Egyptian architect Wala Tolba to represent UAE at Toastmasters world speaking championship in Canada
DUBAI – May 24, 2026: Wala Tolba, an Egyptian expatriate architect, who lives in the UAE for the past 20 years, has emerged as the champion speaker at the Toastmasters regional conference in Dubai. Representing the UAE, the mother of two will compete in the global-level contests for the world championship of public speaking to be held in Vancouver, Canada in the third week of August this year.
She won the regional championship at the District Annual Conference (DTAC 2026), hosted by the UAE-based District 127 of Toastmasters International, the world’s largest non-profit organisation for public speaking and leadership development.
The Toastmasters District 127, representing clubs in the UAE and Lebanon, hosted the DTAC 2026 under the theme “One Family, Many Voices, One Vision”, bringing together a lineup of international keynote speakers and communication leaders addressing a packed audience.
The two-day District conference concluded with contests in international speech, table topics, evaluation, and humorous speaking, featuring winners from club, area, and division levels. The regional champion of international speech contest, Wala will represent District 127 at the World Championship of Public Speaking contest to be conducted at Vancouver Convention Centre East, alongside the Toastmasters International Convention 2026 in Vancouver, Canada from August 19 to 22, 2026.
Winners of other speech contests included Anshuman Viswanathan in the Humorous Speech category, Sathya Narayana Sairam and Karthik Singu Mahanti in the Evaluation and Table Topics contests, respectively. In the language speech contests, TM Mohammad Basyouni was named Best Arabic Speaker, while TM Betsy Raj, TM Chandra Prabhash and TM Sivaramkrishnan won in the Hindi, Malayalam, and Tamil speech categories, respectively.
Commenting on the successful completion of the conference, DTM Sujil CV, Director of District 127, said, “We successfully hosted a world-class conference that empowered attendees with inspiration, learning, and connections that last a lifetime. It was a celebration of excellence in leadership and communication. I believe that the conference provided lots of growth opportunities for members to learn, practice, collaborate, build meaningful connections and share ideas and experiences.”
“The mega event marked the culmination of the contest season, showcasing top-quality speeches and offering all participants, from competitors to learners, a platform for growth and celebration. The conference provided a great opportunity for Toastmasters in the UAE to experience the diversity of the global organisation,” he added.
In addition to the contests, the DTAC 2026 witnessed keynote sessions by the UAE’s first wheelchair-bound personal trainer and Guinness World Record holder Sujith Varghese on “Rise Beyond Imagination”; leadership coach Amena Japanwala on “Finding Your Voice”; former radio presenter, journalist and author Richard Dean on “Charismatic Leadership in the UAE”; and World Champion of Public Speaking 1995 Mark Brown on “Empowering Voices.”
DTM Sujil highlighted the scale of the Toastmasters engagements in the UAE, saying that the conference exemplified a global path to communication excellence, passionate leadership, self-motivated education, and self-developed skills for personal growth.
“District 127 is home to over 3,200 members from across 155 clubs in 37 areas, under 8 divisions in the UAE and Lebanon. Our mission is to nurture confident communicators and inspiring leaders through self-motivated learning and skill development. We are dedicated to empowering individuals to become more effective communicators and leaders,” he said further.
Toastmasters International is a non-profit educational organisation that empowers individuals to become more effective communicators and leaders through a global network of clubs.
The mission of Toastmasters is to provide supportive and positive learning experiences, empowering the members to develop their communication and leadership skills, and fostering greater self-confidence and personal growth.
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About Toastmasters International
Toastmasters International is a non-for-profit educational organisation established by Dr. Ralph C. Smedley in 1924 in California. Currently headquartered in Englewood, Colorado, the community is spread across 148 countries and territories with nearly 8 million members across a network of over 14,000 clubs focusing on professional and personal development. Since inception, Toastmasters International has helped people from diverse backgrounds become more confident speakers, communicators, and leaders.
The mission of a Toastmasters Club is to provide supportive and positive learning experience, in which members are empowered to develop communication and leadership skills, resulting in a greater level of self-confidence and personal growth. Toastmasters International empowers individuals from diverse backgrounds to become more confident speakers, more effective communicators and leaders.
Each year, the Toastmasters International Convention culminates in the final round of the International Speech Contest, where the World Champion of Public Speaking is chosen. The contestants, who reach the final round, stand the chance to win this prestigious accolade after a year of competing in Club, Area, Division, District and global semifinal competitions.
For media queries, please contact:
Rasheed Palliyalil
Media & PR Advisor
Toastmasters Dist 127
Dubai, UAE
+971 52 981 7001