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Monthly Talk · PMI MENA Held

Risk Ready: Turning Uncertainty into Strategic Advantage

PMI MENA’s Monthly Webinar Series explored how organizations can move beyond traditional risk management to build resilience and turn uncertainty into strategic value.

This event has ended. Registration is closed — see the recap, or find the next event.

  • Online
Recap
Why this session matters

Uncertainty is a constant in today’s projects, and organizations that only try to avoid risk can miss the opportunities that come with it. This session looked at risk as a strategic capability: understanding objectives, deciding how much uncertainty to accept, and building the resilience to keep delivering when conditions change.

Session overview

PMI MENA hosted the Monthly Webinar Series session Risk Ready: Turning Uncertainty into Strategic Advantage on August 26, 2026, bringing together around 400 participants from across MENA and beyond. The online panel looked at how organizations can move beyond traditional risk management to build resilience, make informed decisions under uncertainty and turn risk into a source of strategic value.

Moderated by Waseem Eid, Regional Partner Success Manager at PMI, the discussion brought together two practitioners:

  • Kawther Haciane, Digital Risk Leader at EY, called for a shift from risk avoidance to risk intelligence: asking not only what could go wrong, but what the organization is trying to achieve, what uncertainties surround those objectives and how much uncertainty it is prepared to take. She stressed that resilience goes beyond a recovery plan: it is the ability to adapt and keep operating, whatever happens.
  • Kareem Gomaa, Senior Portfolio and Program Manager at General Petroleum Company (GPC), presented risk as both a threat and an opportunity. He urged teams to identify risks early, while choices remain, and to connect project-level risks to their wider impact on programs, portfolios and strategic objectives.
Poster for the PMI MENA webinar Risk Ready: Turning Uncertainty into Strategic Advantage, August 26, 7–8 PM UAE time, with Kawther Haciane, Kareem Gomaa and moderator Waseem Eid

Featured in Newsletter Quarter 3, 2026

Recap

Key takeaways

  • Move from risk avoidance to risk intelligence: start from objectives and the uncertainties around them.
  • Decide how much uncertainty the organization is prepared to take.
  • Resilience is the ability to adapt and keep operating, not only a recovery plan.
  • Treat risk as both a threat and an opportunity.
  • Identify risks early, while there are still choices to make.
  • Connect project-level risks to programs, portfolios and strategic objectives.
  • Bring risk information into decisions from the outset, not after they are made.

Key themes

  • Risk intelligence
  • Resilience
  • Decision-making under uncertainty
  • Portfolio and program risk
  • Strategic value
For PM professionals

Why it matters

For project professionals in Lebanon, where uncertainty is part of everyday delivery, the session is a reminder that risk management is not about eliminating uncertainty. It is about being ready to navigate it, act on it and create value from it, and about giving decision-makers risk information early enough to change the outcome.

About the panel

Meet the panel

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Moderator

Mr. Waseem Eid

Regional Partner Success Manager at Project Management Institute

With over a decade of experience in business development and partnership management, currently serving as Partner Success Manager at Project Management Institute since April 2025.

Focused on fostering client engagement and strategic partnerships across the MENA region, contributing to organizational goals through collaborative solutions.

Previously held leadership roles at PowerSchool and Blackboard's regional partner, where expertise was honed in sales enablement, client retention, and scalable growth strategies.

Committed to empowering teams and organizations with tailored solutions that align with their strategic objectives. Known for a results-driven, collaborative approach to cultivating meaningful business relationships that drive impactful outcomes.

Connect on LinkedIn ↗

Ms. Kawther Haciane

EY MENA Digital Risk Leader at EY

Ms. Kawther Haciane is EY MENA Digital Risk Leader, focusing on digital risk within Risk Consulting, and is based in EY’s Dubai office.

She has more than 20 years of international experience managing complex technological environments and mitigating risk across the oil and gas, financial services, health care and IT consulting sectors.

She has served as Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for a large North American bank and an airline, and has led a large technology company’s security business in the Gulf and Levant.

Her work focuses on helping organizations build resilient, secure and trusted digital ecosystems, using AI and data analytics to address emerging risks.

Connect on LinkedIn ↗

Mr. Kareem Gomaa

Senior Portfolio and Program Manager at General Petroleum Company (GPC)

Mr. Kareem Gomaa, PMP®, RMP®, MBA, is Senior Portfolio and Program Manager at General Petroleum Company (GPC).

Currently completing a Doctorate in Business Administration (Transformational Leadership) at Helwan University, and hold PMP® and RMP® certifications from PMI.

Open to Senior Portfolio Manager, Program Manager, and PMO Director roles — particularly where governance rigor and change leadership are valued. Based in Cairo, open to regional (MENA) and international opportunities. Let's connect if you're building or scaling a PMO, or if you're a recruiter working portfolio/program leadership roles.

Connect on LinkedIn ↗

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