Aneeta Gupta, the CEO of Visionaire, a Dubai-based information and communication technology (ICT) solution provider and system integrator, has become the first woman outside the US to win 'Women in AV Award' from InfoComm International.

The 'Women in AV Award' was created by InfoComm to raise awareness on the growing role of women professionals in the field of audiovisual technology.

The award winners are in the upper echelon of AV professionals and symbolize the strength of entrepreneurship and excellence in developing tomorrow’s AV talent, said a statement from InfoComm International, the professional audiovisual trade association.

Aneeta was presented the award at the InfoComm 2013, the world’s largest commercial audiovisual trade show held earlier this month in Orlando, Florida.

“Aneeta has demonstrated extraordinary levels of professional knowledge, while taking time to improve the industry and better the lives of others,” remarked David Labuskes, the executive director and CEO of InfoComm International.

“InfoComm is pleased to celebrate Aneeta’s achievements,” he added.

Aneeta started Visionaire in 1995 with just two employees and since then it has grown to become one of the largest systems integrators in AV and IT, said a statement from the company.

It successfully developed a new business model for system integration called Technomics with 600 people supporting the organization and its customers in the Middle East and other parts of the world.

"Aneeta is an astute leader with tremendous vision that has driven Visionaire’s growth from its tech-start-up 18 years ago to becoming an end-to-end service provider of integrated technology solutions," said the statement.

"Her perseverance has led Visionaire to embrace the opportunities of early networked AV solutions, multi-site videoconferencing, central control, leading-edge digital signage, IPTV, telepresence and, most recently, unified communications and collaboration. Visionaire has earned recognition locally in Middle East and internationally by winning many industry awards."

A natural leader who is passionate and determined to bring success to those around her, Gupta believes in the empowerment of women, which has led to her nurturing several leadership positions in Visionaire, said InfoComm International in its review.

Currently, the heads of Technical Program Management, Procurement Management, Marketing and Human Resources are all women. And in 2012, 80 per cent of Visionaire’s internship and trainee engineering intake program were women engineers, it stated.

Apart from her leadership role at Visionaire, Gupta mentors young entrepreneurs. She plays a leadership role as a charter member of TiE, a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship worldwide, with 57 chapters in 14 countries, it added.-TradeArabia News Service