Forbes Middle East - English Issue - April 2022

WHAT’S IN A NAME? MENA’S MOST-FUNDED HEALTHTECH STARTUPS

MICROSOFT’S MILESTONES

MOST VALUABLE HEALTHTECH UNICORNS BIG BOOSTS IN REVENUES FOR THE VACCINE MAKERS

APRIL 2022 ISSUE 115

SHERIF BESHARA CEO of American Hospital Dubai

“YOU CAN INVEST BILLIONS IN TECH, BUT YOU CANNOT DROP THE HUMAN BRAIN.”

THE MIDDLE EAST’S

APRIL 2022 ISSUE 115

TOP 50 HEALTHCARE LEADERS MEET THE REGION’S MOST IMPACTFUL AND INNOVATIVE LEADERS FROM ACROSS THE HEALTHCARE ECOSYSTEM.

Stay connected with our latest business news.

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6 I Sidelines

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Healthy Investment

By Claudine Coletti LEADERBOARDS

HEALTHCARE

10 I

Big Boosts In Revenues For The Vaccine Makers

1 CONTENTS

Driven by their Covid-19 vaccine sales, Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson made a combined $231 billion in revenues in 2021.

These four healthcare heavyweights are also expecting big gains in 2022, capitalizing on booster requirements.

By Khadijah Khogeer INNOVATION

11 I

5 Non-Health Companies Investing In Healthcare These five global titans in tech and retail are leveraging their knowledge, experience, and resources to push forward innovation in the multi-trilliondollar healthcare industry.

By Jamila Gandhi STARTUPS

12 I

MENA’s Most-Funded Healthtech Startups

Entrepreneurs in MENA are increasingly digitizing healthcare services, and investors’ appetite is also growing. Here are five of the region’s mostfunded healthtech startups, which have raised over $70 million in total funding to date.

By Nermeen Abbas

14 I The World’s 5 Most Valuable Healthtech Unicorns The global boom in unicorns doesn’t seem to be slowing down. There were 1,050 private companies with a valuation of over $1 billion as of March 2022.

By Kudakwashe Muzoriwa

STARTUPS

24 I Transforming Trucking With a $10.5 million pre-Series A funding round under his belt, Sherif Taher, cofounder and CEO of Egypt-based trucking technology platform Naqla, is driving digital change in the country’s road freight sector.

By Khadijah Khogeer

HEALTHCARE

16 I

How Much Money Are At-Home Covid-19 Tests Bringing In? Eight of the most prominent test makers are navigating a whiplash marketplace.

by Amy Feldman BUSINESS

20 I What’s In A Name?

Facebook is not the first company to decide to start a new chapter with a new name. These household brands also launched with different monikers to what they now use.

By Mohamed AlKhalifa BILLIONAIRES

21 I Russian And Ukrainian Billionaires Witness

$52.2B Wipeout

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, here’s how the real-time fortunes of the five wealthiest Russian and Ukrainian billionaires have changed in nearly a year.

By Jamila Gandhi

62 I 5 Natural Wellness Destinations

In MENA

Medical tourism in the Middle East and Africa is expected to be worth $1.35 billion by 2026 compared to $900 million in 2021, according to Market Data Forecast. Here are five of the most popular places for natural medical tourism in the region.

By Fouzia Azzab

TECHNOLOGY

22 I Microsoft’s Milestones This year, Microsoft celebrates its 47th anniversary. Here’s a glance at some of the company’s biggest achievements in that time.

By Julian Nabil

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FORBES LIFE

64 I

Thoughts On Health APRIL 2022

THE MIDDLE EAST’S

TOP 50 HEALTHCARE LEADERS

CONTENTS

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CONTRARIAN

26 I

Nose for Business

Swabs for Covid testing made Copan CEO Stefania Triva a billionaire. Despite countless buyout offers, though, she’s snubbing the dealmakers and keeping the company firmly in the family.

By Giacomo Tognini

36 I

Refining Pharma

Said Darwazah, Executive Chairman of Hikma Pharmaceuticals, has helped build his family business into a global enterprise over the last 41 years. With a market cap of over $6.2 billion, the Jordanian company is today competing with international heavyweights.

By Jason Lasrado

F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M

APRIL 2022

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APRIL 2022

April 2022

Issue 115

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CONTENTS

4

INSIDE

•

COVER STORY

Harnessing Healthtech COVER AND IMAGE BY FORBES MIDDLE EAST

30

Sherif Beshara, CEO of American Hospital Dubai and Group CEO of the Mohamed & Obaid Al Mulla Group, has been investing in AI and robotics to stand out in the U.A.E.’s competitive private healthcare sector. With plans for a care network in place, education could be the next game changer.

By Claudine Coletti

F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M

APRIL 2022

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SIDELINES

FORBES MIDDLE EAST

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Healthy Investment The global healthcare sector was booming long before the pandemic brought it into the spotlight, with factors including expanding populations, digital transformation, and health tourism tempting private and government investment into the industry. However, it’s no surprise that the last two years have seen increased activity, with demand for remote and more efficient services driving growth. Of the top five most-funded healthtech startups in the Middle East, two were founded pre-pandemic in 2018 and three post-pandemic in 2020 and 2021. In total, they have raised over $70 million in funding so far. Globally, the world’s five most valuable healthtech startups were all founded pre-pandemic in 2015 and 2017. They were worth around $39.7 billion in total as of March 11, 2022.

Outside of the startup ecosystem, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, R&D, and established healthtech players have also been expanding and investing in new products, facilities, and services.

Recognizing the leadership that has managed this growth, this month we release our first ranking of the Middle East’s most impactful and successful leaders in healthcare. And we feature exclusive interviews with two of these influential heads of business. Sherif Beshara, CEO of American Hospital Dubai and Group CEO of the Mohamed & Obaid Al Mulla Group, has been in post since the end of 2018. In less than three years, he’s been pivotal in American Hospital becoming a key competitor in the U.A.E. when it comes to AI-led healthtech and robotic surgeries. He’s now hoping to build a local care network between a number of different providers, so they can share and learn from their collective knowledge. In a different field, we speak to Said Darwazah, Executive Chairman of Hikma Pharmaceuticals. He joined the company 41 years ago, just three years after his father established it. Over the last four decades, he has helped transform the small Jordanian family business into a listed global company worth $6.2 billion.

Healthcare is, of course, currently also a major topic of future-focused conversations across the world between stakeholders in the private and public sectors. At the World Government Summit 2022, held at Expo 2020 Dubai at the end of March, ministers, world leaders, media heavyweights, heads of business, and social commentators gathered to debate the future of healthcare. Tedros Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, delivered a virtual address calling for global cooperation and investment for global health security. Forbes was also present at the summit with a global cohort from its Under 30 community, which discussed how entrepreneurs could work with governments to help prevent the next pandemic.

It was, sadly, our last summit to be held at Expo 2020, as the spectacular event’s six-month stint has come to an end. Let’s hope the world can take forward lessons learned there about the vital roles that unity and understanding play in creating a positive and healthy global community.

—Claudine Coletti, Managing Editor

F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M

APRIL 2022

Introducing one of Forbes’ most exciting and over-the-top events ever, a gathering of the world’s most elite multi-generational entrepreneurs and game-changers. Participants will come together in Botswana’s capital, Gaborone, and then travel to Kasane, home to Chobe National Park and the world’s largest elephant sanctuary, where a day will be dedicated to the topic of sustainability—all while harnessing the power of entrepreneurial capitalism on the continent whose growth will help define the 21st century.

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THE PARTNERS

April 24-28, 2022

F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M

APRIL 2022

INNOVATING SINCE 2010 APRIL 2022 ISSUE 115

Dr. Nasser Bin Aqeel Al Tayyar President & Publisher nasser@forbesmiddleeast.com

8

Khuloud Al Omian

FORBES MIDDLE EAST

Editor-in-Chief Forbes Middle East, CEO - Arab Publisher House

khuloud@forbesmiddleeast.com

Editorial

Business Development

Claudine Coletti Managing Editor claudine@forbesmiddleeast.com

Ruth Pulkury Senior Vice President - Business Development

Laurice Constantine Digital Managing Editor laurice@forbesmiddleeast.com

ruth@forbesmiddleeast.com

Fouzia Azzab Senior Arabic Editor fouzia@forbesmiddleeast.com

Joseph Chidiac joe@forbesmiddleeast.com

Amany Zaher Senior Quality Editor amany@forbesmiddleeast.com

Fiona Pereira fiona@forbesmiddleeast.com

Nermeen Abbas Senior Reporter nermeen@forbesmiddleeast.com

Karl Noujaim karl@forbesmiddleeast.com

Jamila Gandhi Senior Reporter jamila@forbesmiddleeast.com

Natalie Ghazaley natalie@forbesmiddleeast.com

Samar Khouri Online Editor samar@forbesmiddleeast.com

Sarine Nemchehirlian sarine@forbesmiddleeast.com

Kudakwashe Muzoriwa Online Editor kudakwashe@forbesmiddleeast.com

Upeksha Udayangani Client Relations Executive upeksha@forbesmiddleeast.com

Cherry Aisne Trinidad Online Editor aisne@forbesmiddleeast.com

Tayyab Riaz Mohammed Financial Controller riaz@forbesmiddleeast.com

Research

Jason Lasrado Head of Research jason@forbesmiddleeast.com Elena Hayek Researcher elena@forbesmiddleeast.com Layan Abo Shkier Research Reporter layan@forbesmiddleeast.com

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APRIL 2022

Healthcare

Big Boosts In Revenues For The Vaccine Makers

Johnson & Johnson Johnson & Johnson’s revenues rose by 13.6% to $93.8 billion in 2021.

The firm projects sales to reach between $98.9 billion to $100.4 billion in 2022. It aims to provide up to 900 million shots of the Janssen Covid19 vaccine throughout 2022 to the COVAX and AVAT vaccination initiatives. However, the firm’s single dose vaccine faced controversy in 2021, fueled by reports of rare blood clots in US patients.

Although the Janssen shot was recommended by the Centers for Disease Control as a booster dose in October 2021, the US agency warned of rare side effects, instead recommending rival firms Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines.

Pfizer

AstraZeneca

Moderna

Pfizer’s revenues rose to $81.3 billion in 2021, nearly double the $41.7 billion recorded the previous year, with Covid-19 vaccine sales contributing $36.8 billion to total revenues. It delivered 2.2 billion doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in 2021 and expects to manufacture up to four billion doses by the end of 2022. In March 2022, Pfizer began a pediatric study of its Covid-19 vaccine pill, Paxlovid, and plans to file for full regulatory approval in the US. The firm forecasts $54 billion in combined revenues from its Covid-19 vaccines and Paxlovid in 2022. It proposed to whollyacquired clinical company Arena Pharmaceuticals for $6.7 billion in December 2021, and aims to close the deal in the first half of 2022.

AstraZeneca’s total revenue surged by 41% to $37.4 billion in 2021, with its Covid-19 products, Vaxzevria and Evusheld, contributing $4.12 billion to total revenue.

The Cambridge-based firm supplied 2.5 billion Vaxzevria doses to over 180 countries in 2021. Vaxzevria and Evusheld were in phase three of clinical development as of February 10, 2022. Evusheld is approved for emergency use in the U.S. and launched in the EU, Japan, and China in the first half of 2021. AstraZeneca acquired Alexion Pharmaceuticals in July 2021. The pharma giant paid $13.3 billion and over 236 million new AstraZeneca shares to the U.S.-based firm’s shareholders. It made $3.07 billion in sales in 2021 from the newly-formed “Alexion, AstraZeneca Rare Disease” division.

Moderna made $18.5 billion in total revenues in 2021, 95.7% of which came from its Covid-19 vaccine sales. In 2021, Moderna made $17.7 billion from its Spikevax Covid-19 vaccine sales and supplied 807 million doses to over 60 countries. The firm expects to manufacture up to three billion doses in 2022. Spikevax became the second fully FDAapproved Covid-19 vaccine, after Pfizer-BioNTech’s, on January 31, 2022. Its Omicronspecific booster shot is under study as of February 24, 2022. Moderna now plans to accelerate its mRNA-based operations, including launching vaccine initiatives, product developments, mRNA scientist fellowship programs, and an investment of up to $500 million to establish its first mRNA manufacturing facility in Kenya, Africa.

2021 Revenue

% Increase Year-Over-Year In 2021

$93.8 B

$81.3 B

$37.4 B

$18.5 B

13.6%

95%

41%

2,200%

F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M

APRIL 2022

BY KHADIJAH KHOGEER

LEADERBOARD

10

Driven by their Covid-19 vaccine sales, Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson made a combined $231 billion in revenues in 2021. These four healthcare heavyweights are also expecting big gains in 2022, capitalizing on booster requirements.

Innovation

5 Non-Health Companies Investing In Healthcare Walmart

BY JAMILA GANDHI ; VALERIYA ZANKOVYCH/ SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Amazon Amazon announced in February 2022 that it will be expanding its Amazon Care service, having first launched it in September 2019 to offer virtual and in-person health services for its customers.

In 2021, Amazon Web Services (AWS) launched a healthcare accelerator to promote startups at an early stage, which fuels some of the largest healthcare organizations globally, including Moderna, Philips, and the U.K.’s National Health Service. On the hardware front, Amazon has invested in Halo Band, an intuitive wearable that tracks health metrics, marking its entry into the personal health and fitness space.

F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M

Google AI research firm DeepMind Health and fitness tracker Fitbit have been among the most notable additions to Google Health’s portfolio in recent years. In 2020, Google’s cloud division announced a Healthcare Interoperability Readiness Program in collaboration with partners such as Bain & Company, Deloitte, and Boston Consulting Group to help healthcare organizations understand their data and meet regulatory requirements.

And in 2021, the tech giant developed its Cloud Healthcare Data Engine initiative to help healthcare and life sciences leaders to make decisions from disjointed healthcare data.

Microsoft In 2021, Microsoft acquired Nuance Communications for $19.7 billion and announced a partnership with pharmaceutical company CVS Health. Its expansion into healthcare has also seen the conglomerate develop the Hololens, a hands-free mixed reality device, and introduce Microsoft Dynamics 365 patient access features to enable efficient virtual and in-person appointments for patients. In 2020, Microsoft launched a timely AI for Health philanthropic initiative—a $40 million, five-year program to empower researchers and organizations with AI to improve global health crises.

Walmart’s Care Clinic concept in the U.S. offers primary care, dental, counseling, labs, x-rays, fitness, and nutrition, among other services.

It established its first health center in 2019 in Georgia, promising to offer affordable and transparent pricing for key health services, regardless of insurance status. In 2021, Walmart Health announced a partnership with electronic medical records company Epic, acquired telehealth provider MeMD, and launched a private brand analog insulin.

Uber

In January 2022, Uber reportedly partnered with medical services company Ecco-Salva Medical Services to pilot a new “Doctor at Home” program in Portugal through Uber Eats, enabling customers to request medical assistance through the app. Uber previously ventured into auxiliary healthcare services via a partnership with ScriptDrop in 2021 to give U.S. customers access to prescription medications. In 2020, Uber partnered with the White House to promote vaccination against Covid-19.

APRIL 2022

11 LEADERBOARD

These five global titans in tech and retail are leveraging their knowledge, experience, and resources to push forward innovation in the multi-trillion-dollar healthcare industry.

Startups

MENA’s Most-Funded Healthtech Startups

1. GluCare Health

GluCare Health

Total funding: $20 million Hybrid digital therapeutics company Founders: Ali Hashemi, Ihsan Almarzooqi Investors: Polymath Ventures Headquarters: U.A.E. Established in: 2020 GluCare offers both in-clinic and virtual care for diabetic patients, using a remote continuous data-monitoring platform and AI. Through the company’s app, patients can connect with a coach or a care team who can remotely monitor glucose, insulin dosages, sleep patterns, diet intake, actigraphy, heart rate variability, and other parameters in real-time.

GluCare’s cofounder and managing director Ihsan Almarzooqi is also the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Homeservices Gulf Properties, while cofounder Ali Hashemi was previously the founder of Amana Healthcare, which was acquired by Mubadala Healthcare in 2019.

2. selfologi Total funding: $17.5 million Cosmetic treatment digital platform Founders: Tamer Wali Investors: Tamer Wali, Xenel International Group Headquarters: U.A.E. Established in: 2021 Launched Q3 2021, selfologi is a digital platform where consumers can discover, learn F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M

pharmacies and owned dispensaries dedicated to serving chronic patients for monthly refills. They are also integrated with the majority of insurance companies in Egypt to automate the processing of claims and prescriptions.

Yodawy has processed more than 2.5 million orders since its inception.

4. Aumet about, and book cosmetic treatments. It launched a booking feature in early 2022, where consumers have access to user-generated ratings and reviews to compare clinics and practitioners. With 38 employees, the startup operates in the U.A.E. and Saudi Arabia. Tamer Wali is the founder of selfologi and also the partner and CEO of Imdad, a distributor of energy-based aesthetic medical devices.

3. Okadoc Total funding: $15.6 million Patient engagement platform Founders: Fodhil Benturquia Investors: Ithmar Capital, Bupa Arabia, ADQ Headquarters: U.A.E. Established in: 2018 Okadoc offers instant consultation booking, virtual appointments, online payments, and document sharing in the U.A.E., Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia.

Bupa, Daman, Mediclinic, Emirates Hospital, and Dubai Healthcare City are among the healthcare groups and insurers using Okadoc’s services. In April 2021, Okadoc received approval by the Dubai Health Authority to be one of the first telehealth licensed platforms in the U.A.E. Before founding Okadoc, founder and CEO Fodhil Benturquia was the group CEO of Noon.com.

4. Yodawy Total funding: $8.5 million Health and wellbeing platform Founders: Karim Khashaba, Yasser AbdelGawad, Sherief El-Feky Investors: Global Ventures, MEVP, Algebra Ventures, CVentures, P1 Ventures, Athaal Angel Investors Group, amongst others.

Headquarters: Egypt Established in: 2018 Yodawy is a virtual pharmacy chain facilitating patients’ access to medication via a marketplace of 3,000

Total funding: $8.5 million B2B healthcare marketplace Founders: Yahya Aqel, Shahed Altawafsheh Investors: 500 Startups, Right side capital, TechStars, Shorooq Partners, Plug and Play Headquarters: Jordan, Saudi Arabia Established in: 2020 Aumet is a B2B healthcare marketplace that allows healthcare providers such as pharmacies, dental, labs, and hospitals to purchase their demands from suppliers.

With operations in the U.A.E., Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, and Turkey, the startup has 120 employees and offices in Paris, Riyadh, Jeddah, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Istanbul, Jordan, and Egypt. Aumet’s cofounder, Yahya Aqel is a serial entrepreneur. He has established four startups, all of them in healthtech, including OnEx and Aqel Universal Medical Equipment and Tools, which was acquired by Chinese medical manufacturer, Well Lead Medical, in 2014.

APRIL 2022

BY NERMEEN ABBAS; IMAGE FROM SOURCE

LEADERBOARD

12

Entrepreneurs in MENA are increasingly digitizing healthcare services, and investors’ appetite is also growing. Here are five of the region’s most-funded healthtech startups, which have raised over $70 million in total funding to date.

We have only included startups no more than seven years old. We excluded startups that were acquired, merged, or have gone public. Cut off for disclosed funding was March 16, 2022.

LEADERBOARD

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APRIL 2022

Startups

The World’s 5 Most Valuable Healthtech Unicorns 1. Devoted Health

exercise therapy, and health coaching. The startup raised $400 million in a Series E in October 2021, on top of the $300 million it secured in January 2021. New investors Alkeon Capital and Whale Rock took a $200 million stake in the firm through a secondary investment. The latest funding round valued the company at $6.2 billion up from $3 billion in January 2021.

Zachariah Reitano

Valuation: $12.6 billion Total funding raised: $1.99 billion Country: U.S. Established: 2017 Devoted Health, a health insurance company targeting seniors, was co-founded by brothers Todd and Ed Park in 2017. It had around 40,000 members as of June 30, 2021, more than double the 18,000 it had in the first half of 2020. It raised $1.15 billion in a Series D funding round in October 2021, which was co-led

by Uprising and SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and attracted other investors including GIC, Andreessen Horowitz, ICONIQ Growth, Maverick, and General Catalyst. The startup reported revenues of $247.3 million in the first half of 2021, a 128% compared to the same period in 2020.

2. Tempus Valuation: $8.1 billion Total funding raised: $1.05 billion Country: U.S. Established: 2015 Oncology-focused startup Tempus was founded by billionaire Eric Lefkofsky in 2015. The AI-powered personalized medicine company raised $200 million in a Series G-2 equity financing round and $250 million in convertible debt in December 2020. Investors include Baillie Gifford, Google, Franklin Templeton, Novo F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M

Holdings and funds managed

by T. Rowe Price Group.

Tempus offers a library of clinical and molecular data and other precision medicine services such as cardiology, mental health, neurology, and cardiology. In February 2022, it acquired Highline Sciences, a clinical contract research organization for an undisclosed amount.

Lefkofsky’s net worth stood at $4.1 billion as of March 11, 2022, according to Forbes.

3. Ro Valuation: $7 billion Total funding raised: $1.03 billion Country: U.S. Established: 2017 Ro was co-founded by its CEO Zachariah Reitano, chief product officer Saman Rahmanian, and chief growth officer Rob Schutz in 2017. The digital healthcare firm raised $150 million in a funding round led by ShawSpring Partners in February 2022

on top of the $500 million it had already raised in March 2021. Ro, which started primarily as a telehealth business, has expanded its portfolio to include in-home care, diagnostics and pharmaceutical services, weight management, and smoking cessation. In 2021, it facilitated more than 150,000 in-home care appointments and expanded its network to 10 pharmacy fulfillment centers.

4. Hinge Health Valuation: $6.2 billion Total funding raised: $853.85 million Country: U.S. Established: 2015 Hinge Health was co-founded by its CEO Daniel Perez and Executive Chairman Gabriel Mecklenburg in 2015.

The company offers digital solutions aimed at reducing chronic musculoskeletal (MSK) pain, surgeries, and opioid use through the use of advanced wearable sensors,

5. Lyra Health Valuation: $5.85 billion Total funding raised: $906 million Country: U.S. Established: 2015 Lyra Health was founded in 2015 by David Ebersman, a former Facebook executive.

The mental health company raised $235 million in new funding round in January 2022, which was led by Dragoneer and saw the participation of new investor Salesforce Ventures as well as existing investor Coatue.

Oprah Winfrey is among its backers after the billionaire invested in the company as part of its $187 million Series E in January 2021.

Following its acquisition of ICAS World earlier this year, Lyra Health has more than 10 million members and provides in-person and virtual behavioral health services to more than 75 companies including Uber Technologies, Morgan Stanley, eBay, Meta, Pinterest, and Starbucks.

APRIL 2022

BY KUDAKWASHE MUZORIWA, COURTESY OF ZACHARIAH REITANO

LEADERBOARD

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The global boom in unicorns doesn’t seem to be slowing down. There were 1,050 private companies with a valuation of over $1 billion as of March 2022. Here are the five most valuable healthtech unicorns in the world, according to CB Insights. None are more than seven years old. Figures are as of March 11, 2022.

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LEADERBOARD

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How Much Money Are At-Home Covid-19 Tests Bringing In? Seven of the most prominent test makers are navigating a whiplash marketplace.

As the Omicron wave of the pandemic swept across America this winter, makers of at-home Covid tests faced a unique business dilemma. Seemingly overnight, demand for their products became infinite.

Massive government contracts were up for grabs. By mid-January, the Biden Administration had promised to buy 1 billion of the tests. But it was almost equally certain that demand for the tests would vanish— at least temporarily—by the time spring arrived.

Sunnyvale, Californiabased iHealth Labs, which only received FDA authorization for its test in November, churned out more than 500 million Covid-19 home test kits for the U.S. market in February an astronomical increase over the 20 million to 30 million it produced in December.

“We cranked up very quickly,” says iHealth chief operating officer Jack Feng.

F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M

“It was almost like a battle.”

It was a whole new line of business for iHealth, which is majority-owned

by China’s publicly traded Andon Health and made stuff like blood-pressure monitors and thermometers before the pandemic. Its contract manufacturer in Tianjin, China, also owned

by Andon, made kits roundthe-clock and even stayed open with partial staff on Chinese New Year’s. To help get the tests to the States, iHealth chartered 100 airplanes. Some 350 million of its antigen tests went to fulfill its government contracts, which are worth more than $1.3 billion, with the rest going to drugstores and other retailers.

“I think we provided more tests than the other test makers in total [in February]. More than half in the U.S. market were produced by us,” Feng says. “In the beginning we thought, we are just a small

guy and there are some big guys that are much, much bigger than us. . . . We didn’t expect we can be the major force to supply this test.” iHealth is just one of many companies that have rushed to produce home tests. To date, the FDA has authorized 16 home tests, including 13 rapid antigen tests and 3 molecular ones, from giant companies and startups alike. Abbott, the $43 billion (2021 sales) goliath, built plants in Maine and Illinois to churn out its popular BinaxNow test. To date, it has distributed more than 1.4 billion Covid tests.

San Diego-based Quidel says Covid-19 products, including its QuickVue test, accounted for around $1.3 billion of its $1.7 billion in revenue last year.

But dealing with the uncertainties of demand hasn’t been easy. Last summer, as virus cases fell, Abbott discarded test cards used in its home tests and laid off employees, only to rehire them in the fall. Now that the latest Omicron wave has passed, testing companies will need to figure out how to plan for a business where demand comes in fits and starts—and where retail prices are under pressure.

“If we have seen the worst that Covid has in store for us, given the lackluster support by the CDC for home testing and the current level of Covid fatigue, it seems safe to assume that the future of the Covid at-home testing market won’t support 16 or more products,” says Michael Abrams, managing partner of St. Louis-based healthcare consultancy Numerof & Associates.

Here’s how seven of the most prominent at-home test makers are faring:

Abbott Laboratories TEST: BinaxNow (antigen) MARKET CAP (ticker: ABT):

$201 billion

PANDEMIC STOCK PERFORMANCE: Up 46% REVENUE: $43 billion FINANCIAL IMPACT OF COVID: Abbott’s sales related to Covid testing, including BinaxNow, reached $7.7 billion in 2021, nearly double the previous year’s $3.9 billion.

WHAT THEY’VE DONE: Distributed more than 1.4 billion Covid-19 tests since the start of the pandemic. Built manufacturing plants in Maine and Illinois.

WHAT THEY PLAN TO DO: Crank up production from 70 million tests per month in January toward 100 million in March.

KEY QUOTE: “I think the bigger picture here is, obviously . . . testing will eventually ramp down, but there will be a portion that will be sustained,” CEO Robert Ford said at the JPMorgan healthcare conference in January.

Becton Dickinson TEST: BD Veritor (antigen) MARKET CAP (ticker: BDX):

$72 billion

PANDEMIC STOCK PERFORMANCE: Up 10% REVENUE: $20 billion FINANCIAL IMPACT OF COVID: Covid-19 revenue expected to reach $450 million this year, with the majority of it in the first half, according to a report by analysts at William Blair.

WHAT THEY’VE DONE: Developed a digital approach to reading test results that may gain it traction in the employer market.

PRODUCTION CAPACITY: 12 million tests per month.

STRATEGIC DIFFERENCE: According to a report from William Blair analysts Brian Weinstein, Griffin Soriano and Dustin Scaringe: “BD did not compete for high-volume, lower-priced contracts and does not have the same retail presence nationwide that companies like Abbott and Quidel have been able to secure.”

APRIL 2022

BY AMY FELDMAN; IMAGE FROM IHEALTHLABS.COM

Healthcare

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Cue Health

WHAT THEY PLAN TO DO: The company has been working to increase production to 70 million tests per month.

TEST: Cue (molecular) MARKET CAP (ticker: HLTH):

$1.1 billion

THE BIG DEAL: Quidel agreed to acquire Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, an in vitro diagnostics company, for approximately $6 billion, in December 2021.

STOCK PERFORMANCE SINCE SEPTEMBER 2021 IPO: Down 51% REVENUE: $615 million FINANCIAL IMPACT OF COVID: All the company’s product revenues come from its Covid test.

COMPANY HISTORY: CEO Ayub Khattak, who has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of California, Los Angeles, cofounded the diagnostics testing company in 2010. Prior to the pandemic, the startup was focused on research.

Khattak owns just over 10.9 million shares, worth nearly $90 million.

WHAT THEY’VE DONE: Signed contracts with Google, Salesforce and the NBA, plus the Department of Defense. Google started using Cue’s at-home tests for employees last April and is reported to be the company’s largest private-sector customer.

Detect TEST: Detect (molecular) VENTURE FUNDS RAISED:

Siemens Healthineers TEST: Clinitest (antigen) commercially available in December, to millions per month.

CURRENT STATUS FOR RETAIL CONSUMERS: Sold out.

FUN FACT: In prior lives, CEO Hugo Barra was vice president of virtual reality at Facebook and vice president of Google’s Android division.

KEY QUOTE: “It’s not like we’re going to forget about home testing as soon as we go into the endemic phase of Covid,” Barra says.

OraSure Technologies TEST: InteliSwab (antigen)

AN ANALYST’S TAKE: JPMorgan’s Tycho Peterson wrote in January that the company’s InteliSwab antigen test “has been plagued by delays in FDA approval, as well as notable manufacturing scale-up issues during launch.”

THE OUTLOOK: OraSure announced in January that it was exploring “strategic alternatives,” corporate-speak for a potential sale. It also said its CEO, Stephen Tang, would depart at the end of March. A new CEO has not yet been named.

Quidel TEST: QuickVue (antigen) MARKET CAP (ticker: QDEL):

$110 million

Market cap (ticker: OSUR):

FINANCIAL IMPACT OF COVID: Detect’s Covid-19 tests are its first and, to date only, commercial product.

PANDEMIC STOCK PERFORMANCE: Up 15%

PANDEMIC STOCK PERFORMANCE: Up 11%

REVENUE: $234 million

TOTAL REVENUE: $1.7 billion

FINANCIAL IMPACT OF COVID: The Inteliswab tests brought in $22 million in revenue last year, below the $30 million guidance it had provided to analysts.

FINANCIAL IMPACT OF COVID: Sales of Covid-19 products accounted for 75% of total revenue in 2021, or $1.3 billion, up 42% from $891 million the previous year.

Quidel makes Covid-19 tests used by doctor’s offices as well as home tests.

COMPANY HISTORY: On March 7, 2020, scientist and serial entrepreneur Jonathan Rothberg wrote on Twitter “Thinking about a low cost easy to manufacture home test kit for #Coronavirus.” The test he designed received FDA authorization in October 2021.

WHAT THEY’VE DONE: Made at-home molecular tests cheaper. Detect’s reusable hub, required to start using its tests, costs $39 compared to $249 for Cue’s reader.

WHAT THEY PLAN TO DO: Rapidly increase production of its Covid test, which became F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M

$492 million

WHAT THEY’VE DONE: OraSure won government contracts worth more than $300 million but has struggled to produce tests.

The company restructured at the end of 2021 and hired an operations consulting firm used by the NIH’s Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics, or RadX, initiative to get manufacturing on track.

$4.1 billion

WHAT THEY’VE DONE: Received a 12-month contract with the U.S. government worth more than $500 million, and entered partnerships with CVS, Walgreen, McKesson and the NIH. Sold some 65 million QuickVue at-home Covid tests in the fourth quarter of 2021.

MARKET CAP (ADR: SMMNY):

$65 billion

PANDEMIC STOCK PERFORMANCE:Up 56% REVENUE: $21 billion FINANCIAL IMPACT OF COVID: Revenue of nearly $360 million from rapid Covid-19 tests in the last three months of 2021. Upped its guidance for fiscal 2022 (ends September 30) based on projections that its diagnostics division, which includes those tests, will bring in more than $760 million.

WHAT THEY’VE DONE: The German medical device maker was one of the last entrants to the U.S. home Covid testing market, receiving FDA authorization at the tail end of 2021.

WHAT THEY PLAN TO DO: Committed to making 50 million tests available by late March as part of the Biden Administration’s rollout of 1 billion free tests; also slated to deliver 84 million tests to the Department of Defense by summer.

Sources: Companies, SEC filings, analyst reports, J.P. Morgan healthcare conference presentations, Morningstar, Forbes research.

Notes: Total revenue is for the 2021 calendar year regardless of fiscal year; Cue Health revenue is preliminary and represents average of $613 million to $618 million range. Stock prices and exchange rates as of March 11, 2022. Pandemic stock performance is since March 11, 2020 APRIL 2022

IMAGE CREDIT: ORASURE TECHNOLOGIES

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Business

What’s In A Name?

Facebook is not the first company to decide to start a new chapter with a new name. These household brands also launched with different monikers to what they now use.

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Dunkin’ Donuts Dunkin’

Facebook Meta Facebook announced that it was changing its corporate name to Meta—the Greek word for “beyond”—in October 2021. Cofounder Mark Zuckerberg stated that Meta’s focus will be to bring the metaverse to life, and the company has since made several investments, including in creating the AI Research SuperCluster, which is expected to be the world’s fastest computer by mid-2022. Under the Meta parent company, the social apps Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp have retained their famous names.

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Brad’s Drink PepsiCola PepsiCo In 1893, pharmacist Caleb Bradham developed a carbonated drink named Brad’s Drink. In August 1898, he changed the name to Pepsi-Cola after its ingredients enzyme pepsin and the cola nut.

In 1965, Pepsi-Cola and Frito Lay combined their two companies to create PepsiCo, delivering salty snacks as well as the popular beverage. Today, PepsiCo’s products are consumed more than a billion times a day in more than 200 countries. The company

reported $70 billion in net revenue in 2020 and the Pepsi brand was valued at $18.2 billion as of July 2020, according to Forbes.

BackRub Google Alphabet Although Google was officially founded in 1998, its journey began in 1995, when Larry Page and Sergey Brin met at Stanford University. A year later, in 1996, the two cofounders created a pioneering search engine, which they first named BackRub before changing it to Google shortly after. In 1998, Sun Microsystems cofounder

The Dunkin’ Brands company announced in September 2018 that it was shortening the name of its Dunkin’ Donuts chain by dropping “Donuts” from its branding and logo.

The switch to the shorter name took place in January 2019. The company stated that the change was a step towards it becoming a beverage-led brand.

Square Block Just a couple of days after Jack Dorsey resigned from Twitter in December 2021, his California-based financial services and digital payments company Square Inc., announced that it would be changing its name to Block. The name change was introduced to distinguish the company from its “seller business” as it expanded through acquisitions. Since the company’s start in 2009 it has acquired Cash App, TIDAL, and TBD54566975.

APRIL 2022

BY MOHAMED ALKHALIFA; IMAGE BY FACEBOOK/META

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Andy Bechtolsheim invested $100,000 with Page and Sergey, and Google Inc. was born. Google Inc. went public in 2004, and in August 2015, the cofounders announced the launch of Alphabet Inc, which became the parent company of Google and its subsidiaries.

Billionaires

Russian billionaires

Russian And Ukrainian Billionaires Witness Vadim Novinsky

1. Rinat Akhmetov

• $7.6 billion • $4.2 billion

Change: $3.4 billion ↓ Source of wealth: Steel, coal

$52.2B Wipeout

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, here’s how the real-time fortunes of the five wealthiest Russian and Ukrainian billionaires have changed in nearly a year.

Akhmetov owns System Capital Management and controls a stake in Metinvest Group.

2. Victor Pinchuk

• $2.5 billion • $1.9 billion

Vladimir Potanin

1. Vladimir Lisin

• $26.2 billion • $17.7 billion Change: $8.5 billion ↓ Source of wealth: Steel, transport

Lisin serves as chairman of NLMK Group, a manufacturer of steel products.

Rinat Akhmetov

2. Vladimir Potanin

Change: $600 million ↓ Source of wealth: Steel pipes, diversified

• $27 billion • $17.3 billion

Pinchuk founded Interpipe in Ukraine in 1990 and owns Grand Buildings in Trafalgar Square.

Potanin controls over 33% of Norilsk Nickel and has stakes in Petrovax Pharm and Rosa Khutor.

Change: $9.7 billion ↓ Source of wealth: Metals

3. Kostyantin Zhevago

3. Pavel Durov

• $17.2 billion • $15.1 billion

• $2.3 billion • $1.3 billion

Change: $2.1 billion ↓ Source of wealth: Messaging app

Change: $1 billion ↓ Source of wealth: Mining

BY JAMILA GANDHI ; SHAROMKA/ SHUTTERSTOCK.COM, ANATOLII TROFIMOV/ SHUTTERSTOCK.COM, AGUSYONOK/ SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

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Durov is the founder of Russian social network Vkontakte and messaging app, Telegram.

Zhevago controls a majority stake in mining firm Ferrexpo, listed on the London Stock Exchange.

4. Leonid Mikhelson

• $24.9 billion • $14 billion

3. Vadim Novinsky

Change: $10.9 billion ↓ Source of wealth: Gas, chemicals

• $1.4 billion • $1.3 billion Change: $100 million ↓ Source of wealth: Steel

Mikhelson is chairman natural gas producer Novatek and own 48% of petrochem Sibur.

Novinsky co-owns the Smart Holding Group with Andrei Klyamko.

5. Alexey Mordashov

5. Vlad Yatsenko

• $29.1 billion • $13.2 billion

• — • $1.1 billion

Change: $15.9 billion ↓ Source of wealth: Steel, investments

Change: New billionaire Source of wealth: Fintech Yatsenko cofounded Revolut, which became the U.K.’s most valuable Fintech in July 2021.

F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M

• Net worth as of Apr 6, 2021 • Net worth as of Mar 14, 2022

Mordashov owns around 34% of travel and tourism conglomerate TUI Group.

APRIL 2022

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Ukrainian billionaires

Technology

Microsoft’s Milestones

This year, Microsoft celebrates its 47th anniversary. Here’s a glance at some of the company’s biggest achievements in that time.

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1995 Microsoft’s Windows 95 program unveiled now-iconic features including the desktop, the recycle bin, the start button, and the taskbar. It also added a new “plug and play” feature for installing hardware.

1997 Microsoft purchased Hotmail, one of the world’s first webmail services, in 1997, replacing it with Outlook.com six years later.

1975 Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft— originally spelt “Micro-soft”—to produce software for the MITS Altair 8800 minicomputer. Five years later, in 1980, the pair inked a deal with IBM to provide an operating system for its first PC. IBM introduced its PC with Microsoft’s 16-bit operating system, MS-DOS 1.0, in 1981.

1986 In 1985, Gates rolled out the Microsoft Windows interface for its MS-DOS operating system. The following year, on March 13, 1986, Microsoft went public. Its initial IPO had a $21 offering price, which rose to $35.5 before the end of the day. On the first day of trading, 2.5 million shares changed hands, raising $61 million.

2011 The tech firm bought Skype for $8.5 billion in 2011, expanding its focus on real-time video and voice communications.

2013 Having first launched the Xbox 360 in 2001, the software giant launched the Xbox One in 2013, which was the third home gaming console in the Xbox family.

The device, which integrated with television, included a motion-sensing camera and microphone, played DVDs, and CDs, and allowed for making and sharing videos.

F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M

APRIL 2022

BY JULIAN NABIL; IMAGES FROM MICROSOFT BLOG, IMAGE FROM WIKIMEDIA.ORG, IMAGE FROM SKYPE.COM

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2016 LinkedIn, founded in 2002, floated on the New York stock exchange in 2011 with a value of $4.25 billion. Five years later, Microsoft bought the company in a $26.2 billion deal.

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2014 Microsoft bought Stockholmbased game developer Mojang and its Minecraft franchise for $2.5 billion.

2017 Microsoft Teams launched as a new chat-based workspace in Office 365. It was initially made available to Office 365 business customers in 181 markets and 19 languages.

2018 Microsoft completed the purchase of GitHub, a codesharing service, for $7.5 billion in stock.

2020 In 2020, Microsoft announced it will be carbon negative by 2030, and by 2050 will remove from the environment all the carbon it has emitted since it was founded in 1975. In the same year, Microsoft set up one of the top five publicly-released supercomputers in the world, making new infrastructure available to train big AI models.

IMAGES FROM NEWS.MICROSOFT.COM

2022 Microsoft announced it plans to acquire Activision Blizzard—the gaming company behind Call of Duty and World of Warcraft—in a $68.7 billion transaction that will make Microsoft the third-largest gaming company by revenue once the acquisition is completed. The deal is said to be Microsoft’s biggest acquisition in its 46-year history, and the largest M&A deal in tech history.

F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M

APRIL 2022

By Khadijah Khogeer

• STARTUPS •

Transforming Trucking With a $10.5 million pre-Series A funding round under his belt, Sherif Taher, cofounder and CEO of Egyptbased trucking technology platform Naqla, is driving digital change in the country’s road freight sector.

NAQLA

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As major construction work was underway in Egypt’s sprawling New Administrative Capital in December 2015, architectural engineer Sherif Taher was given a daunting task: gather 600 trucks to deliver building material, from steel to cement, in just 48 hours. “I found it a huge hassle. I ended up collecting only 320 trucks to deliver those goods,” remembers Taher.

Taher cofounded truck technology startup Naqla, F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M

Naqla aims to expand its crossborder operations, delivering cargo between Egypt and neighboring countries.

APRIL 2022

IMAGE FROM SOURCE

A

just months later in 2016 to address logistic delays and supply chain disruptions rife in Egypt’s road freight sector. Egypt’s trucking network is heavily fragmented, yet vital as the country accelerates the development of its infrastructure. Egypt allocated $15.6 billion to the transport sector in fiscal 2021/22. Naqla connects truck drivers to carrier companies through two apps, facilitating freight transportation from point A to point B. Since operations began in 2017, Naqla’s 10,500 truck drivers have completed over 100,000 total trips across Egypt. They have delivered more than 4.6 million tons of cargo for companies ranging from consumer goods giant Proctor & Gamble to local logistics agency LATT.

IMAGE FROM SOURCE

F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M

client in 2017. “Big entities like that will appreciate the innovation and technology,” he notes.

Three years later, in 2019, Naqla expanded into four commodity-focused sectors, including agri-business and construction.

“I see Egypt is moving and developing construction and real estate projects and the infrastructure of the country. Naqla is riding this wave and we are carrying a lot of building material to support the economic growth of the country,” says the CEO. While Naqla’s digital approach has disrupted Egypt’s trucking industry over the past five years, tech adoption remains the cofounder’s biggest challenge.

“You’re trying to change and re-structure a huge industry that has been moving for hundreds of years with the same method and same methodology,” stresses Taher. “The industry has been driven by the middleman and brokers, and of course tech is disrupting this area.”

Technology plays a crucial role in innovating supply chain efficiency, through enhanced productivity, waste reduction and the optimized use of resources, says Sara Elzarka, dean of the International Transport and Logistics Institute. “The supply chain in Egypt suffers from long lead time, excessive waiting time, mismanagement of inventory, and the high cost of logistics services,” explains Elzarka. “Startups like Naqla are definitely what the market in Egypt needs. We need to look towards outof-the box new ideas that would solve the longstanding challenges of the supply chain in Egypt. Matching the supply and demand for transportation services proved its success in the passengers’ transport sector, like with Uber and Careem.”

Naqla will now invest some of the startup’s fresh funds and talent pool into Naqla Store, which is in pilot phase, and sells truck parts such as tires, batteries, and spares to drivers. The platform uses buy-now-pay-later payment solutions to provide financial flexibility for truck drivers.

“It’s running in place as a pilot project and it will be launched online soon,” says Taher. The company is also gearing towards a Series A round. “It will be a big growth booster for the next phase,” he says.

In 2022, Naqla also aims to expand its crossborder operations, delivering cargo between Egypt and neighboring countries. It’s a step towards Taher’s dream of expanding in Africa, a goal he’s had since the idea of Naqla sparked in December 2015. “I see Africa as the raw material resource nexus of the world. I see Africa as an underdeveloped continent that needs more development,” Taher affirms. “And Egypt is a great start for our product and the company to scale to other countries in the region.”

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25 NAQLA

On March 7, 2022, Naqla raised $10.5 million in a pre-Series A round led by Egyptian companies El Sewedy Capital Holding, Hassan Allam Holding, and the Sallam Family. The startup plans to use the funds to enter new verticals, grow its talent pool and develop its tech, focusing on strengthening its AI-powered apps to support the digitization of the country’s logistic landscape. “Lack of connectivity between the shipper and the carrier is Sherif Taher a real pain and there is no technology to modernize this market. It’s a very fragmented industry,” explains Taher, Naqla’s CEO. As the majority of Egypt’s freight is transported by road, trucks play an essential role in transporting goods for several industries. Egypt’s transport and logistics sector grew by 11% in FY 2020/2021, with $827.5 million in private investments in the sector last year, according to the country’s General Authority for Investment and Free Zones. Coupled with a boom in public and private construction projects, like the new capital, investors also seem keen to support the digital innovation of Egypt’s logistics industry. Investments in Egyptian logistics tech startups rose from $2.7 million in 2017 to $52.6 million in 2021, according to Disrupt Africa data.

Regional and local players have burst onto the scene.

Last year, homegrown trucking marketplace Trella raised $42 million in one of Egypt’s largest funding rounds for a tech startup in 2021. Its investors include shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk’s venture arm Maersk Growth. In 2019, Trella acquired local rival Trukto. That same year, U.A.E.-based truck tech startups TruKKer and Trukkin both entered the Egyptian market. Cloud-based TruKKer, founded in 2016, raised $96 million in February 2022, while Trukkin, launched in 2017, last raised $7 million in June 2021. Taher remains unfazed by competition in the market.

“I don’t call them competitors; I see them as helpers,” he says. “We need to help each other. I believe that we are far away from being a competitor. It’s a huge market.”

Compared to Egypt’s $13 billion trucking sector, according to Naqla, the country is home to only 33 logistics startups, representing just 5.9% of the country’s tech startup ecosystem as of 2021, according to Disrupt Africa data. Taher remembers digital adoption in Egypt’s trucking industry being even rarer back in 2016, when he struggled to find support for the concept from tech firms. This is until he met his cofounder Samer Sallam. “We clicked from the first meeting,” recalls Taher. “I was so happy with that at that time. I hadn’t found anyone to take the risk with me until then and he was a really visionary cofounder to work with.” Taher took the disruptive tech to Egypt’s maritime ports, where he scored shipping giant Maersk as his first

By Giacomo Tognini

Photograph by Wolfgang Wilde for Forbes

Nose for Business

26 C O N T R A R I A N • I N N OVAT I O N

CONTRARIAN • INNOVATION

Swabs for Covid testing made Copan CEO Stefania Triva a billionaire. Despite countless buyout offers, though, she’s snubbing the dealmakers and keeping the company firmly in the family.

O

On a foggy early Janu­ary day in the northern Italian city of Brescia, which was hit hard by the first wave of Covid-19 in 2020, Stefania Triva, 57, sets out two swabs side by side on her desk. One is a regular cotton Q-tip, the other a special “flocked” swab, studded with tiny synthetic fibers that resemble split ends.

That special swab—made by her family’s 43-year-old company, Copan—is the key element in hundreds of millions of Covid19 PCR tests currently being plunged into noses around the world. Sitting in front of a large red-and-yellow abstract painting and a corkboard filled with photos of her three children, Triva delves into the subtle differences that make her flocked swabs the gold standard.

“In a cotton swab, the fibers are twisted around the stick, creating a cage that traps the sample,” she says, pointing to the thickly wound Q-tip. “But it only releases 20% of that sample. In a flocked swab, thanks to the mechanics of how the fibers are attached to the stick, you have the opposite: 80% is released.”

Family Ties “I can’t see myself anywhere else. It’s in my DNA,” says Copan CEO Stefania Triva, who got her start as a teenager packing boxes for her father’s company in the 1980s.

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27 C O N T R A R I A N • I N N OVAT I O N

Those swabs—invented by Copan in 2003 and the suite of machines and software that automates much of lab subject of ongoing litigation with its leading rival, Maineprocessing, from routine urine tests to complex bacterial based Puritan Medical Products—have helped drive the infections. Lab automation, with $5 billion a year in company’s enormous growth; it manufactured 415 million revenue, is potentially a much bigger market than swabs. of them in 2020, more than double the 2019 amount.

“We’ve made some innovations in automation that have After ramping up production, Copan now has the revolutionized microbiology,” Triva says, glancing over capacity to produce 1 billion a year. Net income nearly the vast warehouses and factories outside the window of quintupled in 2020, to $79 million, on revenue of $372 her office. million. It blew past that figure in 2021, with sales growing Copan was founded in the northern Italian city of to $445 million. (Net income was not yet available at Mantua in 1979 by Triva’s father, Giorgio Triva. It initially press time.) A full 84% of Copan’s sales come from flocked distributed only lab products others made, such as test swabs, which have been used in at least a billion molecular tubes. The company began making swabs in 1982, the same tests conducted in doctor’s offices and clinics around the year Stefania’s older brother Daniele, a chemical engineer, world since the beginning of the pandemic. (That figure joined the family firm as general manager. doesn’t include swabs for rapid tests or at-home kits, a tiny Buoyed by strong product sales—including collection fraction of Copan’s business.) cups for blood analysis machines that gained a foothold in That success has elevated Triva, who holds a 48% stake Japan—Copan expanded overseas, opening a subsidiary in in Copan, into the billionaire ranks, worth an estimated California in 1995. Three years later it moved to its current $1.2 billion. Five other family members own the rest of the location in Brescia, a major manufacturing hub. firm, which Forbes values at another $1.3 billion.

Daniele Triva took over after his father’s death in 2000, Copan’s runaway success has attracted the attention of and Copan’s fortunes changed forever when he pioneered several investment funds—Triva won’t name them—but the now-ubiquitous flocked swabs in 2003. While out the daughter of the company’s founder has no intention of shopping for a winter coat, Daniele noticed how the nylon selling. “We receive offers almost every day,” she admits. fiber strips on clothes hangers stuck closely to the fabric, Confirms her nephew and Copan’s 32-year-old heir and he wondered if it could be replicated in swabs. A book apparent, Giorgio Triva: “We’re at a size similar to other about Copan written by Elisa Erriu and Mario Mazzoleni firms being sought out by these funds.” recounted a story where Triva supposedly challenged his But despite the SPAC boom and the proliferation of IPOs technicians to design a swab with adhesive fibers that both at home and abroad—including the New York Stock could act like a sponge and release more sample material Exchange listing in July of Stevanato Group, another Italian than a regular Q-tip could—promising them free pizza if family-owned firm that received a Covid boost thanks to its they succeeded. Copan maintains that the conception and vials for vaccines—she doesn’t plan to tap the public markets. invention of flocked swabs was done solely by Daniele Triva “When you’re a public company . . . it constrains your and that he actually “involved the rest of the team only for strategy and decision making,” she says. “We’re financially the industrialization optimization process of the product solid and independent, and this allows us to grow without after patent filing.” seeking external funding.”

The new technology revolutionized diagnostics, The growth of the past two years means Copan can making it easier to conduct routine tests for viruses and continue expanding while keeping ownership firmly within bacterial infections alike. “Before flocked swabs, they used the family. “We love being free, eclectic and fast, knowing that we sometimes need to take calculated Patent battles tend to drag on. Just ask Gordon Gould, risks,” Triva says.

The Vault who invented the laser, coined its name—then spent That means investing in a future beyond the three decades fi ghting for credit. He had just emerged LASER BRAIN victorious when he sat down with Forbes in 1987. pandemic. In addition to medical tests, the firm also “Though Gould is understandably angry and bitt erabout makes specialized swabs used in collecting forensic his long years in court, the truth is he is infi -nitely bett er DNA from crime scenes. Clients run the gamut from off fi nancially exactly because of the extended legal batt le he fought. If he’d gott en the patents as he should have, Scotland Yard to the French Gendarmerie, which used in the early 1960s, they would all have run out by now, and the infant industry he spawned would have earned him Copan-made swabs to help identify the perpetrators of relatively little. As it is, Gordon Gould is now worth at least the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks. A microswab Copan $25 million [$60 million in 2022 dollars], with a lot more to come.” and the Gendarmerie developed together enables —Forbes, December 14, 1987 authorities to analyze DNA from any bodily fluid—or No wonder Gould, cruising around the shores of Virginia in his new white Mercedes, was learning to let go: “Funny even just fingerprints—in under two hours. thing is, I’m not real angry at them anymore.”

Beyond swabs, Copan already has a high-tech, and likely more lucrative, product to offer: a whole

F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M

HOW TO PLAY IT

By Jon D. Markman The global pandemic forced health-care companies to be more agile and innovative.

The best way to play this trend is Danaher. The Washington, D.C.–based conglomerate controls 20 healthcare and scientific businesses operating under a shared business strategy. Its subsidiary, Cepheid, won FDA approval in March 2020 for the first point-ofcare coronavirus test kit, with results ready in only 45 minutes.

The innovation was heralded as a new phase of testing. Danaher executives estimated in January that 2021 sales would be approximately $29 billion, up more than 30% from a year ago. Based on sales momentum, shares could trade to $380 during the next 18 months, a gain of 46% from current levels Jon D. Markman is president of Markman Capital Insight and editor of Fast Forward Investing.

the Italian government’s demand for testing swabs. It also ramped up production to provide much-needed supplies to the United States, with U.S. Air Force planes landing in Brescia late that March and into April to pick up a total of 4 million swabs.

“Brescia was massacred by Covid-19, but our employees were always there,” Triva says, recalling a period when the city of 200,000 and the surrounding province were recording dozens of Covid-related deaths a day. “All you could hear was ambulance sirens, but they kept working, even on weekends and holidays.”

The company hired hundreds of new workers to keep up with the extraordinary surge in demand. It also received two grants for $10 million apiece in 2020, one from Apple’s Advanced Manufacturing Fund to build a new California plant, the other from the U.S. Department of Defense to increase production at its Puerto Rico factory.

It also doubled down on robotics, launching a machine called UniVerse that automates the preparation of samples for medical tests—for Covid-19 but also other infectious diseases including tuberculosis—freeing up overworked lab technicians to focus on less menial tasks.

Copan’s latest innovation is a machine that cuts diagnosis time by 80% for infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Builtin artificial intelligence helps keep the system running smoothly. Tests can be completed in roughly four hours, and negative samples are automatically sent to the trash.

Already the strategy seems to be working: Copan WASP, the firm’s automation division, recorded $54 million in revenue in the first nine months of 2021, up 39% over the previous year and exceeding its haul for all of 2020; it now makes up nearly a fifth of overall sales, the company says.

Triva credits her team, and her brother’s legacy, with that success: “[Daniele] sowed an entrepreneurial culture,” she says, “not just to me, but to the whole company.” And as long as she’s in charge, that tradition, and Copan itself, will remain all in the family.

FINAL THOUGHT

“THE FIRST OF EARTHLY BLESSINGS, INDEPENDENCE.” —Edward Gibbon APRIL 2022

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aluminum wires to take nasal samples,” says Triva, grimacing.

Over the next decade, Copan expanded its California plant and opened an office in Shanghai. It began investing in automation in 2007, making proprietary machines called “walkaway specimen processors,” which robotically process thousands of samples a day, 24/7.

Starting in 2012, Copan became embroiled in a patent infringement battle with its largest competitor, Puritan Medical Products, after the American firm started producing its own flocked swabs. Copan alleges Puritan is violating several of its patents. The legal battle has raged for a decade and shows no signs of abating, with victories and defeats registered in courts from Maine to Germany and Sweden.

“They’ve always been our ‘illegal’ competitor,” Triva says. The ongoing lawsuit against Puritan in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine was stayed in May 2020 to allow the two firms to focus full-time on making swabs during the pandemic; the litigation has since resumed.

Puritan denies the allegations but declined to comment for this article.

A heartbreaking development occurred in 2014, when Daniele died at 54 after a sevenmonth battle with cancer. Stefania, who started working at the company right out of college and had been director of quality assurance and regulatory affairs, stepped up.

“It was a very tragic period . . . but I never thought about giving up,” she says, taking a moment to breathe. “The only doubt I had was about our ability to go on, because my brother was a very important leader. So I met with all our longtime employees and issued a call to arms. I told them, ‘We can only do this together.’ ” Under her leadership, Copan hasn’t stopped moving. The company established a new engineering facility near its headquarters in 2016 and later opened new offices and factories in Japan, Australia and Puerto Rico. But nothing prepared Triva, or the company, for the virulent wave of Covid-19 that washed over Italy in early 2020. The first case in the country was diagnosed on February 20 in the small town of Codogno, about 50 miles southwest of Brescia— naturally, with a Copan-made flocked swab.

Facing a national emergency, Copan placed its employees on nonstop seven-day shifts to meet

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• COVER STORY •

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HARNESSING HEALTHTECH

Sherif Beshara, CEO of American Hospital Dubai and Group CEO of the Mohamed & Obaid Al Mulla Group, has been investing in AI and robotics to stand out in the U.A.E.’s competitive private healthcare sector. With plans for a care network in place, education could be the next game changer.

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Sherif Beshara, CEO of American Hospital Dubai and Group CEO of the Mohamed & Obaid Al Mulla Group

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The U.A.E.

has long been working to establish itself as a global hub for healthcare.

Since the first hospital was opened in the emirates in the 1960s, the sector has grown exponentially. According to government statistics, there were 45 hospitals in the public sector and 98 in the private sector by 2017.

Data from a 2021 Dubai Healthcare Investment Guide indicates that by 2019, there were six public and 33 private hospitals in Dubai alone. Today, the healthcare sector is a competitive market, with hospitals and holding companies investing in technology and partnerships to offer local and international patients top-of-the-range care.

For the 254-bed American Hospital Dubai, based in the emirate’s Healthcare City, this has meant capitalizing on medical technologies and education to establish itself as a key player. Having invested 25% of its total budget into technology in the last five years, the hospital reports that it saw its total net revenues grow 78% between 2017 and 2021. Since it was established in 1996, it has treated more than a million patients and performed over 150,000 surgeries.

The last two years have seen a swathe of tech-based announcements from the private healthcare provider.

In January 2022, it partnered with Siemens Healthineers to give it access to the medical device company’s latest diagnostic imaging and lab diagnostics equipment. Six months previously, in July 2021, the hospital launched a robotic surgery training hub and education academy onsite and at the College of Medicine at Sharjah University in partnership with Robotics Surgical Systems and British medtech company CMR Surgical.

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You cannot have a center of excellence if you don’t have education or research. So, we are using the latest technology to teach others, to expand our know-how, and to build an American Hospital care network.

”

Sherif Beshara

The hospital already has a team of laparoscopic surgeons that are also able to perform, teach, and attest robotic surgeries. “We started with one surgeon; right now, we have 16,” says Sherif Beshara, CEO of American Hospital Dubai, and Group CEO of the Mohamed & Obaid Al Mulla Group, which owns and operates the facility. “You cannot have a center of excellence if you don’t have education or research. So, we are using the latest technology to teach others, to expand our know-how, and to build an American Hospital care network.”

While it works to establish its own regional care network, the American Hospital also benefits from the expertise of the global Mayo Clinic Care Network as one of only a handful of Middle Eastbased international members of the knowledge-sharing organization. The network connects experts around the world so that they can share and learn from the research and experience of multiple healthcare providers. It has more than 40 international members, including Saudi German Hospitals in Riyadh and Cairo, the International Medical Center in Saudi, and the American Hospital Dubai in the U.A.E. “It’s about quality of care,” says Beshara. “They support us in getting second opinions.”

Pooling technology and expertise has led to a number of recent firsts for the American Hospital Dubai. In June 2021, one of its patients—a 72-year-old British APRIL 2022

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recruiting a CEO for the group.” The leadership were convinced to go ahead with the restructuring plan, but the first person to accept the Group CEO position pulled out at the last minute. The board turned to Beshara to fill the role. He stepped into his current position in November 2018, deciding from the start to focus on healthcare. “I was sure that American Hospital was the gate to growth for the whole group,” he says.

At the time, the U.A.E. was investing considerably into its public and private healthcare sectors. Data from the U.S.-U.A.E.

American Hospital For the 254-bed American Hospital Dubai, based in the emirate’s Healthcare City, this has meant capitalizing on medical technologies and education to establish itself as a key player

Business Council indicates that in 2018, total expenditure on healthcare for the emirates stood at $18.2 billion, and was expected to rise to $21.3 billion by 2021. According to the World Bank, in 2019 the U.A.E. was spending nearly 4.3% of its GDP on healthcare at $1,843 per capita. By then, the American Hospital Dubai was one of the Mohamed & Obaid Al Mulla Group’s biggest assets, but it had been facing increasing competition from new market entrants for nearly a decade, and that had impacted its results. To get it back on track, it needed new investment to help it rival other big players in the U.A.E.’s burgeoning private healthcare sector and to help it claw back some market share.

Approaching the task from the perspective of a patient, Beshara made innovation and technology core to his new vision for the APRIL 2022

33 SHERIF BESHARA

expat—became the first to have both his knees, which were degenerating, replaced with implants using a ROSA robotics system.

In the October, a 63-year-old Nigerian medical tourist became the first at the hospital to undergo bone marrow transplant treatment, just one month after its bone marrow transplant unit had opened.

“Right now, American Hospital is a destination for complicated patients and surgeries. It’s for people that are really stuck and need a proper solution for their complications,” insists the CEO. His approach to creating a specialized USP for the hospital is one that he has followed since he first took its helm just three and half years ago.

Coming from a corporate rather than healthcare background, at the time it was an unexpected career turn for the professional lawyer.

Beshara started out in private legal practice in 1999, holding senior roles in legal counsel for Barclays Bank and Air Arabia before joining the Mohamed & Obaid Al Mulla Group and becoming its Group Chief Legal Officer in 2017. At the time, the private family-owned business had been active since 1942 and had a diverse portfolio across a number of sectors, including in healthcare through the American Hospital Dubai, which follows American healthcare protocols, governed by an inhouse auditing system, with all 220 physicians American Board Certified or equivalent. Some of the family group’s other holdings include 21.7% of Dubai Insurance, 26.1% of Emirates Investment Bank, and 10.2% of Dubai Refreshments. Five years ago, its new recruit thought he could see some untapped potential.

Beshara approached the board with an idea: an overhaul in the cooperate governance structure to stimulate growth.

“They had an amazing portfolio, but they were on silent mode for many years,” Beshara explains. “We suggested dividing the group into four sectors—healthcare, hospitality, real estate, and investment—and

from laparoscopic is much higher than robotic,” he explains. “For me, the main advantage is that you don’t need many narcotics after the surgery, or you don’t need a narcotic or painkillers at all.”

While the hospital expanded with the new tech, it was far from the only player recognizing the opportunities. Globally, as healthcare has continually digitized, the market for surgical robots has risen considerably. According to estimates from Statista, the global market size for surgical robots stood at $4.5 billion in 2016, $5.1 billion in 2017, and is forecast to hit $12.6 billion by 2025. In the U.A.E. alone, Al Zahra Hospital and Mediclinic City Hospital in Dubai, and Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi are among some of the biggest private players also investing in the latest robotic equipment.

However, as competition heats up, experts F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M

American Hospital announced that it was partnering with Cerner and Oracle Cloud Applications for a digital transformation overhaul, implementing a new electronic health record to help physicians improve care for patients

believe that investments in technology should be carefully implemented. “With several competing hospitals in the Middle East racing to adopt the latest technologies, healthcare providers cannot depend solely on new technologies to add a competitive advantage,” says Jad Bitar, Managing Director and Senior Partner at the Boston Consulting Group. “Hospitals should use new technologies to change the way they operate both clinically and how they serve patients. The ensuing paradigm could drastically improve the hospital’s outcomes, in parallel to raising patient satisfaction.”

While American Hospital Dubai’s leadership continued to reassess its infrastructure and its position in the market, early 2020 saw the global Covid-19 pandemic hit. In response, the Mohamed & Obaid Al Mulla Group quickly converted one of its hotel assets, the Holiday Inn Express at Dubai Airport, into a temporary 390bed field hospital purely for Covid-19 patients. The American Hospital closed its two satellite clinics in Barsha and Al Khawaneej and moved nurses to the new campus. “On the first day we opened, I found my housekeeping staff waiting outside the hotel—they were panicking, they didn’t want to enter,” remembers Beshara. His response was to move the entire management team to the hotel, converting one of the boardrooms to a command center and having daily meetings to plan as the situation progressed. “We stayed in the hotel for 55 days; we didn’t spend one night in our homes,” says the CEO. Dealing with a global pandemic didn’t stop American Hospital from continuing with its investments in technology and research. In early-June 2020, it opened an AI research lab within the hospital’s data center in collaboration with U.S.-based medtech company Cerner to use big data analytics and machine learning to support clinical research and improve operations, as well as collect valuable data on Covid-19 admissions. Later that month, it announced that it was partnering with Cerner and Oracle Cloud Applications for a digital transformation overhaul, implementing APRIL 2022

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hospital, investing in robotics programs across general surgery, gynecology, neurology, and orthopedics. Using robotic tools to perform surgery via smaller incisions is reportedly more precise, more accurate, and less invasive—although even with robotic surgery, the power is still very much in the hands of human surgeons, who control the movements of the robot arms via a console. Faster recoveries and fewer corrective surgeries potentially make robotics cheaper for insurance companies and less risky for patients. For Beshara, the benefits are multiple. “The complications

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top three chronic conditions contributing to higher ICU admissions and mortality in Covid-19 patients were hypertension, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease. The model also found that the risk of ICU admission for women that tested positive for Covid-19 was higher if they had a body mass index above 25. The lab is now working on its second model, looking at people that suffer from asthma and factors contributing to emergency department admissions.

In the meantime, the CEO is planning local expansion through outpatient clinics and day-care surgeries, while also eying investments in Egypt. And as the hospital’s robotic surgery training hub welcomes new students, he’s still clear on where the real value lies. “You can invest billions in tech, but you cannot drop the human brain. Human capital is number one, then technology, then the vision and strategy and spirit,” he reasons. “Then you press start and go.”

Healthy Innovators When Forbes last released its ranking of the world’s 100 most innovative companies in 2018, these seven listed companies featured under the “healthcare equipment and services” category. Market caps below are as of March 24, 2022.

Company

Market cap

Country

AmerisourceBergen

$31.9 billion

U.S.

Provides pharmaceutical products and business solutions to improve access to care.

Align Technology

$34.4 billion

U.S.

Designs, manufactures, and markets orthodontics, restorative, and aesthetic dentistry products.

Intuitive Surgical

$100.9 billion

U.S.

Develops, manufactures, and markets da Vinci Surgical Systems.

$81.4 billion

U.S.

Designs, manufactures, and sells ophthalmic lenses and instruments.

Edwards Lifesciences

$68 billion

U.S.

Engages in patient-focused medical innovations for heart disease and critical care monitoring.

Boston Scientific

$61.2 billion

U.S.

Develops, manufactures and markets medical devices used in interventional medical specialties.

Cerner

$27.5 billion

U.S.

Designs, develops, markets, installs, hosts and supports healthcare IT, healthcare devices, hardware and content solutions.

Essilor International

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a new electronic health record to help physicians improve care for patients, and a new resource planning platform to help the hospital reduce costs and enhance productivity.

Its developments in AI could put American Hospital Dubai ahead of the curve. “The Covid-19 pandemic has clearly accelerated the transition towards digital healthcare with AI and robotics gaining momentum in the Middle East, but its penetration in the healthcare sector is still lagging compared to more developed markets,” says Nikhil Idnani, Managing Director & Partner at Boston Consulting Group. “While the adoption of AI in clinical decision support is expected, its application in true clinical settings remains contentious.”

In January 2021, American Hospital Dubai and Cerner announced the outcomes of the first model from their AI research lab, which used data to make predictions on Covid-19 patient mortality and ICU admissions. Findings included that the

• TOP 50 HEALTHCARE LEADERS •

SAID DARWAZAH

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REFINING PHARMA

Said Darwazah, Executive Chairman of Hikma Pharmaceuticals, has helped build his family business into a global enterprise over the last 41 years. With a market cap of over $6.2 billion, the Jordanian company is today competing with international heavyweights.

BY JASON LASRADO F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M

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Said Darwazah, Executive Chairman of Hikma Pharmaceuticals

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While

the last two years have seen a number of international pharma companies, such as Pfizer and AstraZeneca, become household names thanks to vaccine rollouts, the Middle East’s biggest pharmaceutical company has flown largely under the radar.

Yet Hikma, which was founded in Jordan, is a formidable global player. “We actually have 17% market share in the U.S., in the hospitals,” says Said Darwazah, Executive Chairman of Hikma Pharmaceuticals. “That means one out of every six products that’s used in the hospitals in the states is a Hikma product.”

Hikma has made its mark developing, manufacturing, and marketing branded and non-branded generic medicines across the Middle East, Europe, the U.S., and Asia Pacific. Established in 1978, today the FTSE 100 company has a market cap of over $6.2 billion, 31 manufacturing plants, and seven R&D centers worldwide. Its share price has increased over seven times since it went public in 2005. In 2021, Hikma recorded revenues of $2.6 billion—9% higher than 2020. And while 2021 profits were down 2% compared to 2020 and are still 13.6% lower than pre-pandemic levels, in February 2022, the company announced that it would be executing a share buyback program of up to $300 million during 2022, and in March Fitch reaffirmed its BBB- rating.

The drug-maker manufactures or sells over 670 products globally, with the U.S. being its biggest market, contributing 60% to total revenues, followed by MENA, with Saudi and Egypt being the biggest markets in the region.

Injectables are by far the company’s biggest source of revenue, generating $1.1 billion in 2021, compared to $820 million from noninjectables and $669 million from its branded drug business.

These results come off the back of the company’s latest acquisition. In September 2021, Hikma announced that it was buying Custopharm, a U.S.-based generic sterile F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M

“

I believe we can grow tremendously by becoming a major manufacturer of injectables, and by continuing to invest in R&D to come up with new products for the hospitals as well.

”

Said Darwazah

injectables company, for up to $425 million, made up of $375 million in cash and a further $50 million to be paid upon the achievement of specific milestones. While the move was still awaiting approval from the U.S.’s Federal Trade Commission at the time of writing, once complete it will boost Hikma’s already burgeoning injectables product portfolio, adding 13 approved and additional pipeline products. Hikma has also invested big in research and development—its R&D expenses for 2021 were $143 million, up from $137 million in 2020. “All these new medications that are coming out, most of them are injectables. They all come in vials and there is huge overcapacity,” explains Darwazah.

“I believe we can grow tremendously by becoming a major manufacturer of injectables, and by continuing to invest in R&D to come up with new products for the hospitals as well.”

Hikma—meaning “wisdom” in Arabic— has achieved a rare feat, becoming a global enterprise from Arab roots. Today, the company’s operations are spread across the world. In the U.S. the company is headquartered in New Jersey, with two manufacturing plants and two R&D centers.

In MENA, it has a presence in 18 countries, with local manufacturing facilities in seven markets, including FDA-inspected facilities in Jordan and Saudi Arabia. In Europe, it has manufacturing facilities in Portugal, Germany, and Italy, and offices in Germany, the Netherlands and France.

“Hikma is one of the best positioned companies in our UK Healthcare coverage in these volatile times,” says Paul Cuddon, Director of Healthcare & Life Sciences Research at U.K.-based investment bank, APRIL 2022

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Numis. “The quality, diversity and visibility on sales substandard products under its previous owners. By has never been higher, with margins reflecting its the end of the year, Darwazah was forced to close manufacturing efficiencies, strong relationships the company. He spent the next 12 months working with customers and a continuing drive to invest in with the FDA to resolve the dispute, rebuild trust, the pipeline.” and restart production, and by the end of 1992 things It’s come a long way since it was founded in Jordan were back on track. Darwazah secured a bank loan of

by Darwazah’s father Samih Darwazah, who started $5 million to cover losses and reinvest, and spent the the business at the age of 47 after a long career as an next four years in New Jersey, running the business executive in the pharmaceutical industry, including and starting a family of his own. In 1995, however, a 12-year stint at American pharma giant Eli Lilly. an unexpected call came—his father had agreed to Darwazah joined the company three years later in serve as a Minister in the Jordanian government and 1981. Even then, the vision was to create a global Darwazah was needed at home. He packed his bags brand. “We never had any ambition of being just and returned to Jordan as CEO of the family business. a small local player; we always wanted to be a big While he had been away, Hikma had also expanded in international company,” Darwazah remembers. “We Europe and the Middle East. always dreamt big. We had big vision, and we Samih Darwazah, who wore much bigger shoes than we could have.” started the business at the age of 47 after a long However, the small family business faced career as an executive challenges from the beginning. According to in the pharmaceutical industry Darwazah, at that time, some gulf countries would only grant licenses to produce and sell pharmaceutical products to the original creator, meaning two companies could not sell the same drug. It took three years for him to secure licenses to sell Hikma pharma products across the region—then he had to convince doctors to prescribe them.

The company conducted market research to find out what doctors were looking for.

“Physicians said this is medicine. People are sick, we need to make them better, so we need to be sure By the early 2000s, Hikma had grown to be a that the product is good,” recalls Darwazah. Realizing large and successful holding company, and plans that quality was the key to success, the father and son were underway to go public. But in 2003, another team began to seek out approvals from the United unexpected phone call brought a new twist, this time States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Seven from the Prime Minister of Jordan, asking Darwazah years after Hikma was established, it became the first to serve as the country’s Minister of Health. He Arab pharma manufacturer to receive FDA approval. accepted, and his father returned to the company as Simultaneously, it also began licensing products from chairman and CEO. This meant it was the founder at Japanese and Korean manufacturers. the helm when the company was listed on the London By 1990, business was thriving, and Darwazah’s Stock Exchange in 2005. “You know, he was in his father decided it was time to expand. He gave his early 70s, and the guys that worked with him told me son $2 million and sent him to the U.S., stating that he was the happiest man on Earth,” says Darwazah. he wasn’t to return until he’d acquired a U.S.-based “He was the first on the bus, or the first on the plane, pharmaceutical company. Darwazah approached the and the last to go to his room at night to go to sleep.”

Arab Bank for advice, which put him in touch with Darwazah ended up serving in the government a lawyer in New York. He spent the next year in the for four years. Among many campaigns, he worked U.S., learning the business environment and speaking on raising finance for welfare programs and to advisors and investment bankers. awareness about chronic diseases such as diabetes In 1991, Darwazah bought a 40-year-old company and blood pressure, even going on television to called Westward Pharmaceuticals, which had a good encourage people to change their habits. During his reputation but was losing money, and he moved to tenure, Jordan became the first Arab country to ban New Jersey to run the company. However, just a few the advertising of tobacco. months later, the FDA accused the company of selling He returned to Hikma in 2007—but while he’d left

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a successful family business, he returned as the CEO of a listed company. Now there were shareholders to please. “We promised our shareholders that we would double business every four years,” says Darwazah. “It was a big commitment.” To meet that promise, Hikma began growing both organically and through acquisitions. The company set up new plants in the Middle East, and acquired companies including Al Dar Al Arabia in Algeria and Société de Promotion Pharmaceutique in Morocco. But its bigger acquisitions were in Europe and the U.S., where it focused on buying generic businesses from big pharma.

This included acquiring German oncology sales and marketing company Ribosepharm from Ratiopharm in 2007 for $45 million in cash, and U.S.-based Baxter’s multi-source injectables business in 2011 for $112 million.

In 2015, it acquired Roxane Laboratories Inc. for $1.7 billion, and Boehringer Ingelheim Roxane Inc. for $647 million in cash and 40 million new Hikma shares.

Darwazah’s father retired in 2014, and in 2018 Darwazah also stepped down as CEO, became the company’s executive chairman.

While he has taken a step back from the dayto-day running of the operations, Darwazah now focuses on the bigger picture for the business, as well as serving as chairman of the Queen Rania Foundation for Education

We never “had any

ambition of being just a small local player; we always wanted to be a big international company.

”

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and sitting on the boards of a number of universities and high schools, through which he helped create Edraak in 2014, an online platform offering original Arabic courses. “[Darwazah’s] passion for advancing education in Jordan and the region has been a driving force for Edraak to innovate and deliver high quality online learning experiences,” says Shireen Yacoub, CEO of Edraak. “With his visionary leadership and continuous support as chairman of the board, Edraak has grown to become a leading online learning platform, serving more than 5.5 million learners across MENA.” “My father went to the states on a Fulbright scholarship when he was young,” says Darwazah, explaining his current passion for education. “Had he not gotten that scholarship, who knows, we could have stayed living in Jordan with my father working in a pharmacy.” Having helped grow his family business from a small startup in Jordan to one of the fastest-growing pharma companies in the world, Darwazah today still attributes his success to the basics handed down through a generation. “My father taught me that culture has to evolve, but values never change,” he reflects. “Honesty, integrity, straightforwardness, and transparency. These are in everything.”

Biggest International Pharma The five biggest pharma giants in the world by revenues earned a combined $384.6 billion in 2021.

U.S.

Johnson & Johnson invested $14.7 billion into R&D in 2021, and performed over 10,000 procedures with Monarch, its first robotic bronchoscopy technology platform.

Sinopharm

Revenue: $82.1 billion

China

Sinopharm has 1,100 subsidiaries and encompasses six listed companies. It started developing its Covid-19 vaccine in January 2020, and now plans on producing five billion doses a year.

Pfizer

Revenue: $81.3 billion

U.S.

Pfizer produced over three billion doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in 2021, and spent $10.5 ​​ billion on R&D. Pfizer’s medicines today reaches around one in every six people on the planet.

Switzerland

Roche, which is a combination of Roche Pharma and Roche Diagnostics, is 125 years years old. The company topped the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices in 2021.

U.S.

Abbvie employs more than 50,000 people in over 70 countries. The company has spent over $50 billion in R&D since its launch in 2013 and has manufacturing and R&D facilities in 20 countries.

Johnson & Johnson

Total sales: $93.8 billion

Roche

Abbvie F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M

Revenue: $71.2 billion Revenue: $56.2 billion

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THE MIDDLE EAST’S

T O P 5 0 H E A LT H C A R E L E A D E R S

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TOP 50 HEALTHCARE LEADERS

A

s the world recovers from the global pandemic, the significance of the healthcare sector is more prominent than ever. The world has seen the industry minting historic recordbreaking achievements and innovations over a short span of time. Funding and investment in healthcare has also spiked in the last couple of years, with global health innovation funding rising by two folds to $44 billion in 2021 compared to 2020, while acquisitions of health and healthtech firms grew by 50%, according to the World Economic Forum.

This month, we release our first ranking of the Middle East’s Top 50 Healthcare Leaders, featuring the heads of the region’s largest and most impactful healthcare organizations that are influencing the lives of millions of people in the Middle East and globally.

Leaders of pharmaceuticals companies dominate the list with 20 entries, followed by heads of the largest hospitals in MENA with 19. The U.A.E. dominates the list with 25 of the 50 firms based in the emirates, followed by 13 in Saudi Arabia, six in Egypt, two in Qatar, and one each in Kuwait, Algeria, Jordan, and Morocco.

Methodology For this ranking, we included leaders that span the healthcare ecosystem, including hospitals and clinics, pharmaceutical companies, diagnostics centers, and health technology providers. All individuals had to be based in the Middle East. Leaders directly working for government—such as the health ministry or department of health officials—were not considered, however, leaders of government-owned companies were considered.

When creating the ranking, we considered the following criteria, with each point assigned a weight: • Size of the company—revenues, assets, etc.

• Impact of leader on the region’s healthcare sector.

• Innovative initiatives and systems implemented by the leader.

• Experience of the leader.

• Diversity of operations.

• Ownership of assets.

To nominate yourself or someone else for our lists, email: info@forbesmiddleeast.com

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THE MIDDLE EAST’S

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2. Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari Managing Director Company: Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) Headquarters: Qatar Sector: Hospitals Al Kuwari has been HMC’s managing director since 2007, which runs 12 hospitals across Qatar, as well as the National Ambulance Service and multiple home and residential care services. She also became Qatar’s Minister of Public Health in 2016. She currently chairs, co-chairs, and takes part in several health, research and advisory boards, including the Academic Health System International Advisory Board, the Hamad Healthcare Quality Institute International Advisory Board, and other committees at the Ministry of Public Health. In 2018, she was elected an international member of the U.S.’s National Academy of Medicine.

1. Sulaiman Al Habib Founder and Chairman Company: Dr.Sulaiman Al-Habib Medical Services Group (HMG) Headquarters: Saudi Arabia Sector: Hospitals HMG today has over 22 medical facilities, including seven hospitals with over 1,900 beds across Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. The $2.9 billion asset company recorded $1.9 billion in revenues for 2021. The company has five more hospitals in its pipeline, with 1,466 beds expected to be operational in the next couple of years. Al Habib is the largest shareholder in the company, owning 40.03% of its shares, valued at approximately $6.8 billion, making him one of the richest doctors in the world. Al Habib is a qualified pediatrician and was chief medical officer at King Khalid University Hospital before founding his own company.

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3. Said Darwazah Executive Chairman Company: Hikma Pharmaceuticals Regional headquarters: Jordan Sector: Pharmaceuticals Darwazah was appointed to his current position in 2014, before which he was the CEO of the company. Hikma has a global presence across the U.S., MENA, and Europe. It holds total assets of $4.4 billion and recorded total revenues of $2.6 billion in 2021. For MENA alone, the group closed 2021 with revenues of $847 million, more than 40 newly-launched products, and a branded pipeline of 131 products. Darwazah joined Hikma in 1981, which was first established by his late father. He was chairman and chief executive of Hikma’s group holding company for nine years and served as Minister of Health for Jordan from 2003 to 2006.

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5. Hasan Jasem Al Nowais CEO Company: Mubadala Health Headquarters: U.A.E. Sector: Diversified Mubadala Health was originally established as Mubadala Healthcare in 2006. It launched as a new company and brand in January 2021, and in the same year acquired UEMedical and Amana Healthcare.

The company’s various assets include Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, the Imperial College London Diabetes Center, the National Reference Laboratory, and a number of projects in Saudi Arabia. Al Nowais joined Mubadala in 2007, having previously worked at the private department of H.H. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, EY, and within his family business, the Rotana Hotel Group. He is also the chairman of the Rosewood Abu Dhabi and the Four Seasons Hotel Abu Dhabi, and he sits on the board of the Viceroy Hotel Group.

4. Nasser Sultan Al-Subaie CEO and Vice Chairman Company: Mouwasat Medical Services Company Headquarters: Saudi Arabia

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Sector: Hospitals The Mouwasat Medical Services Company has six hospitals and specialized medical centers with 1,200 beds in Saudi Arabia across Dammam, Riyadh, Madinah, Jubail, Qatif, and Khobar. It employs 4,000 people. Established in 1975, the company held assets worth $1 billion and recorded total revenues of $424.3 million for the first nine months of 2021. In mid-2021, the company announced the start of a pilot operation of its new digitalized 200-bed hospital in Al-Madinah Al-Munawar in Saudi Arabia.

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6. Ayman Tamer Chairman and Managing Partner Company: Tamer Group Headquarters: Saudi Arabia Sector: Pharmaceuticals Tamer Group was first established as a pharmacy in Saudi Arabia in 1922. Today, the group holds multiple businesses, including Tamer Investments, Tamer Logistics, Tamer Industries, Tamer Innovate, AMPC Ltd, and joint venture SAJA, as well as several companies such as IMC, Arabio, Shukoon, United Gulf Health, and IEC. In 2010, the group created SA’AID, which aims to raise health awareness in the community. Tamer also sits on the board of SAJA and is an honorary advisory board member of Effat University. He is a member of the World Economic Forum Family Business Community for the health industry and a member of the Pharma Committee at Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

7. Makarem Sobhi Batterjee President and Vice-Chairman Company: Saudi German Health (SGH) Headquarters: Saudi Arabia Sector: Hospitals Batterjee became the President and Vice-Chairman of MEAHCO in 2017, which is publicly known as Saudi German Health (SGH). The company employs over 8,500 people across 12 hospitals in MENA. It reported assets worth $1.15 billion and revenues of $366.3 million for the first nine months of 2021. The group has seven hospitals under management pipeline in Egypt, Pakistan, and Morocco. In February 2022, SGH in the U.A.E. announced the launch of a new 200-bed hospital in Mirdif valued at $122.5 million. Batterjee has over 20 years of experience in healthcare. He is also the president and vice chairman of the family-owned Bait Al Batterjee Group and co-founder and president of Humania Capital.

8. Shaista Asif Group COO Company: Pure Health Headquarters: U.A.E. Sector: Diversified Pure Health is the U.A.E’s largest healthcare platform, with 28 hospitals and more than 100 clinics across the country. Pure Health owns SEHA, Yas Clinic Group, Tamouh Healthcare, The Medical Office, Abu Dhabi Stem Cells Center (ADSCC), ONE Health, Rafed, Daman and Pure Labs, which is one of the biggest network of laboratories in the GCC with over 160 labs. Pure Health has also introduced a number of digital healthcare platforms, including Riayati and Pure Net. Shaista has 17 years of healthcare and technology experience. She previously held roles at Mobilink / Orascom.

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9. Patrick van der Loo Regional President for Africa and the Middle East

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Company: Pfizer

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Regional headquarters: U.A.E. Sector: Pharmaceuticals Loo has been overseeing U.S.-based Pfizer’s operations across the Middle East and Africa since December 2020.

In the same month, the biopharmaceutical researchbased company initiated its BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine distribution in the Middle East. In 2011, Pfizer set up its first manufacturing facility in the GCC in Saudi Arabia.

It generated $81.3 billion in global revenues during 2021—a 95.2% increase compared to 2020.

10. Shamsheer Vayalil Chairman and Managing Director Company: VPS Healthcare Headquarters: U.A.E. Sector: Hospitals

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Vayalil founded VPS Healthcare in 2007. The company now has 15 brands, 24 operational hospitals, and over 125 health centers across the Middle East and India. It employs over 15,000 people. In February 2022, VPS announced that it was partnering with surgeon Sultan al Maskari to establish the Maskari Burjeel Orthopedic Centre at the Burjeel Hospital in Muscat, Oman. Vayalil had a net worth of $1.3 billion in 2020, according to Forbes. He is also vice-chairman of Amanat Holdings.

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11. Ashish Koshy CEO Company: G42 healthcare Headquarters: U.A.E. Sector: Technology

13. Georg Schroeckenfuchs President MEA and Head Gulf and Saudi Country Group Company: Novartis Regional headquarters: U.A.E. Sector: Pharmaceuticals Schroeckenfuchs heads Switzerland-based Novartis’s regional hub in Dubai, which manages a $1.3 billion portfolio across 19 countries and employs more than 2,500 people. Novartis uses scientific innovations and technology to advance the pharma industry. Schroeckenfuchs joined Novartis in 2001 and has held roles in Italy, Poland, and Greece.

12. Sherine Hassan Helmy CEO Company: Pharco Corporation Headquarters: Egypt Sector: Pharmaceuticals Established in 1983, Pharco today develops, manufactures, and distributes pharmaceutical products across over 50 countries. It employs more than 8,000 people and has 11 subsidiary companies.

Helmy is also a member of the Egyptian Lebanese, Egyptian Saudi, and the Egyptian Senegalese business councils, the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt, the German-Arab Chamber of Industry and Commerce, the Swiss Egyptian Business Association, and the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Egypt. He also sits on the board of the Egyptian Exporters Association.

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G42 Healthcare specializes in innovations around big data and AI solutions, providing next-generation products and services in diagnostics, digital health, therapeutics, and advanced Omics. In April 2020, the company established Biogenix Labs. G42 has partnered with public and private entities, including the U.A.E.’s Ministry of Health and Prevention and Abu Dhabi’s Department of Health, as well as a variety of pharma companies, tech entities, and academic institutions. Ashish previously held roles at Reliance Jio and Ooredoo.

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President and Group CEO Company: Elaj Group Headquarters: Saudi Arabia Sector: Hospitals Amin co-founded the Elaj Group in 1994. The group has a network of hospitals, tertiary care hospitals, laboratories, and medical centers across Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the U.A.E., Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Sudan, Bahrain, Ethiopia, Italy, and the U.K. In late 2020, the Elaj Group and Siemens Healthineers signed a long-term partnership to establish imaging centers within current laboratories in Saudi Arabia.

Amin also founded Al-Borg laboratories in early 2000, which has over 60 branches across the GCC and Africa.

16. Mohsen Mahgoub Vice Chairman and Managing Director Company: Ibnsina Pharma Headquarters: Egypt Sector: Pharmaceuticals Established in 2001, Ibnsina Pharma distributes pharmaceutical products from over 350 Egyptian and multinational companies to more than 46,000 pharmacies, hospitals, retail outlets, and wholesalers. The company operates across 59 sites in 23 cities in Egypt and employs more than 5,500 people. In November 2021, the company’s investment arm AIM established logistics service Ramp Logistics with an initial investment of $28 million.

Ibnsina Pharma recorded revenues of $1 billion in the first nine months of 2021. Mahgoub is also the chairman of the Arab International Investment Group and sits on the boards of the Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt and Dar El Eyoun Hospital.

17. Ole Per Maloy CEO for the Middle East and Southern and Eastern Africa Company: Siemens Healthineers

15. Thamer Al-Muhaid Group CEO and Managing Director Company: Saudi Chemical Holding Company Headquarters: Saudi Arabia

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Sector: Pharmaceuticals The Saudi Chemical Company was established in 1972 as an investment company. It was listed on the Saudi stock market in 2001.

Today, it owns and manages five subsidiaries, including SITCO Pharma, AJA Pharma, and the Chemical Commercial Investment Company Ltd .

The company reported $707.9 million in revenues for the first nine months of 2021. Al-Muhid has 27 years of experience and previously held roles at SABIC, GE, and Almarai. He also sits on the boards of the Southern Province Cement Company and the Suez International Nitrate Company.

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Regional headquarters: U.A.E. Sector: Medical Devices Siemens Healthineers provides digital health solutions, medical imaging, electronic products, and healthcare AI software.

Globally, the company invested $1.6 billion in research and development in 2021. It operates in more than 70 countries. Per Maloy has over 20 years of experience with the company. He moved into his current role in 2018.

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14. Mohammed Hassan Amin

18. Atif Al Braiki CEO Company: Abu Dhabi Health Data Services (Malaffi) Headquarters: U.A.E. Sector: Technology

19. Ahmed bin Saleh Babaeer CEO Company: Dallah Healthcare Company Headquarters: Saudi Arabia Sector: Diversified Dallah Healthcare Company has seven branches, including the 585-bed Dallah Hospital Al-Nakheel and the Dallah Pharma Factory. In October 2021, Dallah Healthcare acquired 8.2% of the International Medical Centre, valued at $77 million. The company recorded assets worth $1.16 billion and revenues of $407.9 million in the first nine months of 2021. It has more than 2,000 employees. Babaeer became CEO of Dallah Healthcare Company in 2008, having previously served as CEO of the Al Madina Real Estate Company in Riyadh.

20. Hend El Sherbini Group CEO Company: Integrated Diaognostics Holdings (IDH) Headquarters: Egypt Sector: Laboratories El Sherbini has been CEO of IDH since 2012. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2015.

IDH had a network of 481 branch labs serving over seven million patients across Egypt, Jordan, Sudan, and Nigeria as of December 2020. It recorded assets worth $354.6 million and revenues of $239.3 million in the first nine months of 2021. El Sherbini has more than 30 years of experience in the healthcare sector. Before taking her current position, she served as the CEO of Al Mokhtabar for eight years. She also sits on the board of the American Society of Clinical Pathology (Egypt) and consults on the international certification process.

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21. Essam Mohammed CEO Company: Gulf Pharmaceutical Industries (Julphar) Headquarters: U.A.E. Sector: Pharmaceuticals Julphar was founded in 1980. Today, it operates in more than 50 countries across five continents. It employs 2,500 people. The company recorded $311.4 million in revenues and assets worth $661 million in 2021. Its subsidiaries include MenaCool and Gulf Inject.

Mohammed has 27 years of industry experience and previously held roles at El Kendi, MS Pharma, GSK, Sanofi Aventis, T3A Pharma Group, and Julphar Germany.

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Established in 2019 as a public-private partnership between the Department of Health Abu Dhabi and Injazat, Malaffi—a health information exchange platform—stores seven million patient records and has 2,026 facilities. In October 2021, the company announced that it had connected 100% of Abu Dhabi-based hospitals. Al Braiki, who has been CEO of the company since its establishment, is also a member of the International Strategic Advisory Council at AHIMA. He was previously director of strategic projects at Injazat.

22. Thumbay Moideen Founder President Company: Thumbay Group Headquarters: U.A.E. Sector: Hospitals Moideen founded Thumbay Group in 1998. The diversified international company operates in 20 sectors, including healthcare, medical research, and pharmacy. It has a network of healthcare facilities, including 350-bed Thumbay University Hospital, Thumbay Medical & Dental Specialty Centre, Thumbay Hospital Day Care, Thumbay Dental Hospital, Thumbay Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Hospital, Thumbay Clinic, and Thumbay Clinic ELITE. In 2020, Thumbay University Hospital signed an agreement with Gulf Medical University to implement international-standard academic health centers. In the same year, the hospital announced that it had served four million patients since it was established in 2002.

CEO Company: National Medical Care Company Headquarters: Saudi Arabia Sector: Hospitals The National Medical Care Company encompasses the 325-bedded Riyadh Care Hospital, the 459-bed Care National Hospital, and 170 clinics. The company reported assets of $415.8 million and revenues of $255.4 million in 2021. National Medical Care employs around 3,000 healthcare practitioners, and it offers services including home healthcare, pharmacy, emergency, laboratory, and radiology. Alobaid has over 26 years of experience in the healthcare field.

Before taking his current position, he was the chief medical officer at the company. Alobaid was appointed CEO in 2018.

24. Riad Armanious CEO Company: Eva Pharma Headquarters: U.A.E. Sector: Pharmaceuticals EVA Pharma specializes in branded generics, OTC, food supplements, herbal medicines, and veterinary products. The company has six facilities, three in Egypt and one each in Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E., and Ethiopia. In 2014, the company established the Eva Biomedical European Development research center in Hungary. Armanious is also a member of the YPO and vice chairman of the Egyptian Industrial Chamber of Pharmaceuticals. Armanious also founded the T20 Foundation, which develops people and programs for social and economic improvement.

25. Tarek Youssef Hosni CEO Company: Jamjoom Pharma Headquarters: Saudi Arabia Sector: Pharmaceuticals

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Established in 2000, Jamjoom Pharma today develops, manufactures, and distributes pharmaceutical products that are present in over 30 countries across the Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia. The company has three manufacturing facilities and its head office in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

International alliances include Senju Pharmaceuticals in Japan, Biothera in the U.S., and Dr. Mann (B&L) in Germany.

Hosni has more than 25 years of experience in the pharma industry. He previously held roles at Integrated Pharma Solutions and Pfizer Essential Health.

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26. Mohammad Al Hagbani CEO Company: Tabuk Pharmaceuticals Sector: Pharmaceuticals Established in 1994, Tabuk Pharmaceuticals is one of the largest privately-owned pharmaceutical companies in Saudi Arabia, with a presence throughout MENA. The company develops, manufactures, markets, and distributes various pharmaceutical products from its four manufacturing sites in Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Algeria.

It has a production capacity of over two billion base units annually, serving 17 countries. It employs more than 2,400 people. In December 2021, the company signed a partnership agreement with Hansoh Pharma for the exclusive rights to manufacture and commercialize several oncology and specialty products in Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern markets.

Managing Director, SBR and Head of Pharmaceuticals Company: Bayer Middle East Regional headquarters: U.A.E. Sector: Pharmaceuticals Germany-based Bayer has had a presence in the Middle East since the late1880s. The company has legal entities and representations in Cyprus, Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. It employs more than 800 people. In January 2022, the Bayer Middle East signed an MOU with the U.A.E.’s Ministry of Health and Prevention to launch a new educational initiative supporting local health authorities in the country. Wulff has been with the company for 20 years. Before taking his current role, he was the managing director and head of pharmaceuticals for Bayer in its Scandinavian markets.

28. Lamia Tazi Chairwoman and CEO Company: Sothema Headquarters: Morocco Sector: Pharmaceuticals Sothema has been manufacturing and marketing pharma products since 1976.

The company represents 35 international contracting laboratories, including Novartis, Biopharm, Biocon, and Aspen Holding. It employs around 1,000 people, and its six production facilities produce more than 60 million units annually. In June 2021, the company began producing China’s Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine. Tazi joined the company in 1997 as executive assistant to the CEO. She was promoted to her current role in 2019. She is also general manager of West Afric Pharma in Senegal, vice president of the Moroccan Federation of Pharmaceutical Industry (FMIIP), and chair of the Omar TAZI Foundation.

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Headquarters: Saudi Arabia

27. Henrik Wulff

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31. Jean-Paul Scheuer

General Manager, Middle East

Greater Gulf MCO Lead & Sanofi Genzyme General Manager

Company: GE Healthcare

Company: Sanofi Regional headquarters: U.A.E.

Regional headquarters: U.A.E.

Sector: Pharmaceuticals

Sector: Medical Devices

France-based Sanofi’s global portfolio includes 91 development projects across various therapeutic fields. It launched a new vaccine manufacturing facility in Saudi Arabia in 2021. The company recorded global revenues of $41.6 billion and assets worth $132.6 billion as of December 2021.

Scheuer has around 28 years of industry experience and has been with Sanofi for over 13 years. He was country chair and general manager at Sanofi Gulf for four years before moving into his current role in April 2020, where he now leads 800 employees. He’s also a member of the French Business Council in the U.A.E.

GE Healthcare is a subsidiary of the multinational General Electric. It provides healthcare technology solutions, including imaging, mobile, diagnostics, and monitoring devices worldwide. The U.A.E. branch has partnered with several public and private health providers, including City Hospital, the Dubai Health Authority, MAF Ventures, and Saha Abu Dhabi. Zawaideh joined the company in 2004. He has more than 25 years of experience in the health sector. Zawaideh previously served as general manager of GE Healthcare in Iraq and as director of sales and marketing before moving into his current position in 2019.

32. Sherif Beshara CEO Company: American Hospital Dubai Headquarters: U.A.E. Sector: Hospitals Private healthcare provider American Hospital Dubai was established in 1996 by the Mohamed & Obaid Al Mulla Group. Today, it has 254 beds and multiple clinics across the U.A.E. It joined the Mayo Clinic care network in 2016. The hospital focuses on digital transformation and AI through its partnerships with Oracle, Cerner, and Siemens Healthineers. Beshara is also group CEO for the Mohamed & Obaid Al Mulla Group.

30. Majid Bin Faisal Al Qassimi Managing Director Company: Gulf Medical Projects Company

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Headquarters: U.A.E. Sector: Pharmaceuticals The Gulf Medical Projects Company was founded in 1979 and has been listed on the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange (ADX) since 2005. The company manages hospitals and clinics and oversees health and medical services through its subsidiaries. It reported revenues of $132.5 million in 2021. Al Qassimi has more than 26 years of experience in the healthcare industry, he is also the chairman of Al Majid Investments Group and vice-chairman of Sharjah Chamber of Commerce.

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29. Ehab Zawaideh

33. Abdelouahed Kerrar General Manager Company: Biopharm Headquarters: Algeria Sector: Pharmaceuticals

34. Zanubia Shams Co-Chairperson Company: Zulekha Healthcare Group Headquarters: U.A.E. Sector: Hospitals Zulekha Daud founded the first Zulekha Hospital in 1992.

Today, the group operates a 185-bed hospital in Sharjah, a 140-bed hospital in Dubai, and the Alexis Multispecialty Hospital in India, as well as two U.A.E.-based medical centers and five pharmacies. In 2021, the Zulekha Group introduced homecare services in Dubai and Sharjah. Zanubia co-chairs the group with Taher Shams. She has been responsible for the operations in the U.A.E. and India since 2005.

35. Mohammed Saleh Al Hammadi Managing Director and CEO Company: Al Hammadi Company for Development and Investment Headquarters: Saudi Arabia Sector: Hospitals The Al Hammadi Company for Development and Investment employs 3,245 people and manages four subsidiaries, including the 600-bed Al Hammadi Hospital Al Nuzha, and the 428-bed Al Hammadi Hospital Al Suwaidi. The company recorded assets of $656 million and revenues of $178.5 million in the first nine months of 2021.

In late 2021, it acquired 35% of the Sudair Pharmaceuticals Company, valued at $31.5 million.

36. Fatih Mehmet Gul Vice President U.A.E. & Group Growth Office / CEO of Fakeeh University Hospital Company: Fakeeh Care Group Headquarters: Saudi Arabia Sector: Hospitals Fakeeh Care was first established in 1978 and has since launched 13 hospitals, medical centers, and health promotion centers across Saudi Arabia. The Dubai-based Fakeeh University Hospital (FUH) is the group’s first investment outside Saudi Arabia, worth $500 million.

In September 2021, FUH partnered with Siemens Healthineers to facilitate an Innovation Think Tank laboratory. Gul has led FUH since 2017. He is also the founder and executive director of the non-profit platform CSR Middle East.

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Biopharm has a network of 14 distribution centers, over 150 wholesalers, and over 3,000 pharmacies, delivering nearly 4,000 pharmaceutical products. It reported assets of $514 million and revenues of $265.4 million for the first six months of 2021. In 2021, it launched a new research laboratory and development in Réghaia, Algeria, valued at $1.3 million. The company employs over 2,500 people. Kerrar was appointed to his current position in 2020.

37. Ayman Mokhtar Head of Middle East, Turkey and Levant Regional headquarters: U.A.E. Sector: Pharmaceuticals Viatris was formed in November 2020 through a merger of Mylan and Pfizer’s Upjohn. The company employs 500 people In the Middle East, Turkey and Levant. Mokhtar started his 20-year pharmaceutical career as a medical representative. He previously held roles at Pfizer and Upjohn, a division of Pfizer.

He co-chairs the healthcare committee AMCHAM Abu Dhabi and the U.S. Kuwait business council. He also sits on the boards of the U.S.-U.A.E. business council and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Middle East.

38. Fahad Khater Owner and Chairman Company: Alameda Healthcare Headquarters: Egypt

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Sector: Hospitals Alameda Healthcare has six healthcare facilities in Egypt, including As-Salam International Hospital, Dar Al Fouad Hospital, Elixir Gastro Care Center, and the German Rehabilitation Center. In 2021, it announced a $318.8 million group expansion plan to increase capacity to more than 1,000 beds by launching As-Salam International Hospital New Cairo and other facilities across Egypt. In early 2022, the group announced it was partnering with CMR Surgical to provide robotic-assisted surgery. Alameda Healthcare was established in 1999 by Professor Salah Khater and is owned and headed by Fahad Salah Khater.

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Mohammad Yousef AlZelzelah CEO Company: Al-Maidan Clinic for Oral Health Services Headquarters: Kuwait Sector: Hospitals Al-Maidan Clinic for Oral Health Services reported assets worth $267.4 million as of December 2021. It owns and operates seven dental centers in Kuwait. The company is a subsidiary of the United Medical Services Company—a member of the KIPCO Group—which reported revenues of $175.9 million for the nine-month period ended December 2021.

AlZelzelah was appointed CEO in September 2020.

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Company: Viatris

40. Alaa Adel Vice President and Managing Director Company: Cerner Middle East and Africa Regional headquarters: U.A.E. Sector: Technology U.S.-based healthcare IT data insight company Cerner provides digital solutions to more than 250 facilities across the Middle East. Adel joined Cerner Middle East in 2009 as a sales executive.

He has been managing director since 2020 and was additionally appointed vice president in July 2021, leading a team of over 300 people.

41. Ahmed Ezzeldin CEO Company: Cleopatra Hospitals Group (CHG) Headquarters: Egypt Sector: Hospitals CHG has six hospitals and 789 beds in Egypt, including the Cleopatra Hospital, Cairo Specialized Hospital, the Nile Badrawi Hospital, the Al Shorouk Hospital, the El Katib Hospital, and Queens Hospital. The group reported assets worth $210.2 million and revenues of $121.2 million for the first nine months of 2021. Before joining CHG, Ezzeldin spent 18 years with Merck Sharp & Dohme and worked at Johnson & Johnson. He joined CHG in 2015.

42. Mohamad Hamade CEO Company: Amanat Holdings Headquarters: U.A.E. Sector: Hospitals Amanat Holdings’ healthcare portfolio includes Sukoon in Saudi Arabia and the Royal Hospital for Women and Children in Bahrain. In February 2021, the company acquired the Cambridge Medical and Rehabilitation Center in a $232 million deal. It reported revenues of $112.4 million in 2021. Before joining Amanat, Hamade was the chief investment officer at VPS Healthcare. He joined Amanat Holdings in 2017 as the CIO and was appointed to his current role in 2020.

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43. Ahmed Kelani Chairman and Managing Director Company: Egyptian International Pharmaceutical Industries Company (EIPICO) Headquarters: Egypt Sector: Pharmaceuticals

44. Khalid Mohammed Al-Emadi Group CEO Company: Medicare Group Headquarters: Qatar Sector: Hospitals Medicare Group was founded in 1996 and listed on the Qatar Stock Exchange in 1997. The company establishes specialty hospitals and outpatient clinics, as well as medical and healthcare projects such as Hemya, Re’aya, Enaya, and Al-Ahli Hospital Clinic. The company reported operating income of $132.2 million in 2021.

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Established in 1980, EIPICO is a publiclylisted pharmaceuticals company that exports to Arab, African, Asian, and Eastern European countries. The company has five factories in Egypt and one in Saudi Arabia.

EIPICO reported revenues of $215.8 million in 2021. Kelani has more than 45 years of industry experience. Previously he served as the chairman and CEO of Medical Union Pharmaceuticals, and he sat on the boards of Mepaco and the Arab Company for Pharmaceutical Glass.

45. Ashraf Mallak Managing Director - GCC Company: Merck & Co (MSD) Regional headquarters: U.A.E. Sector: Pharmaceuticals Established in 1891, MSD is a research biopharmaceutical company that develops solutions for vaccines, oncology, infectious diseases, and cardio-metabolic diseases. In 2021, MSD put $12.2 billion into global R&D. Mallak has been with MSD for nearly 20 years, where he currently oversees six GCC countries.

46. Mana Bin Mansour Almana Group CEO Company: Almana Group of Hospitals Headquarters: Saudi Arabia Sector: Hospitals

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The Almana Group provides medical care and services across eight medical facilities with 1,106 beds in Saudi Arabia. In March 2021, the company announced the opening of the Almana Medical Tower at the Almana General Hospital in Jubail and the launch of a new laboratory, the Central Laboratory Almana General Hospital in Al-Khobar. The group employs over 6,500 people. Almana started at the group as head of the human resources department in 2007 and was appointed to his current role in 2018.

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47. Guido Sander

49. Vincenzo Ventricelli

General Manager for the Middle East

CEO - Middle East, Turkey & Africa

Company: Roche Diaognostics

Company: Phillips Healthcare Regional headquarters: U.A.E.

Regional headquarters: U.A.E.

Sector: Medical Devices

Sector: Pharmaceuticals

50. Farah Hamdan General Manager Middle East, North Africa & Turkey Company: Zimmer Biomet Regional headquarters: Saudi Arabia, U.A.E., Lebanon & Turkey Sector: Medical Devices U.S-based Zimmer Biomet provides technology, surgical robotics, and implants to hospitals, clinics, and other health entities. It has 31 global offices. The company opened its commercial office in Dubai in January 2022. Hamdan has 17 years of healthcare experience. She has previously held roles at Novartis, Abbott, Medtronics, and BD.

48. Raza Siddiqui CEO Company: Arabian Healthcare Group (AHG) Headquarters: U.A.E. Sector: Hospitals AHG manages and operates Rak Hospital in partnership with Sonnenhof Swiss Health. In early 2022, AHG announced a collaboration with CommonSpirit Health to triple the capacity of RAK Hospital to become a 200-bed facility by 2024.

Siddiqui has over 30 years of experience.

He was previously director of international operations for the Apollo Group of Hospitals in India. In 2020, he was appointed as a founding board member of UNDRR and ARISE.

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Netherlands-based Philips Healthcare specializes in advanced medical devices and solutions embedding AI and data science.

In 2021, the company spent $2 billion on global research and development. Philips Middle East operates in 15 countries across the region. Ventricelli has been with the company for over 26 years. In June 2021, Philips and du signed an MoU to collaboratively accelerate the datadriven transformation of healthcare in the U.A.E.

Switzerland-based Roche provides pharma and diagnostic solutions. In 2021, it was rated one of the most sustainable companies in the pharmaceutical index of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices. In the Middle East it operates in 16 countries and employs 400 people. Sander has been with Roche for the last 20 years, having started in 2002 as a strategic project manager in Germany. He assumed his current role in September 2021.

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At the World Government Summit 2022, held at Expo 2020 Dubai at the end of March, Forbes hosted a number of panel discussions featuring a cohort from its Under 30 community.

Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council, meets with a group of entrepreneurs and innovators from the Forbes 30 Under 30 community.

UAE Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications, His Excellency Omar Bin Sultan Al Olama, speaking at the opening of the Forbes 30 Under 30 Forum.

By Fouzia Azzab

• FORBES LIFE •

5 Natural Wellness Destinations In MENA Medical tourism in the Middle East and Africa is expected to be worth $1.35 billion by 2026 compared to $900 million in 2021, according to Market Data Forecast. Here are five of the most popular places for natural medical tourism in the region.

Mbazzarah Al Khadra U.A.E. Mbazzarah Al Khadra comprises a group of reefs located in a valley adjacent to the Jebel Hafeet mountain in Al Ain. The area features 26 wells, including hot sulfur wells that have been opened for tourists. The springs have been turned into shallow channels, ideal for dipping your feet and enjoying the healthy benefits of the hot springs. The temperature of the water ranges from 36.5 to 51.4 degrees Celsius.

Its high temperature and high content of minerals can be used to treat joint and rheumatic diseases if you stay submerged for some time.

Jazan Hot Springs Saudi Arabia The Jazan region, located on the coast of the Red Sea in the southwest of Saudi Arabia, is characterized by its white sandy beaches, coral reefs, and green highlands. According to the Saudi Press Agency, tourism spending in Jazan reached $746.7 million annually. The area currently has more than 63 hotels and 2,891 hotel rooms.

Famous for their waterfalls, the mountains of Jazan house more than 25 valleys and hot springs.

These springs contain chemical elements such as calcium, magnesium, sodium, silicon, and stanthium, which help in treating skin and rheumatic diseases and are free of toxic elements.

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Siwa Oasis

Egypt

Located in the heart of the Western Desert of Egypt, 820km southwest of Cairo, the Siwa Oasis is known for its hot white sand and dry climate throughout the year. The oasis has both normal and sulfur hot springs. A special type of mud can be mixed with this water and is used in the treatment of many skin and respiratory diseases. According to Egypt’s State Information Service, sand from the Dakrour Mountain in Siwa contains radiation that helps treat rheumatism, poliomyelitis, psoriasis and the digestive system.

Tourists flock to it for sand burial treatments during July and August.

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SUN_SHINE / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM, VVOE/V SHUTTERSTOCK.COM, KAJZRPHOTOGRAPHY SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Dead Sea

Jordan

The Dead Sea has the lowest land-based elevation on Earth.

It is located 420 meters below sea level, and attracts visitors seeking recreational treatments and healing. Its mud is rich with minerals, and its water, which is famous for its salinity, contains 29% salts and minerals, including magnesium, sodium, potassium, and bromine. The area, with its year-round sunny weather, low humidity and dry air, is also said to help relieve symptoms of asthma, cystic fibrosis, and some lung diseases.

Merzouga

Morocco

Merzouga is a small desert town in eastern Morocco, and is home to sand dunes, palm plantations, excursions and paths, making it a popular tourist attraction and healing retreat. The town is famous for its sand baths, which are known for curing skin diseases, rheumatism, and spine and muscle stiffness. The healing process includes burying the patient in the middle layer of the earth under the surface of the sand, for six to 12 hours, depending on the type and severity of the disease. However, sand baths are prohibited for some medical conditions, such as heart and respiratory diseases and diabetes.

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• THOUGHTS ON •

Health “It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.”

“Use your health, even to the point of wearing it out. That is what it is for.

Spend all you have before you die; do not outlive yourself.”

—Mahatma Gandhi “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.”

—George Bernard Shaw “My body is like breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I don’t think about it, I just have it.”

—Benjamin Franklin “Good health is not something we can buy.

However, it can be an extremely valuable savings account.”

—Anne Wilson Schaef

Arnold Schwarzenegger “Happiness is good health and a bad memory.”

Oprah Winfrey

—Ingrid Bergman “You’re in pretty good shape for the shape you are in.”

“With age comes the understanding and appreciation of your most important asset, your health.”

—Dr. Seuss “Your body hears everything your mind says.”

—Oprah Winfrey

—Naomi Judd Benjamin Franklin

“A healthy attitude is contagious but don’t wait to catch it from others. Be a carrier.”

Ingrid Bergman

“There’s nothing more important than our good health - that’s our principal capital asset.”

“Being in control of your life and having realistic expectations about your day-to-day challenges are the keys to stress management, which is perhaps the most important ingredient to living a happy, healthy and rewarding life.”

“Don’t ask for a million dollars. Ask for the stuff that’ll get you a million dollars - your health, your brain, your sanity, wisdom. Prepare me for when I do get that million. Make sure I don’t go crazy, make sure I help my family.”

Arlen Specter

—Marilu Henner

—Future

—Tom Stoppard

F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M

“I’ll tell you what I’m grateful for, and that’s the clarity of understanding that the most important things in life are health, family and friends, and the time to spend on them.”

—Kenneth Branagh “Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.”

—Buddha APRIL 2022

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info@ajlanbros-holding.com info@ajlanbros-holding.com F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M info@ajlanbros-holding.com info@ajlanbros-holding.com info@ajlanbros-holding.com

ajlanbros-holding.com ajlanbros-holding.com ajlanbros-holding.com ajlanbros-holding.com ajlanbros-holding.com

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