FESPA FLEX Dubai 2026 Unveils Elite Global Speaker Lineup
The highly anticipated FESPA Leadership Exchange (FLEX) is officially set to make its exclusive return to Dubai on 26 November 2026. Moving far beyond corporate success stories, the future-focused, invitation-only forum aims to connect c-suite executives from across the visual communications industry to share practical insights, experiences, and ideas shaping the future.
At the heart of this year’s conference is an elite panel of global experts and visual communications heavyweights who will headline the agenda. The event focuses heavily on these visionaries as they break down their strategic choices, investments, and operational frameworks to guide the next generation of industry growth.
Opening with a proposition that sustainable growth hinges on decision-making quality, the event features six printer stories from Europe and MENA highlighting how leaders navigated disruption, entered new markets, and built resilient organisations. Led by FESPA CEO Neil Felton and FESPA Middle East Regional Manager Bazil Cassim, this opening session establishes FLEX as a confidential, peer-led exchange focused on the raw realities of business growth—including choices, misjudgements, and lessons rarely featured in traditional conference presentations.
Simon Pless, Merger and Operational Integration Consultant of Kleinhempel Group (former Owner of Erler+Pless), will lead a cornerstone session titled ‘30 Years of Disruption: The Decisions that Build Stronger Print Businesses’. Drawing on over three decades of experience, he explores how Erler+Pless has navigated successive waves of technological and commercial disruption. From digital transformation and automation to changing production models and customer expectations, Pless will examine the decisions that created a genuine competitive advantage, alongside the investments that delivered less than expected.
This candid business story considers how leadership, customer relationships, strategic partnerships, and a willingness to adapt have enabled the company to keep moving forward while the market continued to change.
Leon van der Meer, Director at Probo.nl, will anchor the discussion on ‘The Decisions That Changed Our Business’. He shares Probo’s firsthand experience navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, wartime disruptions, and mounting supply chain pressures. This session focuses on leadership under pressure, balancing immediate challenges with long-term ambitions, and giving teams the confidence to adapt. Van der Meer will reflect on the crucial trade-offs across production, investment, and service that shaped Probo’s approach to growth during uncertain times.
Paul Spiers, Founder and CEO of The New P&L Institute, steps in as the keynote speaker for the session ‘Stronger Together: Leadership for a Business Under Pressure’. In this practical presentation tailored for owner-led and senior-managed print businesses, Spiers explores the specific leadership behaviours needed to maintain focus during market uncertainty, competing priorities, and uncomfortable change.
He will examine how successful leaders create clarity, distribute accountability, build trust across departments, and empower teams to make faster, better collective decisions. The session demonstrates how to transform collaboration from a good intention into a core operating discipline that actively strengthens performance, resilience, and long-term business confidence.
Vatche Kavlakian, CEO of NDIGITEC, will direct the strategic conversation towards turning regional production capabilities into scalable, cross-border commercial opportunities in his session ‘How Collaboration with Global Brands Opens New Regional Markets’. Kavlakian will examine the relationship between a global brand pursuing regional growth and the local print partner making that expansion possible, highlighting how trust is established, how global standards are adapted to regional requirements, and how both sides collaborate to overcome challenges in production, logistics, materials, communication, and delivery.
The session will demonstrate how a trusted regional partner gives a global brand the confidence to grow, while providing the local producer with new capabilities, knowledge, and long-term commercial opportunities. At its strongest, the relationship moves beyond individual print jobs to become a shared platform for sustainable regional expansion.
Prasanna Naidu, General Manager of Veesham Printing Press LLC, will present ‘Resilience by Design: The Choices That Made Veesham Stronger’. Here, Naidu will share the story of Veesham Printing Press, exploring how local knowledge, enduring customer relationships, and an ability to adapt have helped the business build resilience over time. The session examines how a close understanding of customers, suppliers, and local business conditions can inform better decisions. Reflecting on periods of growth and uncertainty, Naidu will explore how established relationships and accumulated experience can support renewal, strengthen customer loyalty, and create a foundation for continued success.
As the countdown to late November continues, FLEX Dubai 2026 is solidifying its status as an invaluable strategic anchor for visual communication leaders. Highlighting this, Cassim states, “If you’re at the helm of a printing, signage, or visual communications business in the Gulf, FLEX Dubai 2026 by FESPA is built around the conversations, insights, and connections that matter to you as a business leader.” Executives leaving the forum are expected to take home modernised strategies for risk management, automation, and regional growth. These plans will shape the competitive structure of the MENA visual communications market through 2027 and beyond.
