The 15th February curtain raiser event at the Jumeirah Messilah Beach Hotel in Kuwait City registered 320 attendees — the highest single-evening turnout in ITEF history.

Members travelled from all five GCC chapters: Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, and Bahrain. The evening was structured in three parts:

1. Welcome reception & chapter introductions — each chapter's newly nominated leadership took the stage for short remarks.
2. Programme briefing — the Secretariat walked through GCC Connect 2026 logistics, sponsorship tiers, and the StartupTN partnership.
3. Open networking — extended into the early hours with structured introductions facilitated by chapter coordinators.

A highlight of the evening was the official handover of the founding charter to the Bahrain Chapter, formally bringing all five GCC chapters under the elected-leadership framework.

"Every face in this room represents a Tamil engineer who chose the GCC for their career, and every connection made tonight makes that choice a little less lonely," the ITEF Chairman remarked during opening remarks.

Photographs from the evening are available in the gallery. Members who attended can claim their high-resolution copy through the member portal.