American talk show host Oprah Winfrey could be coming to Bahrain.
Organisers of yesterday’s workshop by new age guru Dr Deepak Chopra revealed they were in talks to fly out the TV superstar to speak about women’s empowerment.
Posted by Oprah Winfrey on Thursday, 11 February 2016
Bahrain Institute of Hospitality and Retail (BIHR) director Nigel Viegas said the hope was that Oprah would accompany Dr Chopra on his return to Bahrain, possibly in November.
“The next event we want to do is bring in Oprah with Deepak Chopra this year, which has always been our dream,” said Mr Viegas.
“We’ve been working on this project for almost three years, but she needs a reason to come to Bahrain.
“We believe there’s a 90 per cent chance of it happening.
“We’re planning on bringing her in November, subject to her accepting the invitation, because she needs a reason to come to Bahrain.
“Right now we’re talking to her about women’s empowerment and why we need her in this region – the current scenario in the GCC, women are in the empowerment stage right now.
“I think she’s one of the best speakers we can bring across.”
However, he said one of the main challenges would be finding the right venue and making security arrangements.
“We’re looking at the right location,” Mr Viegas said.
“Bahrain is limited in terms of locations because we need a place that can host at least 5,000 participants.
“This goes through a different level of protocol and different security issues as well.
“We’re looking at that and we’re very positive. We’ve spoken to Deepak Chopra and he’s positive as well, he’s recommended her in the past.
“We have had the opportunity to bring her in 2013, so we’re trying again in 2016.
“We’ve got other speakers lined up not just in Bahrain, but in Saudi Arabia as well.”
He added that the region stood to benefit from such high-profile speakers flying out to share their experience and outlook.
“We want to put Bahrain back on the map, that’s very important to us, and bring in key speakers to improve leadership qualities in the Arab world,” he said.
“If you look at the GCC now, everything is at a negative note.
“People’s morale is not [high], companies are facing challenges and there are financial issues with countries.
“(Someone like) Deepak Chopra can only help with everyone’s life and the topic we chose, the future of well-being, related to everything – finance, work and so on.
“At the end of the day, it’s a domino effect.” During yesterday’s workshop Dr Chopra spoke about the future of well-being, highlighting how people can use tools to change their lives.
“I think it’s been amazing, we have a crowd that came from across the GCC,” said Mr Viegas.
“We have huge participation from Saudi Arabia, from the royal family of Qatar, from Kuwait and from the UAE.
“We had several walk-ins this morning as well.
“The feedback we’re getting is that people are touched and amazed by what they’ve learnt today and want to have more things like this happen in Bahrain.
“It makes us realise that there’s a thirst for education and leadership workshops at a quality level here.”
BIHR also sponsored 100 students, 50 from the institute and 50 from other universities across Bahrain, to take part in the workshop.
