that the next task for the participants in the challenge is to enhance hard work in serving the nation and improving Emirati society, and to share and employ experiences. In creating effective solutions to the challenges facing their employers.
His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum honored the challenge champion, Captain Dr. Engineer Salem Al Marri, from the Dubai Police General Command, and members of the winning team in the final stage, which included, in addition to the challenge champion: Aisha Shahdad, Director of Support Services at the Sharjah Broadcasting and Television Authority, Sarah Al Raisi, Director of the Fujairah Award for Excellence in Government Performance, and Afra Al Suwaidi, Senior Director of the Strategy Department at Expo City Dubai.

The honoring was attended by His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Chairman of Dubai Airports, Supreme Chairman and CEO of Emirates Airline and Group, and Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Technologies, Omar bin Sultan Al Olama.

Ohoud bint Khalfan Al Roumi, Minister of State for Government Development and the Future, praised the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum for the 71 Challenge, stressing that “the challenge worked to discover the elite group of promising and talented young Emirati leaders, whose influential role we look forward to in leading the future of government work at the federal and local levels. The challenge also established an advanced government model in building capabilities, stimulating minds and talents, and empowering them with the skills to shape… And lead the government of the future, and reflect the visions of the wise leadership on the importance of investing in young national cadres and empowering them in various areas of government work.”

She said that Challenge 71 worked to develop the distinctive qualities and leadership strengths of the participants, and to build their capabilities in leadership stability, cooperation, and team spirit in facing challenges, noting that the members were up to the challenge in its various stages, and showed high potential in the skills of steadfastness, flexibility, speed of adaptation, and leadership under pressure. Congratulating the champion of the challenge, the team that won the final challenge, and all the participants for the distinguished levels they demonstrated, and the great passion that distinguished their work throughout the challenge period.
Dr. Salem Al Marri is the first Emirati to hold a doctorate from Mohammed bin Zayed University for Artificial Intelligence, and to receive the Individual Excellence Medal in the field of science and future technology, and whose work focuses on developing the paths of computer vision and artificial intelligence.

As for Aisha Shahdad, she has great experience in human capital management, and through her work at the Sharjah Broadcasting and Television Authority, she led the digital transformation process in record time, while Sarah Al Raisi dedicated her work to enhancing government performance in the Emirate of Fujairah, through her experience in designing and implementing institutional excellence strategies, and Afra Al Suwaidi, with her extensive experience in organizing major events and planning operations, contributed to the completion of more than 200 events.

It is noteworthy that “Challenge 71” covered four leadership challenges that were built in light of the distinguished model of Emirati leadership. The challenge aimed to hone skills and experiences, enable leaders to confront challenges with innovative methods that enhance the UAE’s readiness for the future, and include joint work teams from federal and local government agencies.

The challenge included 4 stages that were implemented over a period of 6 months, and focused on a multi-dimensional model that included “values,” “thought,” and “essence.” In each stage, arbitration committees that included ministers and leaders from federal and local government agencies, and leaders of the national private sector participated in evaluating the participants. The first stage was represented by the “Society Unites Us” challenge, which kept pace with the directions of the UAE’s leadership in the Year of Society, and 32 members participated in it, distributed over 6 groups. teams, while the following stages included the “Resilience Week” challenge with the participation of 16 members who were distributed into 4 work teams, and the “Great Confrontation” challenge, in which 8 members participated. The “Challenge 71” series concluded with the final Power of the Word challenge in which 4 members competed.