CEO of MENA Speakers Saana Azzam shares insight on public speaking

With an impressive list of accomplishments including being known as a “Chief Inspirational Officer” for businesses globally, international award-winning economist, Forbes contributor, and CEO of the Middle East’s leading speaker’s bureau, MENA Speaks, Saana Azzam is anything but ordinary.

Saana loves the opportunity to be able to change people’s lives. Thats why her story begins in 2010 where she won Female Economist of the Year in Sweden, as a student. After speaking at a conference, she was approached and asked to do more speeches.

After speaking around, she found that there was really no agency to represent public speakers in the Middle East. This is what led to her idea of MENA Speaks.

The six-year-old company doesn’t just work with speakers from the Middle East, they also take international speakers from places such as the U.S. Sometimes they get contacted asking for a regional agency to help with Middle Eastern clients.

Lately, topics on working from home or new technology seem to be the main topics for speeches. Saana notes that a good speaker needs three things for their speech to be successful:

1. Great background and credibility
2. Charisma
3. Strong personal brand

If they have these three characteristics, then they will be known internationally for their speaking skills which in turns help their professional prestige.

Saana then talks about the experts market that she developed. It was formed from a place of compassion, she says. She mentions the difficulty of some speakers who lack one or all of the three characteristics listed above, but they does not discredit their stories.

Their stories then go unnoticed unfortunately, so she created a platform for them to be on and share their stories. It’s a digital marketplace for experts and speakers to connect.

To learn more about Saana Azzam and MENA Speakers, check out menaspeakers.com for more information.