Awatif Akbari used two powerful tools to reach her latest achievement, ambition and willpower. Now she has become the first visually-impaired graduate of the Dubai Leaders Programme.
Awatif is Head of Training at Tamkeen, a Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) initiative which prepares visually-impaired people for the workplace and works to raise the standard of services available to them.
In 2002, she achieved a first when she became the first visually-impaired person to receive an award from the Dubai Government Excellence Programme and was honoured by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
Having achieved all this, she joined the Dubai Leaders Programme, which lasts a year and combines theory taught at Wharton University in Pennsylvania in the US, with practice acquired abroad and in the UAE.
Awatif said: "I am proud, not because of being the first visually-impaired graduate of this programme, but because I work for the Government of Dubai, where you are evaluated and assessed according to your performance and nothing else."
"People with a physical challenge face a lot of difficulties, but they have to work hard and not depend on others."
Page last updated 01 January 2020