Mumbai / Dubai, Jun 2 (IANS): Mumbai’s legendary lunch-box suppliers - Dabbawalas - will feature at an august gathering of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) leaders in Dubai Tuesday, an official said here Sunday.

Arvind Talekar, spokesperson for Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Trust (NMTBST), will represent the 5,000 dabbawalas at the two-day “Third GCC Government Organisations Third & Fourth Line Leaders' Development Conference” opening in the iconic Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai.

“I will be speaking on best practices in leadership development and management practices to foster competitiveness, the issues, challenges, failures and successes in implementing leadership strategies,” Talekar told IANS.

This will be done through a case study on the history of Dabbawalas, their gruelling day-to-day operations through Mumbai’s mind-boggling commuting conditions, ensuring "On Time Delivery, Everytime".

The conference itself would highlight innovation in leadership that involved advanced decision-making and execution skills to obtain cross-functional responsibilities, as they need to drive excellence as multi-faceted leaders, he added.

The two-day event will feature eminent speakers like Mansoor Al Awar, Chancellor, Hamdan Bin Mohammed e-University; Hani Al Ghfaili of Al Riyadh Newspaper; Majed Alhaisoni, Dean of IT and e-Learning at University of Hail, Saudi Arabia; Ahmad Tahlak, president and chairman of Levenbert; Abdullah Hamad Bin Zarah, CEO of Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Humanitarian City; and Lorenzo Maravigliad, director of Ritz-Carlton Dubai.

The event will conclude with the Second Middle East Third and Fourth Line Leaders Excellence Awards.

The dabbawalas' work has been a topic of several international management studies and research and earned laurels from all over the world. They have been in service, delivering lunch and snack-boxes in the city for 125 years.