User:Abdulaziz Matroushi/sandbox

Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi is the Chairperson of the Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq) and Founder and CEO of Kalimat Group. She is a member of the ruling family of Sharjah and daughter of His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the UAE Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah. In 2014 she was ranked at number 34 by Forbes in its list of the 200 Most Powerful Arab Women in Family Business.

Early life and education
Born in Sharjah, Sheikha Bodour is the daughter of His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the UAE Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, and Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher bint Mohammed Al Qasimi. She attained a BA (Hons) from the University of Cambridge, an MSc in Medical Anthropology from University College London, and completed publishing courses from Yale and Columbia

Career and awards
Sheikha Bodour is the Vice President of the Sharjah Ladies Club, an entity of the Government of Sharjah, since 2002. In 2007, she founded Kalimat, the first publishing house dedicated to the production of Arabic titles for children. She is a vocal advocate for greater technology integration in the Arabic classroom and led Kalimat Group’s expansion to include a second imprint, Horouf Educational Publishing. The imprint aims to pioneer a technology-enabled approach to Arabic learning and has partnered with Samsung to deliver integrated technology classroom solutions. In 2009 she was appointed Chairperson of Shurooq, the Government of Sharjah’s Investment and Development Authority.

Sheikha Bodour is Patron and Founder of the Emirates Publishers Association (EPA), which in 2012 gained full membership of the International Publishers Association (IPA). In 2014 she became the first Arab woman to be elected to serve on the Executive Committee of IPA. She is also Patron of the UAE Board on Books for Young People (UAEBBY), the national section of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY).

For her contribution to Arab literature, Sheikha Bodour was named ‘Personality of the Year’’ at the 2013 Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, as well as ‘Personality of the Year’ at the Sharjah Award for Educational Excellence 2013. In 2014 she received the Arab Woman Award in the ‘Education’ category. She also received the first ever Tourism Personality of the Year accolade, an award instituted by the Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority (SCTDA), that was presented to her during the Sharjah Tourism Excellence Awards 2013.