Manar Al Hashash is one of the most prominent information technology entrepreneurs in the Gulf. As co-founder of software development company DotDesign, she launched her own IT magazine Dot, of which, she remains not only owner but chief editor, too. But it’s not the first time that Al-Hashash has worked in publishing; she wrote for a Kuwaiti daily newspaper from 2000 to 2005. She also juggles her time preparing and presenting weekly IT programmes, Comunet World and Zero One on stations in Kuwait. The ambitious academic also sits on the board of directors of the World Summit Award (WSA) and in 2008 she was hand-picked by Microsoft to judge its technology competition — the Imagine Cup — considered one of the world’s most prestigious tech awards.