WE Boardroom Welcomes Praveen Pai of Al-Futtaim Group Real Estate for SME–Corporate Dialogue

WE Global Network hosted its latest edition of WE Boardroom, welcoming Praveen Pai, Associate Director – Commercial at Al-Futtaim Group Real Estate, for a closed-door conversation with women entrepreneurs and SME founders in Dubai. 

The September edition brought together WE Global Network members for an interactive discussion covering Praveen's professional journey, doing business with the corporate sector, leadership, and team management.

Held at Black Swan Business Centre in Business Bay, the session continued WE Global Network's wider mission of bridging the gap between SMEs and corporates by creating opportunities for founders to engage directly with experienced corporate leaders. 

From Career Journey to Corporate Leadership

A significant part of the conversation focused on Praveen's own professional journey and the experiences that have shaped his career. 

A Chartered Quantity Surveyor, Praveen currently serves as Associate Director – Commercial at Al-Futtaim Group Real Estate. He is also an RICS APC Chairperson, mentor and counsellor, reflecting his involvement in supporting and developing professionals within the industry.

During the Boardroom conversation, he shared experiences from different stages of his career, giving attendees insight into the progression, decisions and learning that come with building a long-term professional journey.

For founders in the room, the conversation offered an opportunity to look at leadership not simply as a title, but as something developed through experience, responsibility and continuous learning.

How Can SMEs Do Business with the Corporate Sector? 

One of the key areas of discussion came directly from the founders attending the session:

How can an SME effectively approach and do business with a large corporate organisation?

It is a question particularly relevant to the WE Global Network community.

For many small and growing businesses, corporates represent significant opportunities for partnerships, contracts and long-term growth. Yet founders often find it difficult to understand how to enter these ecosystems, identify the right people, establish credibility and position their businesses appropriately.

The interactive format allowed members to raise their own questions and gain a better understanding of the corporate perspective.

The conversation also highlighted an important shift in mindset for SMEs: approaching corporates should not simply be about trying to sell a product or service. Founders need to understand the organisation they want to work with, identify where their business can add value and build credibility around their ability to deliver.

For SME founders looking to understand this journey further, WE Global Network has also developed a detailed guide on How SME Owners Can Work with the Corporate Sector in the UAE

Leadership Beyond the Founder 

Leadership was another key theme raised by members during the session.

As businesses grow, the founder's role inevitably changes. The skills required to start a business are not always the same skills required to lead people, delegate responsibility and build an organisation capable of growing beyond the founder.

Attendees asked Praveen about the leadership qualities that become increasingly important as responsibilities grow.

The conversation explored leadership through practical experiences rather than theory, including how leaders develop themselves, communicate with people and take responsibility for the teams they manage.

Building and Managing Strong Teams 

Team management was closely connected to the leadership conversation.

For SME founders, managing people can become one of the most challenging parts of business growth. As the team expands, founders have to move from personally handling every decision to creating clarity, delegating effectively and enabling others to take ownership.

Members discussed some of these challenges during the Boardroom, creating an exchange around managing people, developing teams and becoming a stronger leader as an organisation grows.

Praveen's experience of working within established corporate environments added another perspective to a challenge that many entrepreneurs in the room encounter within their own businesses.

An Open Room for Real Business Questions 

The September session once again demonstrated why WE Boardroom follows a different format from a conventional business event.

There was no traditional keynote followed by a short Q&A.

Instead, members were able to participate throughout the conversation, raise questions from their own experiences and explore topics that mattered to the businesses and teams they are currently building.

This open format allows the direction of each Boardroom to develop naturally around the corporate guest's experience and the questions brought into the room by SME founders.

It also gives participants something that can be difficult to access through larger networking events: time for meaningful conversation with an experienced corporate leader.

Continuing the SME–Corporate Conversation 

Creating stronger connections between SMEs and the corporate ecosystem remains one of the central objectives of WE Global Network.

There is often a gap between the two worlds.

SME founders want to understand how larger organisations operate, how they can build relationships with them and how their businesses can become credible corporate partners.

At the same time, SMEs can bring specialist expertise, agility, innovation and new perspectives to established organisations.

Through WE Boardroom, WE Global Network is creating a space where those conversations can begin before the business transaction.

The September discussion with Praveen Pai brought that mission into focus, combining a senior corporate leader's career experience with practical questions from entrepreneurs trying to grow their businesses, strengthen their leadership and navigate the corporate ecosystem.

Supported by a WE Global Member 

The September WE Boardroom was hosted at Black Swan Business Centre, The Citadel Tower, Business Bay, Dubai, the regular Venue Collaborator for the initiative.

Black Swan Business Centre is led by Rupa Jha, a member of WE Global Network, whose continued collaboration provides the community with a professional setting for these intimate Boardroom conversations.

Member collaborations such as this are also an important part of the WE Global ecosystem, creating opportunities for businesses within the network to participate in and support the community's initiatives.

About WE Boardroom 

WE Boardroom is a private, members-only initiative by WE Global Network, created to bridge the gap between SMEs and corporates.

Each edition brings together a curated group of SME founders with a senior corporate leader for an intimate, closed-door discussion around topics such as leadership, business growth, corporate engagement, partnerships, strategy and the practical challenges of building and scaling a business.

Rather than a keynote, panel discussion or pitching session, WE Boardroom is built around conversation and access giving founders an opportunity to ask questions, hear corporate perspectives and build a better understanding of the ecosystem they want to work within.

The September edition was held on 12 September 2026 from 10 AM to 12 PM at Black Swan Business Centre, Business Bay, Dubai, exclusively for WE Global Network members.