About Lamiya Boumlaki, CEO, Mindshare MENA

Lamiya Boumlaki is the Chief Executive Officer of Mindshare MENA, responsible for leading the organisation across 11 local country teams, alongside the regional team based in Dubai, to deliver Good Growth for its clients in the region.

Lamiya joins Mindshare from Majid Al Futtaim – Holding, where she was most recently Group Director of Digital responsible for driving the conglomerate’s digital marketing and communications strategy, and entry into Web3.0. Prior to this, Lamiya spent over 12 years working with Formula 1, where she held multiple roles including Global Head of Marketing and Communications for the global organisation and Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. Earlier in her career, she also worked at MTV and Grey.

Lamiya holds BA in History from London School of Economics and a Masters in Law from UCL.

About her thoughts for the industry 

For me, 2023 – and every year – is about excellence. 

Excellence flows: A company that excels is propelled by people who excel, and its operations cultivate ever more excellence. 

At Mindshare, for example, we deliver that excellence through our prioritisation of ‘Good Growth,’ the kind that lives beyond a single moment, a single sale or a single platform and instead focuses on building lifetime trust, greater authenticity and transparency and values-driven rather than value-driven practice. 

We are committed to delivering this type of growth for our brands and consumers, and it is a commitment that begins internally, with every member of our team. My biggest learning in life – personally and professionally – is the importance of internalizing that drive for excellence. When we as individuals manage ourselves, make ourselves accountable for our own growth and set the agenda we want to deliver against, that’s when we start operating to our own standard of excellence. Raise your own bar and compete primarily with yourself. It doesn’t matter if you’re the CEO or a fresh graduate, a homemaker or an executive – empowerment doesn’t have a title.

Good Growth is also kinetic: It doesn’t disappear in the face of new technologies or new challenges but charges on bravely, with preparedness and commitment. Similarly, as individuals we must have a similar drive in we want to be successful in any area of life, from fitness goals to developing new skillsets. 

Pursuing excellence is crucial not only for women and for companies, but also for our industry and our region. Good Growth combines accuracy and empathy – in the MENA region, for example, it’s about understanding and catering to the uniqueness of every demographic and every market so that we can deliver the best possible results.

My advice to all the girl bosses across our industry…champion your own Good Growth: Set your own goals, know your own purpose, build a roadmap to get there, embrace new horizons, build financial and technical independence. Have dreams and don’t be ashamed to share them and celebrate when they are achieved. It isn’t easy, but nothing worthwhile is.

I’ve always been surrounded by strong women and strong men in the workplace who have had that drive to create an environment where everybody thrives – because excellence and Good Growth are inclusive and far-sighted. I’m committed to that, today and every day, and welcome anyone who shares that vision of Good Growth for ourselves and each other to join us at Mindshare.