Forbes Middle East - English - July 2022

NEARLY TWO DECADES OF TESLA FEMALE FIRSTS: 8 HISTORIC CEO APPOINTMENTS

CEOs OF MENA’S BIGGEST WEALTH FUNDS

TOP 5 COUNTRIES MOST INTERESTED IN NFTS 4 HEDGE FUND BILLIONAIRES INVESTING IN CRYPTO

JULY 2022 ISSUE 118

TARIQ CHAUHAN Group CEO of EFS Facilities Services Group

“WE NEVER REINVENTED OURSELVES. WE KEPT REINFORCING OURSELVES.”

TOP 100 CEOs IN THE MIDDLE EAST 2022 THE COMPANIES THESE LEADERS OVERSEE ARE COLLECTIVELY WORTH MORE THAN $5 TRILLION. MEET THE HEADS KEEPING THE CASH FLOWING.

Stay connected with our latest business news.

JULY 2022 ISSUE 118 OTHERS................................$4

OMAN.........................OMR 1.5

BAHRAIN.................. BHD 1.5

UAE............................... AED 15

QATAR..........................QAR 15

KUWAIT.................. KWD 1.25

SAUDI ARABIA...........SAR 15

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JULY 2022

6 I Sidelines Leader Mindset

By Claudine Coletti LEADERBOARDS

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BILLIONAIRES

4 Hedge Fund Billionaires Investing In Crypto

CONTENTS

8I

While the crypto markets may be a volatile bet, and shunned by the likes of Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, they are still an attractive option for many of the world’s richest. Here are some of the billionaires that have stepped into the crypto realm after securing their wealth through hedge funds or venture capital investing. Net worths are as of June 17, 2022.

By Omar ElWakeel WEALTH

10 I

CEOs Of MENA’s Biggest Wealth Funds Meet the heads of the region’s most successful and asset-rich sovereign wealth funds. We compiled this list based on the size of the fund (according to data from the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute), the strategic importance of its portfolio to the country, and the prominence of the fund’s CEO.

By Hana Hany

22

TRANSPORT

12 I

Nearly Two Decades Of Tesla

As July marks Tesla’s 19th anniversary, here’s a look at some of the most important milestones for the world’s leading electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer.

By Mohamed Rashed AlKhalifa CEO

14 I

Female Firsts 8 Historic CEO Appointments In H1 2022 Here are eight women that made history in the first half of 2022 by assuming the top spots in large successful companies across the globe.

78 SPORTSMONEY

22 I A League Of Their Own Tiger Woods and LeBron James are the first athletes to become billionaires while still active in their sport—paving the way for a new generation of player-tycoons.

By Matt Craig and Chase Peterson-Withorn

By Jamila Gandhi

18 I 10 Notable CEO Appointments In H1 2022 Here are 10 companies that have appointed new CEOs in the first half of 2022 to help get them through a challenging postpandemic era.

By Joyce Abano

THE PROFILE

78 I Old Unicorn, New Tricks.

Billionaire brothers John and Patrick Collison built Stripe into one of the world’s most-hyped, highest valued — and profitable! — startups, worth some $95 billion. Now they must stave off going from disruptor to disrupted.

By Alex Konrad

CRYPTOCURRENCY

20 I Top 5 Countries Most Interested In NFTs The market for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) is in its infancy, but many investors have been quick to jump on the bandwagon. Total NFT sales between the start of January and end of April 2022 stood at $37 billion, according to a report from blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis, compared with $40 billion for the whole of 2021. Here are the top five countries that made the most NFT-related searches between June 2021 and May 2022, according to the NFT Club.

By Julian Nabil

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

HOTEL REVIEW

84 I Naladhu Private Island Maldives

By Baraa Alfaouri

88 I

Thoughts On Brothers and Sisters JULY 2022

TOP 100 CEOs IN THE MIDDLE EAST 2022

CONTENTS

2

32 I

New Chapter

Dana Nasser Al Sabah, Group CEO of the Kuwait Projects Company (Holding)—KIPCO— had a tough job ahead of her when she took the role at the beginning of the year. As she leads the company through a vital new merger, she’s looking to further M&A activity to boost the company’s performance.

By Layan Abo Shkier

40 I

Sustaining Growth

Ahmed El-Hoshy, CEO of fertilizer exporter Fertiglobe and producer OCI N.V., has a couple of issues on his mind: maximizing supply to a world on the brink of a global food security crisis and minimizing its impact on the environment. As Fertiglobe’s market cap more than doubles, it seems to be in hand.

By Nermeen Abbas

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

JULY 2022

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July 2022

Issue 118

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CONTENTS

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INSIDE

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COVER STORY

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Facilitator

IMAGE BY FORBES MIDDLE EAST

In a region that seems eternally under construction, the potential for growth in the facility management sector increases with every new building opened. Under Group CEO Tariq Chauhan, Dubai’s EFS is becoming a key player, serving multinationals and governments across MEA, Turkey, and South Asia.

By Samuel Wendel

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

JULY 2022

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JULY 2022

SIDELINES

FORBES MIDDLE EAST

6

Leader Mindset Taking the top job in any company is an incredible achievement but a mammoth responsibility.

All bucks stop with the CEO. It’s a stressful, demanding, and all-consuming job, but also one that comes with an array of benefits and rewards. Not everyone would want or take the role, but those that do set the culture, tone, and path forward for the entire company.

There are many thoughts and opinions about what makes a good CEO great. According to a 2019 report by McKinsey & Company, excellent CEOs tend to focus on six key mindsets and practices.

They focus their corporate strategy on beating the odds; they manage people’s performance and company health by matching talent to value; they put dynamics ahead of mechanics and ensure there’s healthy teamwork among their top management; they help directors to help the business and promote a forward-thinking agenda; they center on the long-term ‘why’ while looking at the big picture, and they manage their time and energy to only do what they can do.

For a different view, Glassdoor reported in 2021 that CEOs have 10 intrinsic traits. They value a positive culture, model transparency, communicate clearly, actively listen, continue to learn, inspire others, nurture new leaders, build resilience, bring everything back to the company mission, and prioritize diversity, equality, and inclusion.

I think that great CEOs actually have some common traits with politicians. They connect with and understand the needs of a diverse populace, they understand the vision and requirements of their greater mission, and they find ways to align both to achieve the best possible outcomes. Of course, when leading a company the bottom line always wins, and when leading a country you don’t get to hire and fire the voters, but many good leadership skills apply to both.

However, even the best CEOs have had a pretty challenging 12 months. They are trying to execute a recovery from the pandemic while listening to the changing needs of their teams regarding working practices, and now they are facing another potential economic crisis as new global geopolitical tensions make themselves felt. It’s really no wonder that there have been reports of a “great CEO resignation” in the first four months of 2022, with CEO exits in the U.S. increasing by 18% compared to last year, according to data from global outplacement services firm, Challenger Gray & Christmas.

This month we publish our second annual list of the Middle East’s Top CEOs. These are the leaders managing the region’s biggest companies in terms of assets and revenues while also in many cases overseeing a workforce of thousands of people. This year will be testing their grit, but they are so far coming out on top. I hope you enjoy finding out what makes them special.

—Claudine Coletti, Managing Editor

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

JULY 2022

INNOVATING SINCE 2010 JULY 2022 ISSUE 118

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

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Khuloud Al Omian 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 Deputy Managing 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

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Cherry Aisne Trinidad Online Editor aisne@forbesmiddleeast.com

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Research

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

Soumer Al Daas Head of Creative soumer@forbesmiddleeast.com Julie Gemini Marquez Brand & Creative Content Executive julie@forbesmiddleeast.com Kashif Baig Graphic Designer kashif@forbesmiddleeast.com Mohammed Ashkar Assistant IT Manager ashkar@forbesmiddleeast.com Muhammad Saim Aziz Web Developer saim@forbesmiddleeast.com Habibullah Qadir Senior Operations Manager habib@forbesmiddleeast.com Daniyal Baig Chief Operating Officer daniyal@forbesmiddleeast.com

FORBES US Chairman and Editor-In-Chief Steve Forbes CEO and President Michael Federle

Copyright© 2019 Arab Publisher House Copyright @ 2019 Forbes IP (HK) Limited. All rights reserved. This title is protected through a trademark registered with the US Patent & Trademark Office Forbes Middle East is published by Arab Publisher House under a license agreement with Forbes IP (HK) Limited.

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Billionaires

4 Hedge Fund Billionaires Investing In Crypto While the crypto markets may be a volatile bet, and shunned by the likes of Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, they are still an attractive option for many of the world’s richest. Here are some of the billionaires that have stepped into the crypto realm after securing their wealth through hedge funds or venture capital investing. Net worths are as of June 17, 2022.

Paul Tudor Jones, II

Ben Horowitz, to support tech-focused entrepreneurs.

Its crypto unit, a16z crypto, which owns an active investment portfolio spanning 47 crypto-linked firms, is the largest individual crypto fund raised in venture capital so far, according to Forbes. It said in May that it has raised $4.5 billion for its fourth fund, bringing its total funds raised to more than $7.6 billion, of which it plans to allocate $1.5 billion to seed investments in Web3, and $3 billion to more traditional startup investments.

Net worth: $7.3 billion Citizenship: U.S. Jones began trading cotton futures at the New York Cotton Exchange and founded the Tudor Investment Corporation in 1980, which now manages assets worth $11 billion. He also co-founded the Robin Hood Foundation in 1988.

According to CoinDesk, in February 2021 Jones joined a roster including rapper LL Cool J, hospitality management firm Apollo Group cofounder Josh Harris, and former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, in investing in North Island Ventures’ cryptofocused $72 million venture capital (VC) fund. The fund was founded in early 2020 by Gleen and James Hutchins and former Digital Currency Group investor Travis Scher.

The fund is led by Hutchins’ father Glenn, co-founder of the $88 billion private equity firm Silver Lake Partners.

Steve Cohen Net worth: $17.4 billion Citizenship: U.S. Cohen started out as a junior options trader for boutique investment bank Gruntal & Co and founded SAC Capital, one of the most successful hedge funds ever, in 1992. The firm’s performance reached its peak in 2000 when SAC returned 73.4% before fees.

SAC Capital ceased to exist in 2016 following an insider F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M

Alan Howard Net worth: $3.2 billion Citizenship: U.S.

Paul Tudor Jones, II

trading investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and Cohen was banned from managing other investors’ money until 2018.

He currently oversees his $24.4 billion hedge fund, Point72, which started managing outside capital in 2018, after the SEC ban was lifted. The fund supports Radkl, a crypto startup founded in 2021 by New York Stock Exchange market maker GTS.

Marc Andreessen Net worth: $1.6 billion Citizenship: U.S. Andreessen co-created the Mosaic internet browser and co-founded Netscape, which was purchased by AOL in 1998 in a $4.2 billion deal. He sat on the board of Hewlett-Packard from 2008 to 2018.

Andreessen co-founded the $33.3 billion venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, commonly referred to as a16z, in 2009 alongside

Howard co-founded Brevan Howard Asset Management in 2002, with a focus on macro trading. In 2013, the company had $40 billion of assets under management, making it one of the top macro hedge funds globally. The firm launched its crypto and digital unit in September 2021.

Howard also founded cryptocurrency trading platform Elwood Technologies in 2020 in a collaboration between crypto-native funds and traditional financial institutions, In May 2022, it concluded a Series A $70 million funding round led by Goldman Sachs and Barclays, with prominent investors, including Europe’s largest B2B investor Dawn Capital and CommerzVentures.

JULY 2022

BY OMAR ELWAKEEL

LEADERBOARD

8

THE WORLD IS AT A

CRITICAL JUNCTURE

LEADERBOARD

9

INFLATION PARADOX

FOOD NATIONALISM

MIGRANT POPULATIONS

ENERGY CHAOS

WORLD

AT WAR

What are today’s driving forces of change?

CRITICAL DECISION POINTS Facing Government Leaders in a Transforming World Scan to read more

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

JULY 2022

Wealth

CEOs Of MENA’s Biggest Wealth Funds Meet the heads of the region’s most successful and asset-rich sovereign wealth funds. We compiled this list based on the size of the fund (according to data from the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute), the strategic importance of its portfolio to the country, and the prominence of the fund’s CEO. Al Nahyan has been heading ADIA since 2010. ADIA has 49 subsidiaries and is the U.A.E.’s largest sovereign wealth fund.

It is a globally-diversified institution that invests on behalf of Abu Dhabi, with total assets under management valued at $708.8 billion. In October 2021, ADIA announced that it was leading the GoTo Group’s pre-IPO fundraising with a $400 million investment. In June 2022, ADIA’s subsidiary announced that it was acquiring a 10% noncontrolling interest in Sempra Infrastructure in an all-cash deal valued at $1.7 billion. Al Nahyan is also chairman of the board of trustees at Khalifa University and a member of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council.

Yasir O. Al-Rumayyan

1. Yasir O. Al-Rumayyan Public Investment Fund (PIF) Al-Rumayyan has been Governor of Saudi Arabia’s PIF since 2017. The fund had assets under management worth $620 billion as of June 2022, an increase of over 44% since July 2021. It aims to have assets worth over $1 trillion by 2025.

In May 2022, PIF announced that it was launching a Saudi Coffee Company and expected to invest $320 million in the industry over 10 years. In the same month, PIF purchased 16.87% of Kingdom Holding Company’s shares for a total of

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

$1.5 billion. Al-Rumayyan is also the chairman of Saudi Aramco, Ma’aden, and the Saudi Decision Support Center and an advisor to the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers. He sits on the boards of Uber Technologies, Inc. and ARM Limited, and he is the director of Newcastle United.

2. Ghanem S. Al-Ghenaiman Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) Al-Ghenaiman took the helm of KIA in August 2021. It is the world’s third-largest sovereign wealth fund and the biggest in the Middle East, with total

assets under management worth $737.9 billion as of June 2022. The company has nine subsidiaries and two main funds—Kuwait’s General Reserve Fund and the Future Generations Fund—in addition to all other funds authorized by the Ministry of Finance on behalf of Kuwait. Before joining KIA, Al-Ghenaiman was the acting director-general and deputy director-general for investment for the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development.

3. Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA)

4. Khaldoon K. Al Mubarak Mubadala Investment Company Al Mubarak has been the Managing Director and Group CEO of the Mubadala Investment Company since 2002. The company had 39 subsidiaries and assets under management worth $284.5 billion as of June 2022. In June 2022, Mubadala and EQT announced that they were acquiring a majority stake in Swedish firm Envirotainer for $3 billion. Al Mubarak is also the Founding Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Affairs Authority and the chairman of the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation. He sits on the boards of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC).

JULY 2022

BY HANA HANY, IMAGE FROM PUBLIC INVESTMENT FUND

LEADERBOARD

10

Mumtalakat had assets worth $17.5 billion and a portfolio of over 50 companies, with majority stakes in Bahraini companies accounting for 18% of Bahrain’s GDP. Al Rumaihi also sits on the boards of the Bahrain Economic Development Board, the National Oil and Gas Authority, and the Oil and Gas Holding Company. He chairs the boards of Bahrain Real Estate Investment and the Bahrain Development Bank. Before joining Mumtalakat, he was CEO of the Bahrain Economic Development Board for five years and head of J.P. Morgan’s private client group in the Gulf.

Khalid Al Rumaihi

Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) Al-Mahmoud became CEO of QIA in September 2018.

The sovereign fund had 68 subsidiaries and assets under management worth $450 billion as of June 2022, an increase of 52% compared to $295.2 billion in July 2021. In March 2022, QIA announced that it was leading a $121 million Series D funding round for Insider, a marketing technology startup valued at $1.22 billion. In April 2022, QIA and Oaktree Capital Management announced $260 million in strategic financing agreements for BioXcel Therapeutics. Al-Mahmoud is also the vice-chairman of Qatar Exchange and Qatar Airways. He was previously CEO for Qatar Museums and the Qatar Development Bank and held multiple managerial positions, including head of risk management at QIA.

9. Abdulsalam Al-Murshidi Oman Investment Authority (OIA) Al-Murshidi has been the President of OIA since it was established in June 2020. The company had assets under management worth $17 billion as of June 2022. OIA manages over 160 national assets and companies under its national development portfolio.

Al-Murshidi also serves on the boards of the Oman National Investment Development Company and the Oman Brunei Investment Company.

Before joining OIA, he served as executive president of the State General Reserve Fund.

6. Mohammed Ibrahim Al Shaibani

KHALID AL RUMAIHI IMAGE FROM MUMTALAKAT, AYMAN SOLIMAN IMAGE FROM THE SOVEREIGN FUND OF EGYPT

Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD) Al Shaibani has been the Managing Director of ICD since 2020. The sovereign fund had a global footprint of 20 subsidiaries across 87 countries with assets under management worth $299.7 billion. It has a diverse portfolio in banking, oil and gas, transportation, and others, including Emirates NBD, ENOC, and Emirates Airlines. ICD reported revenues of $46.1 billion for 2021, an increase of 24.5% compared to 2020. Al-Shaibani is also director-general of the Dubai Ruler’s Court and chairman of Nakheel. He is vicechairman of the Supreme Fiscal Committee of Dubai and the Dubai Aerospace Enterprise.

7. Mohamed H. Alsuwaidi ADQ Alsuwaidi has been heading ADQ as the Managing Director

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

10. Ayman Soliman The Sovereign Fund of Egypt

Ayman Soliman

and CEO since May 2019. ADQ had assets under management worth $102 billion as of June 2022 with a wide portfolio of companies, including Pure Health and ADX. In May 2022, ADQ announced $4.3 billion worth of investments in Greece with the Hellenic Development Bank, the national development bank of Greece, the Hellenic Development Bank of Investments, and the Sovereign Funds of Greece. Before joining ADQ, Alsuwaidi was the director of manufacturing

for the Mubadala Investment Company. He is also the chairman of the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA) and the Emirates Water & Electricity Company (EWEC).

8. Khalid Al Rumaihi Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company (Mumtalakat) Al Rumaihi was appointed CEO of Mumtalakat in September 2019. As of June 2022,

Soliman has been at the helm of the Egypt Fund since October 2019. The fund had assets under management worth $12 billion as of June 2022. In June 2022, the Sovereign Fund of Egypt announced the establishment of a new sub-fund that will be responsible for managing the sale of state-owned companies.

The fund is reportedly set to initially include assets worth $4 billion. Soliman has served in multiple companies, including Orascom Investment Holding, Beltone Financial, La Mancha Holding, and RiverBank. He was also vice president in EFGHermes private equity.

JULY 2022

11 LEADERBOARD

5. Mansoor Bin Ebrahim Al-Mahmoud

Transport

Nearly Two Decades Of Tesla

As July marks Tesla’s 19th anniversary, here’s a look at some of the most important milestones for the world’s leading electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer.

2019

LEADERBOARD

2018 In 2018, Musk tweeted that he was considering taking the company private for $420 per share, which the board didn’t agree to. The U.S. SEC sued Musk for his misleading tweet and fined him and the company $20 million to repay harmed investors. The settlement saw Musk step down as Tesla’s chairman. In July 2018, Musk signed an agreement with Shanghai to build its third gigafactory, and the first in China.

2017

Tesla Motors changed its name to Tesla Inc. in 2017. Production began on the Model 3, a low-priced, highvolume electric vehicle.

2016

In 2016, Tesla acquired Germany’s Grohmann Engineering and SolarCity.

2015

In 2015, Tesla expanded its product line with the Model X, a sport utility vehicle.

2014

Tesla raised $2 billion from bonds to build its first gigafactory.

2010

2009

In 2019, Tesla introduced its Cybertruck, the Model Y, a mid-size SUV with seating for up to seven.

In July 2020, Tesla became the world’s most valuable car company with a market cap of $208 billion, overtaking Toyota.

2020

Tesla moved its headquarters from California to Texas and invested $1.5 billion in bitcoin in 2021. In October, its market cap hit over $1 trillion for the first time. Musk’s net worth rose to over $300 billion, making him the richest person in the world at the time.

Tesla went public in 2010, raising $226 million in its IPO. In June 2010, Tesla and Toyota announced that they would work together on EV development and that Toyota would purchase $50 million of Tesla’s common stock. Tesla received $465 million in low-interest loans from the US Department of Energy.

2021

In April, Musk sold nearly 10 million shares in Tesla, worth more than $8 billion.

Tesla’s market cap dropped to $674 billion as of June 17.

2022

Tesla relocated its headquarters to Palo Alto, California, in 2009. In May that year, Daimler AG, maker of Mercedes-Benz, acquired a 10% stake in Tesla for a reported $50 million.

2008 Tesla unveiled the Roadster in 2008. In October, Musk became the fourth CEO of the company.

2007 Eberhard was replaced as CEO in summer 2007 and left the company a few months later, which led to several lawsuits and eventually a settlement. He was followed by interim CEO Michael Marks and then CEO Ze’ev Drori in the same year.

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

2006

2004

2003

In July 2006, Tesla unveiled the prototype of its first electric sports car, the Roadster.

In April 2004, entrepreneur Elon Musk, who had previously met the founders at an event called Mars Society, invested $6.35 million into the company in a Series A funding round and became chairman of the board.

Tesla was founded in San Carlos, California, by sports car enthusiasts Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning in July 2003—the same year that General Motors began recalling and destroying their EVs.

JULY 2022

BY MOHAMED RASHED ALKHALIFA , WIN MCNAMEE/GETTY IMAGES/AFP, IMGAES FROM TESLA

12

LEADERBOARD

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

JULY 2022

Dana Al Sabah

LEADERBOARD

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Following an announcement on December 12, 2021, Dana Nasser Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah assumed her role as the new group CEO of Kuwait Projects Company (Holding), effective January 1. Al Sabah succeeded the outgoing Faisal Al Ayyar.

The new chief was the former CEO of Al Futtooh Holding Company and has been a KIPCO board member since 2020. Al Sabah’s appointment marks the organization’s first female CEO hire in its 47-year history.

Female Firsts

8 Historic CEO Appointments In H1 2022 Here are eight women that made history in the first half of 2022 by assuming the top spots in large successful companies across the globe.

Ellen Cooper President and CEO, Lincoln Financial Group Sector: Banking & Financial Services Ellen Cooper assumed her role as American holding company Lincoln Financial Group’s first female CEO and president on May 27, marking a pivotal change for the 117-year-old firm.

Before taking her current role, Cooper was executive vice president, chief investment officer, and head of enterprise risk and annuity solutions at Lincoln for almost 10 years. She joined the organization in 2012 and succeeded Dennis Glass, according to an announcement made in August 2021.

Christel Heydemann

Dana Al Sabah

Ellen Cooper

Marjan Rintel President and CEO, KLM Sector: Aviation KLM announced in March that Marjan Rintel will take over as the first female CEO and president of 103-year-old Dutch airline effective July 1, succeeding outgoing Pieter Elbers. Currently, Rintel serves as the CEO of NS, the leading passenger railway operator in the Netherlands.

Before her stint at NS, the CEOelect gained intimate knowledge of the group through her various managerial, operational, and commercial positions at KLM and Air France-KLM.

Randa Sadik CEO, Arab Bank Sector: Banking & Financial Services

Helen Lofthouse

Leena Nair

Randa Sadik

Helen Lofthouse

CEO, Orange Sector: Telecom

CEO and Managing Director, Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) Sector: Markets

Amidst a revamp of the company’s governance, Christel Heydemann began her role as CEO of French firm Orange on April 4. The leadership appointment was made in January this year, making the new chief the first woman to lead France’s biggest telecom operator in its 34-year history. Before taking this position, she served as Schneider Electric’s executive vice president of Europe operations. Heydemann succeeded Stéphane Richard.

On June 2, Australia’s bourse operator announced the appointment of Helen Lofthouse as the stock exchange’s CEO and managing director, effective from August 1, 2022. An internal candidate, Lofthouse currently serves as the group executive of the Australian Stock Exchange’s (ASX) Markets division. She joined ASX in 2015 as a member of the executive leadership team. The chief will be replacing Dominic Stevens as the 35-yearold exchange’s first female CEO. According to the bourse,

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

Christel Heydemann

With her appointment at Chanel, she became the 112-year-old company’s first female CEO.

Marjan Rintel

Ng Wei Wei

Lofthouse will be compensated at an annual fixed remuneration of $1.4 million, the same as Stevens’ yearly pay.

Leena Nair Global CEO, Chanel Sector: Fashion & Beauty French luxury goods group Chanel announced new leadership in December 2021 by tapping Leena Nair for the global CEO position, succeeding Alain Wertheimer. A consumer-goods veteran, Nair commenced her role in January. She joined after a 30-year tenure at Unilever, where she last served as the first female, Asian, and youngest chief human resources officer.

Jordan-headquartered Arab Bank appointed Randa Sadik as its new CEO in February, prior to which she was the Deputy CEO for more than 10 years. She succeeded outgoing Nemeh Sabbagh, making her the 92-year-old company’s first female chief. The banking veteran has over 36 years of industry experience, including 24 years at the National Bank of Kuwait, where she held various leadership roles, including general manager of the international banking group.

Ng Wei Wei CEO, UOB Malaysia Sector: Banking & Financial Services Ng Wei Wei commenced her role as United Overseas Bank (UOB) Malaysia’s first female CEO on May 1, succeeding outgoing Wong Kim Choong. Wei’s appointment was announced on April 18, marking a historical change in the organization’s 87-year history. A banking veteran with over two decades of national industry experience, her last stint was as deputy CEO—a position she assumed in 2021.

JULY 2022

BY JAMILA GANDHI , IMAGES FROM SOURCE AND COMPANIES WEBSITES

Group CEO, KIPCO Sector: Investments

CEO

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FORBE S GLOBA L CEO CONFERENCE

The world is looking for a way back to normal. Recovery from the pandemic is underway for much of the globe. Yet markets gyrate on every economic, geopolitical and Covid update, while investors keep a wary eye on inflation and rate hikes. Global tensions escalate between major economic powers, with ripples felt worldwide. Amid all these uncertainties, leading CEOs, entrepreneurs and investors will convene at the 20th Forbes Global CEO Conference to share insights, spotlight opportunities and stake out the way forward.

For more information, please visit forbesglobalceoconference.com or email info@forbesasia.com.sg

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JULY 2022

PRO M OTI O N

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The Power of Digital Transformation

Ali Al Awadi, Head of Technology Service Enablement at du, explains why digitalization matters in the world of telecommunications – and how his company is getting ahead.

Business digitalization is now a necessity rather than a luxury. In your opinion, how critical is this step for the telco industry?

Over the last two decades, the telecommunication industry has grown exponentially in numerous ways relating to reachability, speed, and most importantly, diversity and the quality of services offered. It is an undeniable fact that we can no longer live without our mobile phones; they are now fundamental to our daily interactions, including business activities and social engagements. However, the telco industry is continuously evolving and expanding beyond the traditional means of telecommunication.

The telco industry is playing a fundamental role in connecting not only people, but also ‘things’.

Today, an ecosystem exists that allows things and intelligent machines to communicate with one another in almost real time, utilizing 5G technology. The higher bandwidth and ultra-low latency that come with 5G technology are paving the way towards use cases that, although in existence in the past, were previously not possible to roll out due to missing characteristics in connectivity.

For instance, through machineto-machine technology, fleets are managed more efficiently. Today, connected and autonomous cars

Ali Al Awadi, Head of Technology Service Enablement at du

can communicate with each other to help make decisions more intelligently.

Such rapid developments in the telco industry mandate having digitalization and automation as integral parts of the telco evolutionary journey. It is no longer sustainable to resort to the manual and traditional practices that worked in the past, whether in planning, delivery, or even in operational activities.

Business and digital transformation is your specialty.

With regards to telcos, what

The thoughts this advertorial are those of the client.

FO R B E S M Iexpressed D D L E E A S in T.C OM

approach do you think is the most efficient when choosing to go digital?

In my view, digitalization, automation, and transformation must go hand-in-hand.

Transformation involves processes, mindsets, values, and beliefs, and any digitalization and automation journey necessitates a cultural shift. Being too fixated on digitalization without considering the cultural prerequisites is a recipe for a failed digitalization journey. For the journey to be successful, organizations need to adopt a digital transformation JULY 2022

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strategy at the executive level and communicate it through a top-down approach to ensure clarity on the vision and values.

It is also important to be resultsdriven through continuous progress tracking and steering when necessary. The digitalization journey has no shortcuts, it is about long-term gains. You can look at it as a marathon without a finish line, requiring strong will and commitment to achieve valuable outcomes.

challenges that could hinder digitalization efforts and how can they be overcome?

I believe the telco industry has reached a level of maturity that can often make it challenging to question certain aspects of the status quo. With this in mind, as the technical domain is dynamically and rapidly evolving, it is essential not only to keep up with the pace of technology evolution but also to evolve in terms of operating models, mindsets, processes, and

“In a nutshell, it is all about adding value and achieving optimum customer experience.”

What does digital transformation mean to a telco’s clients and customers?

In a nutshell, it is all about adding value and achieving optimum customer experience. Value for us is to offer unparalleled services to our customers and to find means by which we can further enrich the experience for internal and external customers alike. This can take many forms, including better and more personalized engagement with customers through innovative communication channels, offering flexibility and simplicity in the services provided, and rapid deployment of new and innovative services. Having said that, innovation, agility, simplicity, and flexibility are core traits that we always look for, and these dimensions must play an integral role in shaping any digital transformation journey.

The telco industry’s responsiveness to technological change can be slow in certain areas and extremely agile in others. What are the main

touch points. We must challenge the status quo and introduce agile processes to achieve results more efficiently, even before considering going digital. These pre-requisites are the enablers that pave the way towards digitalization, even prior to embarking on the journey.

We are also working with technology enablers, including Gulf Business Machines (GBM), that help bring best-in-class solutions to the fore that we can implement along with partners such as IBM. These solutions are implemented across an array of offerings such as hybrid and multi-cloud containerready storage including monitoring, identity access management, and hyper-converged compute and storage management, amongst many more.

As a regional leader, what steps has du taken so far on its digitalization journey, and how does it plan to advance moving forward?

At du, we are fully convinced about the power of digitalization and we are always striving to introduce

The inOthis F O Rthoughts B E S M I D expressed D L E E A S T.C M advertorial are those of the client.

more efficient and intelligent ways of delivering valuable results.

Therefore, we have taken solid steps to embark on the automation and digital transformation journey. This journey involves cultural transformation as well as digitalization, endorsed and closely tracked by the CTO of the organization. We are also frequently enriching the culture of digitalization through dedicated design thinking workshops that provide an opportunity for our employees to get involved and to share ideas and turn them into reality.

Today, automation is an integral part of our culture and philosophy, and we are rolling it out in multiple domains within our operational activities. We have adopted a cloud native application strategy, allowing for a complete shift in techniques and mindset in how we approach private cloud application through development, security, and operations (DevsecOps).

This strategy is playing an integral role in the enablement of the company-wide digital transformation program that is currently underway. At present, we are proactively transforming our operations, customer management, revenue management, product management, and channel management, to provide an unparalleled customer experience.

www.du.ae JULY 2022

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CEO

Here are 10 companies that have appointed new CEOs in the first half of 2022 to help get them through a challenging post-pandemic era.

Johnson & Johnson Headquarters: U.S. In January, Joaquin Duato became Johnson & Johnson’s eighth CEO. Duato first joined the healthcare brand in 1989, and in the past 33 years, he has held leadership positions in almost every division.

Marks & Spencer

Rent the Runway, was credited with pushing Spotify to go for a direct listing to go public rather than the traditional initial public offering.

Starbucks Headquarters: U.S. In March, Starbucks announced its CEO and president Kevin Johnson was going to retire effective April 4 and the company’s founder Howard Schultz, took over—for the third time—as interim CEO for a compensation of $1 as the coffee chain looks for a permanent successor for Johnson later this year. The move comes amid growing efforts among company employees to unionize. Under Schultz’s leadership from 1987 to 2018, he pioneered programs like comprehensive healthcare, stock ownership, and free college tuition for full and parttime employees.

Headquarters: U.K.

Joaquin Duato

Air India

FedEx Corporation

Headquarters: India

Headquarters: U.S.

In May, Indian conglomerate Tata Sons has appointed Campbell Wilson as Air India’s new managing director and CEO, subject to requisite regulatory approvals. Wilson joins Air India as CEO of Scoot, the wholly-owned low-cost subsidiary of Singapore Airlines.

US package delivery firm FedEx’s former President and chief operating officer Raj Subramaniam took over the role of President and CEO starting June 1, succeeding Frederick Smith. Smith, who founded the company in 1971, will transition to the role of executive chairman and will oversee sustainability, innovation, public policy, and other global issues. The move comes as the company continues to face mounting competition from rival United Parcel Service (UPS) and the company’s former customer Amazon.

Aston Martin Lagonda Headquarters: U.K. Former Ferrari executive Amedeo Felisa joined Aston Martin Lagonda in May to take on the role as the company’s new CEO. Felisa, who spent his entire career in automotive and engineering, held leadership roles in Ferrari for 26 years, including eight years as the Italian luxury automaker’s CEO. Felisa replaced Tobias Moers, who struggled in leading the British luxury carmaker in its turnaround plan.

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

JD Sports Fashion Headquarters: U.K. Sports fashion retailer JD Sports said in May that its boss Peter Cowgill had resigned from his role as executive chairman just a few months after the British firm

British retail giant Marks & Spencer said in March that its CEO Steve Rowe was going to step down effective May 25. He served as the company’s CEO for six years. Stuart Machin took over as CEO and Katie Bickerstaffe became co-CEO. Machin joined M&S as food managing director in April 2018.

Until recently, he served as the company’s co-chief operating officer (COO). Bickerstaffe has held a number of roles at the company including non-executive director, chief strategy and transformation director, and before being appointed as co-CEO, she served as M&S’ co-COO.

Toshiba Corporation Headquarters: Japan Japanese electronics conglomerate Toshiba appointed Taro Shimada as its new CEO and president in March amid restructuring efforts.

Shimada, who replaced Satoshi Tsunakawa, used to be an executive officer and corporate senior vice president at Toshiba.

Toshiba announced in February that it planned to split into two companies, one would be focused on infrastructure and the other on devices.

Tata Projects Headquarters: India

Peloton Interactive Headquarters: U.S. In February, former Spotify and Netflix chief financial officer Barry McCarthy was appointed as the new CEO and president of exercise and gym equipment retailer Peloton to replace the company’s co-founder and President John Foley and William Lynch. McCarthy, who also served on the boards of wellknown retailers Pandora and

Tata Projects, a subsidiary of Indian conglomerate Tata Sons, named Vinayak Pai as its new CEO and managing director designate. Pai took over the roles in February. Pai joined Tata Projects from Worley, which delivers project and asset services for the energy, chemicals, and resources sectors across the globe, where he served as group president for the company’s EMEA and APAC businesses.

JULY 2022

BY JOYCE ABANO, IMAGE FROM JOHNSON & JOHNSON

LEADERBOARD

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10 Notable CEO Appointments In H1 2022

was fined more than $5.8 million for violating the competition regulator’s rules. Kath Smith, the company’s senior independent director, took over the role as interim CEO while the process to look for Cowgill’s long-term replacement is ongoing. Smith worked for 25 years in the sector. She served as managing director at adidas and Reebok and general manager and vice president of The North Face EMEA.

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A Platform For Growth: How DIGITECT Is Helping Brands To Thrive Yousef Sharbatly, Founder and CEO of DIGITECT, explains how his Saudi-based media company is helping businesses to grow through adaptive marketing and transformational digital solutions.

What is DIGITECT? Founded in 2019, DIGITECT is a Saudi-born media company, headquartered in Jeddah. In three short years, it has grown to become one of the top media agencies in the Kingdom. Since its establishment, DIGITECT has expanded to offer many services including IT, event management & production, and has recently widened its operations with offices now located in Riyadh, Dubai, and Beirut.

Where did the idea for DIGITECT come from?

Coming from a leading business family in the Kingdom, in 2019 I noticed a gap in the market. It was underserved in digital marketing, IT, social media management, and app innovations. From there I built a professional team, with many of our people having previously worked for international agencies and together we work collaboratively to fill the market gaps, educate future generations and thrive with the booming economy in line with Saudi Vision 2030.

What is your vision for DIGITECT? The vision is to provide clients with an all-in-one, 360° media platform with the best solutions, quality, and price, so we can help them grow their businesses and drive profitability through adaptive marketing. We want to offer worldclass services right here, by a homegrown Saudi company.

Yousef Sharbatly, Founder and CEO of DIGITECT

What services do you offer to clients?

DIGITECT is a one-stop company.

Our offering includes creative, media, technology, IT, social media & PR, digital, production, and events. We help our partners invest hundreds of million riyals yearly in activations, conventional & digital media, and influencers.

How would you describe the brand values of DIGITECT? At DIGITECT, we act as catalysts of change in shaping a thriving future. We are ‘Saudi@Heart’, with a diverse group of forward-thinking professionals who can see the opportunity within challenge. We help local and international brands adapt to rapid shifts in consumer preferences and thrive through transformational strategic solutions.

The expressed inOthis F O Rthoughts BESMIDD L E E A S T.C M advertorial are those of the client.

Who are some of the partners you work with?

At DIGITECT, we are lucky to be working with many of Saudi Arabia and the world’s top brands across a diverse range of industries. Respected healthcare partners include Al Borg Laboratories, while food & beverage partners include Nespresso, Angelina, Red Bull, and McDonald’s. Our IT partners include world-leading brands such as Microsoft. Our automotive partners include KIA, Jetour, DongFeng, GMC, Bentley, Ferrari, Porsche, and Lamborghini, as well as the leading car distributors.

What is your background and what were you doing prior to DIGITECT? As a pioneer in digital marketing and media, I began making an impact on the industry from a young age. After earning an MBA and a BBA from the University of London, I returned to Saudi Arabia and became the CEO of DIGITECT in March 2020, leading the company through a sustained period of growth & diversification, and building an exciting new partnership group.

www.digitect.com JULY 2022

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Cryptocurrency

Top 5 Countries Most Interested In NFTs The market for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) is in its infancy, but many investors have been quick to jump on the bandwagon. Total NFT sales between the start of January and end of April 2022 stood at $37 billion, according to a report from blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis, compared with $40 billion for the whole of 2021. Here are the top five countries that made the most NFT-related searches between June 2021 and May 2022, according to the NFT Club.

Taiwan Population: 23.9 million NFT searches per 100,000 people: 9.629 Taiwan is known to be a hub where new technologies such as blockchain and NFTs thrive.

In December 2021, the OneOffs NFT International Art Fair was held in Taipei, Taiwan. The event had over 20,000 visitors and generated sales of over $1.7 million. In May 2022, the country saw the launch of the world’s first metaverse music label, dubbed 0x0, with the label’s artists existing in the form of NFT characters and releasing music as their character. Medicine Man, from the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection, was 0x0’s first artist.

Australian cricket and play-toearn virtual gaming, which will be available to over one billion cricket fans worldwide.

Australia

Canada

Population: 26.1 million NFT searches per 100,000 people: 8,198

Population: 38.4 million NFT searches per 100,000 people: 8,127

Australia is home to the headquarters of seven NFT companies, representing 3.2% of the world’s total.

In February 2022, the Australian Taxation Office set out its stance on NFTs, saying that they would follow the same general principles as cryptocurrencies. In April 2022, Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers’ Association inked a multi-year licensing deal with cricket NFT platform startup Rario and digital trading firm BlockTrust for collectible NFTs from

According to NFT Club, Canada is home to the headquarters of Dapper Labs, the third highest-funded NFT company in the world with $672 million, and The Sandbox, the 10th highest-funded NFT company in the world with $93 million. The Canada Revenue Agency has a policy in place whereby buying an NFT is not taxable but selling one might be. In March, Canada saw the launch of the Canadian Web3 Council, a non-profit trade association that aims to boost Web3 technology

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

such as blockchain. Canadian entrepreneurs have made significant contributions to the digital asset space, from co-founding Ethereum to launching NFT platforms like CryptoKitties and NBA Top Shot.

Iceland Population: 345,393 NFT searches per 100,000 people: 8,014 The Financial Supervisory Authority, Iceland’s sole financial regulator, approved the first blockchain-powered e-money firm in the country in 2019. Meanwhile, Iceland is among the 10 Best Global Crypto Mining Hubs, according to CoinMarketCap. The country has been supportive in creating environmentallyfriendly Bitcoin mining, with the Icelandic Blockchain

Foundation claiming that 8% of all Bitcoin production is done through geothermal and hydroelectric energy.

New Zealand Population: 4.9 million NFT searches per 100,000 people: 7,651 In September 2021, All Blacks’ former rugby player Dan Carter and a number of local artists and entertainers launched a new NFT marketplace called Glorious to offer a curated showcase of premium authentic digital masterpieces from world-class creators across art, sport, and music. In 2022, New Zealand had its first NFT auction, consisting of two NFTs: Charles Frederick Goldie at His Easel, and Charles Frederick Goldie in His Studio, sold for $51,250 and $76,250 respectively.

JULY 2022

BY JULIAN NABIL, IMAGE FROM 0X0.GG

LEADERBOARD

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Forty Million Dollars and Counting:

The Rapid Rise of Investium

With a fast-growing investment portfolio, multiple verticals, and regional expansion underway, Investium has come a long way in less than a decade. CEO Samer Zayat explains the company’s rapid rise – and its plans for further growth. from every deal and every market cycle to build relationships.

Samer Zayat, CEO, Investium

What can you tell us about Investium?

Investium is a leading investment manager of alternative investments with four lines of business: hospitality, technology, financial advisory, and a real estate division, which we will be launching soon.

We have a revenue stream of more than $30 million, and an investment portfolio surpassing $40 million.

Our early phases included small, single-project iterations, which thankfully yielded. Our initial aim was to solidify each independent project and deliver a track record of outstanding results with rapid ROI, and in turn use that success story to attract more investors to other independent projects. Over time, we built on our strengths and learned

What is the Investium ethos?

A work ethic that is both entrepreneurial in spirit and institutional in practice, in tandem with a policy of investment that is both responsible and profitable. We strive to generate strong performance for our investors who have believed in our vision and continue to do so every day.

How would you describe Investium’s growth journey, and how do you plan to fuel it moving forward?

Consistency and growth have shaped our journey so far, and I am extremely proud to announce that Investium has just completed its fourth consecutive year of doubled growth, at 100% year-on-year, all while maintaining a 27%+ EBITA. Our success is down to investor confidence, trust, and results.

We take pride in saying that our partners entrust us fully in growing and developing their returns.

Looking ahead, Investium constantly welcomes strategic partners and investors who can help us to continue raising funds, grow our verticals, and ultimately increase investor ROI.

The expressed inOthis F O Rthoughts BESMIDD L E E A S T.C M advertorial are those of the client.

What are your plans for 2022 and 2023?

Our upcoming short-term plans and strategy include continuing and building on the growth of our hospitality division, with emphasis on regional expansion now that we have presence in the U.A.E., Egypt, and K.S.A. We will focus on developing the strengths of our existing star brands in this segment such as Al Beiruti, Logma, and Crown Catering. We will also pursue an aggressive strategy to develop our technology segment by furthering Clapp App’s services and business model. Additionally, we will soon be launching our own real estate division, which will add yet another vertical to our group.

Where did your entrepreneurial journey begin?

I started my journey at the young age of 18 by launching an import/ export-based retail business with an investment of $500.

Shortly after, I was drawn by the world of investments, which led me to establish Crown Capital Investments in Beirut in 2010.

Two years later, we expanded the business into Dubai, where it grew exponentially.

www.investium-group.com JULY 2022

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FRONTRUNNER

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FRONTRUNNER

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WHO’S NEXT

BY MATT CRAIG AND CHASE PETERSON-WITHORN. PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MATT CHASE

WHAT ’ S NEW

SportsMoney

A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN

Tiger Woods and LeBron James are the first athletes to become billionaires while still active in their sport—paving the way for a new generation of player-tycoons.

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

JULY 2022

TIGER WOODS AND LEBRON JAMES BY KWAKU ALSTON/CONTOUR BY GETTY IMAGES

It

has been a quarter-century since Tiger Woods first donned the green jacket of a Masters champion, and 20 years since a teenage LeBron James, still only in high school, suited up for his first nationally televised basketball game.

Triumph, injury, scandal, failure and triumph again have followed, in various order, for both.

Through it all each has remained at the economic pinnacle of his sport: Over their careers the two legends have raked in a combined $2.9 billion ($1.7 billion for Woods, $1.2 billion for James) in salary, endorsements and other income.

This run of success has turned both champions into billionaires—a feat never previously achieved by any active athlete. (Michael Jordan, the only other athlete-billionaire, didn’t hit ten figures until after he retired, thanks to a well-timed investment in the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets.)

Woods, 46, amassed his estimated $1 billion fortune primarily through enormous endorsement deals with brands like Nike, Gatorade and Rolex. He has also assembled an impressive real estate portfolio and owns chunks of businesses including a Jupiter, Florida, restaurant called The Woods and an operator of upscale minigolf courses that has plans to expand nationwide.

James, 37, has built his $1 billion net worth as one of the best-paid—and most entrepreneurial— players in NBA history. He too has partnered with Nike, inking a lifetime sponsorship deal in 2015, and with brands such as AT&T, PepsiCo and Beats by Dre. Then there’s SpringHill, James’ TV and movie production outfit (Space Jam; What’s My Name: Muhammad Ali). Last October, outside investors including Fenway Sports Group and Epic Games bought in at a $725 million valuation. James remains the biggest shareholder.

“They’ve been extremely skillful in taking parts of businesses, in creating their own business, in ways that athletes before them just weren’t,” says legendary sports agent Leigh Steinberg, who was reputedly the inspiration for Tom Cruise’s character in Jerry Maguire.

Steinberg would know. He still remembers F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M

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Big Checks Tiger Woods (above) and LeBron James are two of just ten athletes who have earned more than $100 million in a year. James is the sole NBA player to have done it; Woods is the only golfer.

negotiating the then-biggest rookie contract in football history in 1975—a deal that paid Atlanta Falcons quarterback Steve Bartkowski $600,000 over four years. Even adjusted for inflation, that’s only about $800,000 annually—less than what dozens of NFL rookies made last year.

What has changed? First and foremost, the value of live sports on television. In a streaming world, almost no other programming can still reliably generate a mass audience. In 2011, 51 of the year’s top 100 telecasts were sporting events.

Last year, that number was 95 out of 100. The dollar size of TV contracts has soared, taking player salaries with them. Jack Nicklaus earned $5.7 million (less than $40 million in today’s dollars) over his four-decade playing career, which began professionally in 1961. That’s less than a third of Woods’ 27-year inflation-adjusted haul. Jordan made $94 million ($172 million today) in salary from his 16 seasons in the NBA. James has topped that in just the last five seasons.

Generational stars like Woods and James supercharge ratings, too. In the early 2000s, according to former CBS president Neal Pilson, TV audiences would drop 30 to 50 percent when JULY 2022

HIGHEST-PAID ATHLETES

The top 20 sports stars earned nearly $1.7 billion combined over the last 12 months, sett ing a record and almost doubling the total from a decade ago.

24 FRONTRUNNER

2. LeBron James $121 million 37 • Basketball (Los Angeles Lakers) 3. Cristiano Ronaldo $115 million 37 • Soccer (Manchester United) 4. Neymar $95 million 30 • Soccer (Paris Saint-Germain)

Woods was not in contention at a tournament (he is still a major draw, but less so these days), and James played in each of the 15 highest-rated NBA games of the past decade. “In a sense, the sport built these supercelebrities, but in another sense they greatly contributed to the popularity of the sport,” Steinberg says.

That has helped the off -fi eld bucks get much bigger too.

There’s a long tradition—spanning Babe Ruth to Arnold Palmer to Jordan—of athletes getting paid to endorse brands.

But now the endorsement potential stretches into the three commas thanks to the amplifying eff ect of modern media and technology. No one has yet cashed in more over their careers than Woods and James. Of Woods’ $1.7 billion in career pretax earnings, only $120 million comes from actual golf winnings.

James has earned some $385 million on the court, and upward of $900 million off it. Says veteran sports business consultant and Columbia lecturer Joe Favorito, “No doubt Babe Ruth could’ve made more if he had a Twitter following.”

With none of these trends showing any sign of slowing, there’s little doubt that the next crop of superstar players will make even more money, faster than either Woods or James.

BILLION-DOLLAR BALLERS

5. Stephen Curry $93 million 34 • Basketball (Golden State Warriors) 6. Kevin Durant $92 million 33 • Basketball (Brooklyn Nets) 7. Roger Federer $91 million 40 • Tennis 8. Canelo Alvarez $90 million 31 • Boxing 9. Tom Brady $84 million 44 • Football (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)

10. Giannis Antetokounmpo $81 million 27 • Basketball (Milwaukee Bucks) 11. Russell Westbrook $80 million 33 • Basketball (Los Angeles Lakers) 12. James Harden $74 million 32 • Basketball (Philadelphia 76ers) 13. Matthew Stafford $72 million 34 • Football (Los Angeles Rams) 14. Aaron Rodgers $68 million 38 • Football (Green Bay Packers) 15. Tiger Woods $68 million 46 • Golf 16. Josh Allen $67 million 26 • Football (Buff alo Bills) 17. Lewis Hamilton $65 million 37 • Auto racing 18. Tyson Fury $62 million 33 • Boxing 19. Naomi Osaka $59 million 24 • Tennis 20. Damian Lillard $57 million 31 • Basketball (Portland Trail Blazers)

These six athletes have earned more than $1 billion apiece (pretax) in salary or winnings and endorsements over their careers.

Tiger Woods • $1.7 billion Cristiano Ronaldo• $1.2 billion LeBron James • $1.2 billion Lionel Messi • $1.2 billion Roger Federer • $1.1 billion Floyd Mayweather (boxing) • $1.1 billion F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M

JULY 2022

HIGHEST-PAID ATHLETES BY BRETT KNIGHT AND JUSTIN BIRNBAUM CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: MARCIO MACHADO-GETTY IMAGES; RUI VIEIRA-AP; KIRSTY WIGGLESWORTH-AP; ISAAC BREKKEN-AP

1. Lionel Messi $130 million AGE: 34 • Soccer (Paris Saint-Germain)

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Preserving Legacies, Growing Wealth

F

or decades, family business has been the mainstay of GCC economies, contributing the lion’s share of GDP growth and employing as much as 80% of the labor force. In a region renowned for rapid transformation, familyrun enterprises have remained a reassuring constant, and in the face of global challenges they have stood firm, weathering unprecedented pandemics and financial crises through determination, innovation, and adaptation.

It is against this backdrop that The Family Office is working to safeguard the futures of entrepreneurial families, preserving their hard-earned wealth and ensuring their continued success for generations to come.

From its bases in Bahrain and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the firm prides itself on helping clients preserve their legacies, plan for retirement, and diversify their investments, with a focus on private equity, private debt, real estate, and more. Through a highly customized approach, The Family Office’s advisors build bespoke portfolios and operate with transparency and integrity, earning the company a strong reputation among families, region wide.

Trust is also essential to a fruitful company-client relationship, and since its establishment in 2004, The Family Office has been building exactly that by investing

Abdulmohsin Al Omran, Founder and CEO of The Family Office

in technologies that maximize client satisfaction, increase the availability of information, and ensure transparency.

In addition to building allimportant trust, technology is helping The Family Office to democratize access to investment alternatives. Thanks to a successful digital transformation strategy, the firm can now reach a much larger client base and offer families the kind of service once only available to institutional investors.

This May, The Family Office launched an end-to-end journey that enables clients to create a 10-year plan involving the best managers and best investment opportunities in the world in a matter of minutes. What typically takes about seven months to complete, can now be done in a fraction of the time.

The expressed inOthis F O Rthoughts BESMIDD L E E A S T.C M advertorial are those of the client.

Digital technology has been transformative for The Family Office and its clients, but getting it right requires a fourpronged approach centered on commitment, clients, culture, and cost. To break it down: commitment from the board and senior management is vital, along with unwavering focus on the client, and a concerted effort to change mindsets and encourage employees to embrace digital tech. As for cost, the benefits of digital transformation come at a higher price financially, with investments in technology and talent increasing costs. Done well, however, it is possible to reach a happy balance; digital transformation can help increase a client base manifold, and thus the cost per client falls.

As The Family Office attracts new clients along its own transformation journey, it continues in its campaign to preserve and grow the wealth of the families and businesses that help keep economies ticking.

www.tfoco.com JULY 2022

25 FRONTRUNNER

Abdulmohsin Al Omran, Founder and CEO of The Family Office, explains how the independent wealth management firm is helping to protect the futures of businesses and their founding families.

• COVER STORY •

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FACILITATOR In a region that seems eternally under construction, the potential for growth in the facility management sector increases with every new building opened. Under Group CEO Tariq Chauhan, Dubai’s EFS is becoming a key player, serving multinationals and governments across MEA, Turkey, and South Asia.

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

JULY 2022

Tariq Chauhan, Group CEO of EFS

IMAGE BY FORBES MIDDLE EAST

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JULY 2022

Dubai’s

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recently completed Expo 2020 offered over 24 million visitors an opportunity to experience an array of entertainment, architecture, and innovation.

But just as impressive as the show was the community of people working behind the scenes to keep the venues clean and safe for guests—an army of janitors, attendants, security guards, and beyond.

One company that provided several such services during the Expo, including housekeeping, technicians, and facade cleaners, was Dubai’s EFS. A key regional player in the facility management sector, EFS is one of those companies that helps keep business humming at offices, resorts, schools, factories, and more. “When I maintain a building for a client, I’m looking at the end-user ease in terms of a better quality of service,” says Tariq Chauhan, the long-time Group CEO of EFS. His company does everything from providing technical maintenance like plumbing and HVAC, to delivering so-called soft services such as catering, landscaping, and security.

Taking on a contract for a generational event like the Expo is a sign of the times for EFS, which employs over 20,000 people and operates across the Middle East, Turkey, Africa, and South Asia. The group reports that it generated roughly $270 million in revenue in 2021. When Chauhan became CEO in 2010, EFS was a small player with $180 million in contracts, but today the CEO says that the group has a contract backlog of $1.3 billion and over 600 clients.

That includes over 200 multinationals and many regional governments. And EFS has continued adding to that roster in 2022, announcing a new soft services contract for Saudi’s Jeddah Airport, valued at over $200 million.

The company’s rise has played out alongside the evolution of facility management in the Middle East. Although mature in markets like the U.S. and Europe, F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M

“

When I maintain a building for a client, I’m looking at the end-user ease in terms of a better quality of service.

”

Tariq Chauhan

the industry has taken longer to develop in the Middle East. But the opportunity is clear enough, with recent decades featuring plenty of construction and infrastructure projects in the region and many countries embarking on economic diversification plans, which has created more facilities to manage. “What excites me is to see the market size, the growth potential that this region represents,” says Chauhan.

Of course, EFS isn’t the only facility management company targeting the regional market. The U.A.E. alone has many players, with some examples including Transguard Group, Emrill, Imdaad, Farnek Services, and Al Shirawi FM. Global giants also have regional footprints, such as France’s Sodexo, U.S.based CBRE, and the U.K.’s Compass Group. For his part, Chauhan pushes off the topic. “I won’t talk about competition because this market is growing so fast,” he says. “Everyone has a room in it.”

Broadly speaking, many industries need facility management services, from retail and hospitality to manufacturing. Facility management can represent 10-25% of total indirect spending for companies. The global market for in-house and outsourced facility management is estimated to reach $1.9 trillion by 2024, according to McKinsey.

Across the regions that EFS covers, Chauhan sees an industry worth over $200 billion and openings for new business. “Two-thirds of that is still in a very unorganized fashion,” he says, while pointing to sustainability and cost pressures as driving demand for the services that EFS can provide—particularly around bundling those together. “Finally, people realize that there’s a need for integrated facility management services,” says Chauhan.

That means companies are looking to adopt JULY 2022

IMAGE FROM SOURCE

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

resources with the right technology.

Globally, facility management is ripe for disruption, according to McKinsey. Although technology is available, industry adoption has been hindered by a lack of digital skills, leadership priorities, and a focus on continuous cost-cutting. EFS is concentrating on its software platform for integrated facility management. But it’s also introducing new tech in different areas, such as using Internet of Things tools like ammonia sensors in smart bathrooms. In the coming years, EFS plans to offer most clients live monitoring tools via Zoom, giving them virtual access to their facilities.

Another element of expansion for EFS is acquisitions. In 2021 it snapped up Guardian,

EFS has announced a new soft services contract for Saudi’s Jeddah Airport, valued at over $200 million.

a U.A.E. company offering fire protection systems and services, like sprinklers and alarms, and Chauhan says EFS intends to make other acquisitions to help increase turnover. Such moves would help gain business advantages, even if Chauhan doesn’t want to dwell on competitors. More than competition, the CEO says it’s about ramping up to meet a “quantum leap” that he believes is coming for the industry.

Facility management wasn’t always Chauhan’s domain. He studied economics in India and got his start in 1987 as a manager with the Bank of Oman. From there came various international banking roles, and in 1995 he landed in Dubai to serve as CEO of Elfina Banking & Investments, a brokerage and advisory firm. By the early 2000s, he was running KOL Corporation, an IT company providing software solutions for enterprises. But the 2008 global financial crisis then upended his career.

JULY 2022

29 TA R I Q C H AU H A N

multiple services simultaneously rather than select ones from different providers.

Chauhan claims that EFS has experienced a compound annual growth rate of around 20% since 2010 (meanwhile, the sector’s corresponding rate in the GCC is forecast to be 8.6% between 2021 to 2026, according to Mordor Intelligence). Going forward, the CEO has set lofty future targets: in the next five to 10 years, he hopes to grow revenues to surpass $3 billion annually, a sizable step forward.

Meanwhile, the market for facility management in the GCC is forecasted to have a 7% compounded annual growth rate in coming years and be worth $15 billion by 2026, according to consultancy Frost & Sullivan.

“Sustainability and digitalization are two of the most significant forces that will reshape this market over the decade, requiring a scale-up of capabilities in the short term,” says Abhay Bhargava, a VP and regional practice leader covering energy and environment for Frost & Sullivan.

The market has also featured turbulence in recent years, with the onset of the Covid19 pandemic causing problems. Clients suspending services and lost revenues put the business under pressure, says EFS’s Group CFO Taher Jhanjharya, but he reports that Chauhan took proactive measures to support customers looking to reduce costs while also working to retain its own workforce. That helped EFS continue delivering services.

“As a result, we ended the year with better financial results despite the challenges and a strong partnership with all stakeholders,” says ​​ Jhanjharya. Ultimately, the pandemic appears to be creating some upside for workplace management solutions too, as Covid-19 has led to new hygiene standards and demand for cleaning services.

The group claims that a large part of its success stems from its ability to retain clients.

It has a contract retention rate of 97%, and Chauhan says that, on average, clients have stayed with EFS for about eight years.

Keeping clients is obviously important, but Chauhan also touts that an essential part of the puzzle is mastering the art of managing people. Hiring and training large numbers of blue-collar workers is key to operations.

But, going forward, effectively managing its workforce also means supporting its human

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

Expo Impact Expo 2020 Dubai took place between October 2021 and March 2022. The Expo 2020 site is to reopen as Expo City Dubai, a “city of the future” with housing, businesses and leisure facilities.

Here are some facts about the mega event.

The event drew over 24.1 million visits from 178 countries, and 30.3% of visitors came from overseas.

These visits included over a million school visits, and 107,000 visits from people of determination.

Over 5.8 million people were impacted by Expo Live grants.

The Mobility Pavilion was home to the world’s largest passenger lift, which could transport more than 160 people at a time.

The world’s first compressed-air train transported visitors between three stations across Expo 2020 Dubai.

Expo 2020 Dubai awarded $1.85 billion of contracts to SMEs, 64% of which are UAE-based.

Dubai hotel occupancy hit 15 year high during the last month of Expo 2020 Dubai, reaching 96% during the last week.

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also quickly expanded its footprint, which in 2012 saw it establish a presence across 65 cities in India.

During this time, Chauhan also dealt with personal challenges—he was diagnosed with cancer in 2013, but was lucky enough to recover.

That scare didn’t impede his plans.

By 2014, EFS had launched new operations ranging from Morocco to Pakistan and many countries in-between. It also diversified, such as introducing a new security service in 2015. That year, EFS recorded a contract backlog of over $800 million.

The coming years brought notable business, such as a five-year contract with Etihad Airways worth $38 million in 2018. A year later, it inked an agreement to provide services for the upcoming Expo.

Simultaneously, EFS continued rolling out initiatives around workforce development. Recently, that has included EFS partnering in 2020 with Dawamee, a U.A.E. employment initiative by the Emirates Foundation to provide work opportunities for Emiratis. So far, EFS has hired 52 U.A.E. nationals through the partnership for a variety of part-time, temporary and remote work roles, according to Dawamee Program Manager Jamal Ali Khater. “This made EFS one of the most prominent companies that are continuing to support the Dawamee program,” says Ali Khater. In 2021, EFS also linked up with Sharjah’s Skyline University College to offer scholarships, incubation programs, and internships.

Ultimately, career development efforts within the group have resulted in about 500 entry-level staff rising to become supervisors and managers.

Today, EFS has come a long way from serving a few regional clients, but the CEO who facilitated that rise still sees a company that never lost focus on its original foundations.

“We never reinvented ourselves,” says Chauhan. “We kept reinforcing ourselves.”

JULY 2022

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TA R I Q C H AU H A N

30

A chance encounter with the chairman of EFS led him to take a role with the company in 2009. The origins of EFS trace to 2000, when it was established as a dedicated facility management services division in the U.A.E. by the U.S. construction services company EMCOR. In 2006, EFS was incorporated as a company providing regional services in partnership with EMCOR U.K. In facility management Chauhan saw an intriguing opportunity. The early 2000s featured a significant uptick in built environments across the Middle East, but the facility management sector was nascent. At the time, EFS had a footprint and resources in the Middle East but only a handful of contracts. Chauhan believed the company had the right positioning to expand, despite being undervalued and undercapitalized.

Within six months of joining, he became CEO. There were plenty of challenges to contend with, notably market conditions that increased pressure to cut costs. “The economy did not behave the way we all envisaged post-2008,” he says.

Over the first two years, he worked to stabilize the business before pushing it to expand and diversify.

“We were able to basically bring down the cost of business development,” says Chauhan, who looked to develop and retain a workforce with the right skills while also focusing on winning and keeping clients. He also reorganized the business to pool together and share common resources across different service areas. “In [the facility management] business, your margins are limited as customers don’t allow for overheads to be part of your cost recovery,” says CFO ​​ Jhanjharya, who’s been with EFS for over 12 years. “The common pool helped the business take advantage of economies of scale.”

In particular, EFS targeted growth with multinationals, such as winning a contract with Citibank in 2011. It

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Building The Future

Othman A. Ibrahim, CEO of Rawabi Holding and Vice Chairman of Magnom Properties, explains how the new company plans to shape new standards across the region and beyond. health and safety, and ensuring that our environmental policies continue to adapt to changing demands and global challenges.

What can you tell us about Rawabi Holding?

Rawabi Holding covers different sectors through its fully owned subsidiaries, joint ventures, and partnerships with international market leaders. I am proud to say that we are regional leaders servicing major energy sectors including oil and gas, marine, industrial, and contracting and manufacturing services.

We are finalizing our first environmental, social, and governance (ESG) report as part of listing some of the group’s companies in the Saudi Capital Market. The report highlights our environmental, social and governance practices, which are integral foundations of Rawabi Holding’s business system. The report covers the group’s impact on key material issues for us. These include engaging with our key stakeholders, empowering our talent’s growth and development, innovating in our approach to group

You have recently entered the real estate market with Magnom Properties. What is the aim of the company?

Magnom Properties is the real estate arm of Rawabi Holding and it will oversee the construction of highvalue commercial, residential and lifestyle projects in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the wider MENA region.

The company aims to shape new lifestyles with a focus on heritage, design excellence, build quality, timely delivery, and sustainability.

To put it succinctly, Magnom Properties is looking to provide people with a better life and unique experiences. We want to partner with the most creative people with a vision similar to ours.

How important is sustainability to Magnom Properties?

Magnom Properties is seeking solutions to climate change, irrespective of where our projects are located.

Our approach to design highlights elements of sustainability and we adhere to key features, namely: human-centric design, resilience and future readiness, low carbon emissions, efficiency, and value.

Throughout our projects being planned for the region, we will look at minimizing carbon footprint, managing water as

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a precious resource, creating a space of outstanding comfort, and integrating intelligence and resiliency into the building.

ESG considerations are also significant for real estate investments in the region, and this is in-keeping with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.

In partnership with world-renowned architects Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill representing AS+GG Architecture, you will be designing your first project in Egypt’s New Administrative Capital (NAC). Can you tell us more about the project?

Our project in Egypt’s New Administrative Capital is going to be second to none. The project exemplifies our sustainability objectives as it sets a new standard through its iconic architecture, unique office experience, and highperformance design. The project will become a destination for NAC and will introduce an experiential commercial paradigm for Egypt.

Its architecture incorporates nature, culture, technology, and experiential spaces. It is also the first opportunity for architects AS+GG to design such a project in Africa.

www.rawabiholding.com JULY 2022

31

• TOP 100 CEOS •

DANA NASSER AL SABAH

32

NEW CHAPTER

Dana Nasser Al Sabah, Group CEO of the Kuwait Projects Company (Holding)—KIPCO— had a tough job ahead of her when she took the role at the beginning of the year. As she leads the company through a vital new merger, she’s looking to further M&A activity to boost the company’s performance.

BY LAYAN ABO SHKIER F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M

JULY 2022

Dana Nasser Al Sabah, Group CEO of KIPCO.

IMAGE FROM SOURCE

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DANA NASSER AL SABAH

34

Just

three months after Dana Nasser Al Sabah, Group CEO of KIPCO, took the top job in January 2022, she found herself making one of the biggest announcements in the company’s 47-year history.

At its annual Shafafiyah (Transparency) Investors’ Forum in April 2022, KIPCO announced that it was exploring a merger with one of its portfolio companies, Qurain Petrochemical Industries Company (QPIC). “We look to 2022 as the year of transformation for KIPCO,” said Al Sabah in a statement at the time.

The year has started strong for KIPCO. It recorded profits of $18.8 million in the first quarter, compared to a loss of $24.2 million in Q1 2021. According to Al Sabah, this recovery was mainly driven by the group’s banking, insurance and petrochemical businesses, with its real estate segment returning to positive operating revenue in 2022.

The latest results must come as a welcome relief for KIPCO. The QPIC merger is a dealbreaker for the group’s financial survival, according to S&P Global Ratings, who placed the group on CreditWatch negative on May 28, 2022. This reportedly comes as a result of KIPCO’s inability to reduce its leverage in 2021 despite a number of rights offerings, with its cashflow declining sharply due to the pumping of additional money into some important investments, according to S&P. Describing it as “a highly transformative event,” the credit agency reports that the merger “would potentially limit further erosion in KIPCO’s credit profile in the case of a successful completion.”

Incorporated in 1975 and listed on the stock exchange in 1984, KIPCO today is 44.91% owned by the Kuwait ruling family’s Al Futtooh Holding Company and F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M

What we are “looking for now

is to transform our existing businesses into the digital space.

Wherever we have the ability to transform our business digitally, we will do it.

”

Dana Nasser Al Sabah

42.8% owned by investment companies and other institutions. Many of its portfolio businesses today were acquired from the Kuwaiti government during a privatization plan in the mid-1990s. This has allowed the group’s assets to grow over the years to reach $34.6 billion as of March 2022, compared to $220 million in 1990.

QPIC on the other hand was initially established in 2004 as a petrochemical firm, but since then has evolved into a holding company, with KIPCO owning 29.5% of the company as of June 2022.

“We’ve realized that we now have two holding companies, so why not merge?” says Al Sabah. Both companies have distinct portfolios. KIPCO’s core companies include the Burgan Bank Group, the Gulf Insurance Group, the United Gulf Holding Company, the United Real Estate, OSN, Jordan Kuwait Bank, Kamco Invest, United Industries Company, and QPIC, whose portfolio is focused on petrochemicals, foodstuff, healthcare, and logistics.

The merging of the two publicly-listed firms would not only create a “more agile and flexible” entity, according to Al Sabah, but it will also create one of the largest public companies in the region with combined assets of $37.2 billion as of March 2022. As of June 2022, the combined market caps of KIPCO and QPIC stood at $2.54 billion.

It is not KIPCO’s first time entering into a merger. At the end of 2019, Kamco Invest—KIPCO’s investment and asset management arm—completed a merger with the Global Investment House JULY 2022

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

“

It’s a challenging and competitive industry with piracy and global streaming wars that put pressure on pricing.

”

QPIC was established in 2004 as a petrochemical firm and has since evolved into a holding company, with KIPCO owning 29.5% as of June 2022.

explains why big groups need digitalization.

“Without implementing a digital transformation strategy, large companies will suffer. We have witnessed the collapse of some large corporates,” he says. “Digital transformation can help these companies to be more efficient in utilizing their resources, building an innovative culture that will attract good talent, enhancing their competition in the market, and building big data that can improve their products or services and create better customer experience.”

KIPCO’s TV and OTT service OSN became one of the first of its subsidiaries to digitize, with the launch of its online TV platform OSN Play in 2012, its mobile APP in 2016, and its streaming service WAVO in 2017 (which rebranded to OSN+

in 2020). According to Al Sabah, the streaming app is today “positively yielding subscribers.” As of December 2021, the platform had 1.4 million users, including 620,000 OTT subscribers. However, with increasing competition from other streaming platforms, including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+, digitization alone is not enough anymore.

“It’s a challenging and competitive industry with piracy and global streaming wars that put pressure on pricing,” says Al Sabah. Even Netflix has hit hard times, with its share price dropping from almost $600 in January 2022 to $167.5 in midJune 2022.

JULY 2022

35 DANA NASSER AL SABAH

(Global). Kamco’s paid-up share capital stood at $111.3 million at that time. Today, Kamco is one of the ten largest asset managers in the region. In June 2022, its market value hit $122.6 million, with assets under management worth $14.6 billion as of December 2021. Kamco is now advising on the KIPCO and QPIC merger, which was in some way inspired by the Kamco merger, according to Al Sabah.

Although Al Sabah has been leading KIPCO for a relatively short period, as a member of Kuwait’s ruling family she is no stranger to the company. Her father, Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, was one of the founders of the Al Futtooh Holding Company in 1981. Al Sabah began her career in 1997 when she joined the company as a general manager. Over the next 25 years she shifted her primary focus to the education sector, establishing both the American University of Kuwait (AUK) and the United Education Company (UEC) in 2003. “I love education, but I felt I was more into the corporate world. I always aspired to be a businesswoman,” she says. “When I joined Al Futtooh Holding Company, I started understanding the business, and so I joined some of the boards.” She currently sits on the boards of the Gulf Insurance Group, OSN, Kamco Invest, and KIPCO, as well as chairing the board of trustees for AUK and the board of directors for UEC. She became Group CEO of KIPCO in January 2022.

For now, Al Sabah’s focus is firmly trained on the QPIC merger, but she also has an eye on how to improve and expand its other existing businesses. “What we are looking for now is to transform our existing businesses into the digital space.

Wherever we have the ability to transform our business digitally, we will do it,” she explains. These plans include moving Burgan Bank into the Fintech sector and the Gulf Insurance Group into the insuretech field, Al Sabah adds.

Fadi AlAwami, Financial Advisor and Founder of The Consultation Center,

DANA NASSER AL SABAH

36

“The streaming industry is getting crowded by newcomers from whom earlier pioneers used to source content. This will put pressure on companies like Netflix, and perhaps even OSN, to either pay more for the content or create their own,” explains Amro Zakaria Abdu, CEO of Madarik Ventures. “In addition to that, the issue of net-neutrality places a huge risk to all streaming providers, or at least those who don’t own internet delivery infrastructure.

This is being challenged in the courts today and, if successful, it will make it very expensive for streaming platforms to deliver content efficiently to their customers.”

However, with M&A at the front of the CEO’s mind, she may have a solution. “Now it is a world of mergers and consolidations,” she hints. If OSN does merge, it would be in good company. In 2019, Disney acquired Twenty-First Century Fox (21CF) for $71.3 billion. In March 2022, Amazon closed its deal to buy the MGM movie studio. And a month later, in April 2022, WarnerMedia and Discovery announced that they were merging. “We are seeking partners to move forward,” Al Sabah reveals. “We have

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our plans without a partner, but I think partnership or consolidation is the next key move.”

An M&A would not be new to OSN. It was established through a merger between KIPCO’s satellite broadcast company Showtime and television company Orbit in 2009. “M&A in entertainment has always been part of the industry as it evolved from analog to digital and with looser regulations that allow the formation of ever bigger media conglomerates,” adds Abdu.

As KIPCO explores its options for OSN, with or without a partner, its biggest challenge currently remains in closing its deal with QPIC. Having received approval from the Capital Markets Authority to merge, and with the valuation and fairness opinion reports approved by the boards of the two companies in June 2022, KIPCO is now just waiting to raise its capital by $784.4 million, bringing the company’s authorized, issued and paid-up capital to $1.6 billion. Its new CEO is feeling positive.

“We are confident that it will be done before year-end,” Al Sabah assures.

Kuwait’s Biggest Companies The Forbes Global 2000 ranks the largest companies in the world using four metrics: sales, profits, assets, and market value. These three Kuwait-headquartered companies featured on the 2022 list. Financial data is as of April 22, 2022.

Global 2000 rank

Company

Sales

Profit

Assets

Market value

733

National Bank of Kuwait (NBK)

$3.82 billion

$1.22 billion

$110.92 billion

$25.78 billion

NBK was founded in May 1952 and provides financial and investment solutions.

1086

Kuwait Finance House (KFH)

$3.48 billion

$483.8 million

$72.95 billion

$29.56 billion

KFH was founded in March 1977 and provides banking, finance and investment services.

Agility

$2.86 billion

$3.24 billion

$9.61 billion

$8.5 billion

Agility Public Warehousing Co. was founded in May 1979 and provides logistics and warehousing services.

1518

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PRO M OTI O N

Retail, Redefined

38

Toufic Kreidieh, CEO & Co-founder of Brands for Less, explains how the off-price retail business keeps growing from strength to strength across MENA and beyond.

Brands for Less (BFL) Group is considered a pioneer in the Middle East’s value sector.

How have you maintained your reputation and customer satisfaction levels throughout the years?

Over the years, BFL Group has worked hard towards offering outstanding services and a world-class customercentric product portfolio. This, combined with our commitment to providing a rich and complete shopping experience with unique concepts of surprise and delight, has helped us cement our position as a pioneer in the Middle East’s value sector and guarantee high customer satisfaction levels.

As a result, we will continue to improve our e-commerce experience and expand it to new audiences in the Middle East and around the world.

Toufic Kreidieh, CEO & Co-founder Of Brands for Less

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FO R B E S M Iexpressed D D L E E A S in T.C OM

How did BFL Group react to the hit of the pandemic? What changes have you made?

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit businesses, retail groups decided to take advantage of the situation by improving their online profiles and investing in platforms like their respective websites and social media handles. As the pandemic posed challenges like lockdowns and restrictions, and as different variants of the virus emerged around the world, BFL Group JULY 2022

PRO M OTI O N Scan this QR code to open the website

began to focus on achieving its goals in six months – tasks that would take five years to accomplish under normal circumstances. The teams were on an unstoppable mission to maximize productivity and achieve the best possible outcomes by investing in the website and social media platforms, which were attracting a large number of new customers seeking an easy outlet for shopping.

Despite the difficulties, the retail group moved quickly to focus on its e-commerce store, while also

This is further evidenced by one of our recent accomplishments, in which the group entered the Qatar market by opening its Brands For Less outlet and focusing on improving its e-commerce platform.

BFL Group also opened two new stores in Saudi Arabia, as part of its MENA expansion plan for 2022.

The group aims to keep up with the competitive nature of the retail sector by constantly updating its offerings, based on changing customer needs and trends in MENA.

Here is one thing I always keep in mind: your products are not for you, but for your customers prioritizing the health and safety of its employees. As a result of this unwavering commitment to customers and employees during the COVID-19 pandemic, BFL Group was recently honored with the ‘Heroes of the Pandemic’ award at the Transport and Logistics Middle East Awards 2021, under the e-commerce category.

You’ve played an integral role in expanding BFL Group beyond its original ‘Brands For Less’ platform.

What was the motivation behind the expansions, and how have you retained your successful track record across all of them?

At BFL, we pay close attention to changing consumer behavior and have experienced consistent sales and revenue growth as a result. This also includes BFL’s shift to e-commerce in the first half of 2021. The company believes in making its products available to all consumers in the region, and as a result, it continues to expand its operations to new countries.

BFL Group currently has more than 80 outlets in the GCC and Malta.

How do you envision the future growth of the company?

We envision a company that continues to prioritize our customers’ needs and exceeds their expectations, as well as inspires and sets new industry benchmarks. Our customers will remain at the heart of our success, as our business completely revolves around customer satisfaction and experience. As BFL moves forward, we will continue to introduce innovative concepts and make our products more accessible to the region in line with customer needs. This is even more promising as our customers continue to encourage us to expand our business in the GCC. In addition to expanding our presence in the U.A.E., we also aim to strengthen our presence in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, as well as to extend services in Oman and Kuwait. The group is confident in its ability to grow by leveraging its expertise, following

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a forward-thinking strategy, and using the right digital tools.

Starting a business at a young age can be a difficult and risky decision. What advice would you give to ambitious young people who are looking to follow in your footsteps?

If you are looking for advice for the retail sector, here is one thing I always keep in mind: your products are not for you, but for your customers. As a result, you must act in accordance with the needs of the customer. Another important aspect of being a business owner is to be prepared for any circumstance or crisis. Even during success, it is crucial to be prepared for any situation and act quickly to ensure your company’s survival.

You’re actively involved in charity work. What’s your most recent philanthropy project?

I have always been committed to CSR initiatives in order to promote positive changes in society. This was demonstrated through my efforts to assist students with their education through a partnership with the American University of Beirut, which resulted in a donation of over $100,000. Also, over the years, BFL Group has partnered with various charity organizations such as Dar El Berr, Dubai Cares, and the Emirates Red Crescent Society to raise and donate charitable funds, in keeping with my commitment to giving back to the community.

www.brandsforless.com JULY 2022

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• TOP 100 CEOS •

A H M E D E L- H O S H Y

40

SUSTAINING GROWTH

Ahmed El-Hoshy, CEO of fertilizer exporter Fertiglobe and producer OCI N.V., has a couple of issues on his mind: maximizing supply to a world on the brink of a global food security crisis and minimizing its impact on the environment. As Fertiglobe’s market cap more than doubles, it seems to be in hand.

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

JULY 2022

IMAGE FROM SOURCE

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Ahmed El-Hoshy, CEO of Fertiglobe F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M

JULY 2022

A H M E D E L- H O S H Y

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A

As global food security becomes a key issue in the wake of the war in Ukraine, associated industries are suddenly finding themselves at the forefront of one of the world’s most imminent and potentially-catastrophic crises. For example, fertilizer producers—who play a vital role in the production and maintenance of crops worldwide—have witnessed a major increase in demand for their products as supply chains dry up. One of the most notable regional players in this field is Fertiglobe, a joint venture between Egyptian billionaire Nassef Sawiris’s OCI N.V. and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC). Having listed on the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange (ADX) in October 2021, the U.A.E.based company is currently the world’s largest seaborne exporter of urea and ammonia combined. “It is very critical during this time to bring as much fertilizer to market as possible,” says Ahmed El-Hoshy, CEO of Fertiglobe and OCI N.V. Traditionally, Russia and Belarus are eminent fertilizer exporters, accounting for 38% of the world’s potassic fertilizers, 17% of compound fertilizers, and 15% of nitrogenous fertilizers, according to the World Bank. However, as a result of its invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s exports of ammonia, urea, and nitrates have decreased due to sanctions that have been placed on the country, while surging gas prices have forced European producers to shut down. These factors are playing out well for Fertiglobe. In Q1 2022, the company reported revenues of $1.2 billion, an increase of 118% compared to Q1 2021. The company’s market cap has more than doubled in eight months, to reach nearly $12 billion as of June 2022 compared to $5.8 billion in October 2021. “The current global crisis has boosted fertilizers companies’ profits and that trend will continue,” says Ayman Abouhend, Chief Investment Officer at Advisable Wealth Engines. “The process of extracting fertilizers has become harder, while demand is soaring amid a global chain disruption due to the ongoing war.”

Fertiglobe’s roots date back to 1950 when the late F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M

Egyptian billionaire Onsi Sawiris launched Orascom Construction Industries (OCI). Led by his son Nassef— the world’s richest Arab billionaire—since the early 90s, the company grew from being a small familyrun construction business into a global producer and distributor of nitrogen products and methanol.

In 2015, OCI split its engineering and construction business from its fertilizer and chemicals business. The construction side became Orascom Construction, which is dually-listed on NASDAQ Dubai and the Egyptian Exchange, while the fertilizer, methanol, and hydrogen side became Amsterdam-listed OCI N.V. Fertiglobe was established in 2019 as an export platform combining ADNOC’s fertilizer business with OCI N.V.’s MENAbased nitrogen fertilizer platform. OCI N.V. currently owns 50% plus one share of Fertiglobe while ADNOC holds 36.2%.

Fertiglobe’s production capacity currently stands at 6.7 million tons of urea and merchant ammonia, produced at four subsidiaries in the U.A.E., Egypt, and Algeria, making it MENA’s largest producer of nitrogen fertilizer. Through its facilities in Abu Dhabi, Fertiglobe exports to Australia, Thailand, Japan, China, India, and other East of Suez markets. Through its operations in Algeria, it reaches the U.S., Colombia, Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico, along with Europe. Its location in Egypt allows it to enter Africa, Europe, the Americas and Asia. El-Hoshy highlights how important this is to global food security. “Nitrogen fertilizer helps provide food for four billion people, while ammonia is a key vehicle to decarbonizing other industries,” he emphasizes.

In response to the critical role that the sector is currently playing, prices of fertilizer products, including ammonia, nitrogen, and nitrates, have reacted aggressively and surged to record levels, rising nearly 30% during the first four months of 2022, following 2021’s 80% surge. According to a report by the World Bank, rising natural gas prices have led to widespread production cutbacks in ammonia—an important component for nitrogen-based fertilizers. Similarly, the soaring price of coal in China—which feeds ammonia production there—has forced fertilizer factories to cut production. “Fertilizer producers will likely continue to prosper, as we expect global natural gas prices to remain elevated in the short term, leading the prices of products such as Urea and ammonia to remain high,” says Mohamed Ossama, a financial analyst at Beltone Financial. According to Ossama, countries with abundant and low natural gas prices domestically have an advantage. This includes Egypt, which sells gas to local producers at a discount compared to its European counterparts, who are currently suffering from the JULY 2022

IMAGE FROM SOURCE

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“

We are evaluating some of the regulatory risks, including how low-carbon ammonia will be treated, how the project is going to be certified.

”

Ahmed El-Hoshy

Fertiglobe is working on a project to develop a green hydrogen ammonia production facility with Masdar and ENGIE.

The facility will be located near Fertiglobe’s facilities in Ain Sokhna in Egypt and is a first step towards developing a green hydrogen hub. The company is currently working with related ministries to move forward with the project, “We are evaluating some of the regulatory risks, including how low-carbon ammonia will be treated, how the project is going to be certified,” explains the CEO. “There are supply chain issues and higher material costs, so we’re working through all of that right now to try to move it.” Fertiglobe will not take part in the renewable energy side of the project, which will lie with Orascom Construction, the Sovereign Wealth Fund of Egypt, and Scatec. According to El-Hoshy there are some risks. “It would need a long-term off-take for green hydrogen to be in place, which doesn’t exist globally today.

Producing and exporting green ammonia in large volumes has not happened anywhere in the world,” he adds.

Fertiglobe is also working on a project to develop a green hydrogen ammonia production facility with Masdar and ENGIE. Currently in the feasibility study phase, the project is due to be operational by 2025, with a capacity of up to 200 megawatts to supply Fertiglobe’s ammonia production plants at Ruwais in the U.A.E. Fertiglobe will again take a smaller role compared to its partners. “ENGIE and Masdar will pump in most of these investments and they will be responsible for the electrolyzer and renewable energy, while we will be the off-takers of the hydrogen,” explains El-Hoshy.

While working to solidify its leading

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disruption of natural gas supply. “Several European fertilizer producers are taking advantage by importing ammonia from their plants located in countries where they can benefit from lower natural gas prices,” he adds.

El-Hoshy explains that the financials for Fertiglobe and OCI N.V. were already improving before Russia invaded Ukraine.

“Despite the ongoing war, we are in a very strong position thanks to our operations in the Middle East through Fertiglobe and in the U.S. through OCI,” he says. Of its nine facilities—including four that Fertiglobe owns, and three based in the U.S.—OCI N.V. only has two facilities based in Europe.

Continuing favorable market dynamics, a positive outlook on volumes and prices, and healthy cash conversion are some of the factors encouraging the company to now look at expansion, although Fertiglobe plans to focus on commercial growth strategy and executing some specific initiatives in low carbon ammonia rather than build new plants. “When we think of new investments, it doesn’t mean launching new greenfields in the desert. We look at the lowest hanging fruit,” says El-Hoshy. Fertiglobe also has a number of projects underway investing in lowcarbon ammonia.

In June 2021, the company signed an agreement with TA’ZIZ—a joint venture between ADNOC and ADQ—to join its blue ammonia production project in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi, with a capacity of up to a million metric tons per year.

“We are building in an area where there’s existing waterpower and existing port-side infrastructure storage. We’re even buying hydrogen that’s already been processed and this has been sequestered,” explains El-Hoshy. The final investment decision will be made in the second half of 2022, with Fertiglobe likely taking a minority stake. “We will own less than 50% of that project,” says the CEO. In October 2021, Fertiglobe partnered with Scatec and the Sovereign Wealth Fund of Egypt to develop a 100 MW electrolyzer facility to produce green hydrogen as feedstock for green ammonia production.

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position as a nitrogen and ammonia producer, Fertiglobe believes it is also wellpositioned to access MENA’s abundant wind and solar resources for renewable energy generation. According to the CEO, Fertiglobe won’t be a producer, but it may be a mechanism to export generated energy.

“We have abundant renewable resources in the countries where we operate,” he says. “We can convert these resources to hydrogen and then into ammonia and we can export it to the countries that have a deficit in renewable energy like Europe and East Asia. That can help solve the power crisis in Europe.”

It’s an ambitious and potentially lifechanging goal, but in his 13 years with the company, El-Hoshy has always aimed high.

He first met Nassef Sawiris when he was 17 years old and interviewed for a scholarship program sponsored by OCI in the U.S. to study at Harvard. He got in, and once the program was over, he joined Goldman Sachs in its investment banking group and special situations investing group. “But I stayed in contact with Nassef during college and while at Goldman Sachs,” El-Hoshy recalls. “Updating him about what I was doing.” In 2009, after three and half years

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at Goldman Sachs, he joined Orascom and began working on infrastructure projects.

In 2011, he started to lead expansions in the U.S. “The thing that I liked the most was that I was involved not just in the financials, but in everything from buying land from farmers to negotiating building out natural gas and distribution infrastructure with policy makers,” he adds. El-Hoshy held various roles in the company, including CEO of OCI Americas and CEO of OCI Partners LP (NYSE listed MLP from 2013 to 2018), before becoming CEO in 2020. Fertiglobe’s $795 million IPO in 2021 made it the first free zone company to be traded on an onshore stock exchange in the U.A.E. However, El-Hoshy’s main focus now is not just on creating value for shareholders, but on making a difference. “I am proud that in the last few years our entire strategy has been shifted into sustainability,” insists the 38-year-old CEO. “I want to continue to bring forward projects that help decarbonize our countries, bring down CO2 production and nitrous oxide production and improve the environment. Decarbonization is important for the future.”

Biggest IPOs Last Year There were 23 IPOs in the Middle East in 2021—130% more than 2020. These companies raised a total of $8 billion, 330% more than the previous year. These were the five biggest.

Rank

Company

1

International Company for Water and Power Projects (ACWA Power)

2

ADNOC Drilling

3

Saudi Tadawul Group

4

Arabian Internet and Communications Services Co. (Solutions by stc)

5

Fertiglobe

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

IPO size

$1.2 billion $ 1.1 billion $1 billion $966 million $795 million

ACWA Power invests in and operates power generation and desalinated water plants. It has 67 assets in operation across 13 countries ADNOC Drilling is the largest national drilling company in the Middle East by rig fleet size, with 104 rigs providing drilling and associated rig-related services for the ADNOC Group.

The Saudi Tadawul Group is the parent company of the Saudi Exchange, the Securities Clearing Center Company (Muqassa), the Securities Depository Center Company (Edaa), and Wamid.

Solutions is the software arm of Saudi Telecom Company (stc). It has 24,000 customers across 35 Saudi cities.

Fertiglobe is the largest nitrogen fertilizer producer in MENA with a combined capacity of 6.5 million tons of urea and merchant ammonia.

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PRO M OTI O N

Striking a Balance

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Raki Phillips, CEO of Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (RAKTDA), outlines the emirate’s balanced tourism approach as it looks to boost both sustainability and visitor numbers.

You have big plans for the future of Ras Al Khaimah’s tourism sector.

Can you tell us more about your vision for the emirate and how sustainability fits into it?

Ras Al Khaimah is one of the most diverse and fast-growing destinations in the region, appealing to a full range of travellers due to our unique topography of mountain, desert, and sea. We have ambitious plans for the emirate, with the vision to not only drive overall tourism growth, but to also become the regional leader in sustainable tourism by 2025. During the pandemic we remained resilient and became one of the fastest tourist destinations in the world to recover, thanks to our concentrated efforts and adaptability. We welcomed 980,000 visitors in 2021, almost on par with pre-pandemic levels.

Sustainability is essential to achieving growth and is at the heart of everything we do at Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority. Often when people talk about sustainability, it is usually just a buzzword that means recycling or reducing single-use plastic.

‘Balanced tourism’ is something we are firmly embracing as an emirate and our goal is to go beyond this to nurture a tourism industry that is economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable, and that supports quality of life for our citizens and workforce, while conserving our unique environment.

Raki Phillips, CEO of Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority

What is your strategy for achieving your goal of balanced tourism?

Our strategy maps out key steps for the emirate to secure longterm sustainability. We have been working with EarthCheck, experts in global environment, to co-create sustainable practices to address key sustainability issues facing the tourism industry. Establishing a destination as a leader in sustainable tourism requires collaboration on the government, industry, and community levels, and all these entities must commit to working collectively to deliver a sustainable future. At the Global Citizen Forum held in Ras Al Khaimah last year, government entities, hotels, and private sector industries collectively pledged

The thoughts this advertorial are those of the client.

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to work together to deliver the Sustainable Tourism Destination Strategy and establish Ras Al Khaimah as a regional leader in sustainable tourism.

To this end, we have committed $136 million to ensure we are developing attractions with purpose that will enhance our natural environment, and we have launched the Green Hotels Rating with the aim of achieving 100% integrated sustainability across our hotels.

We have also invested in cultural conservation, with four tentative UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and have worked with hotel partners to reduce food wastage and energy and water consumption, as well as undertaken green procurement from locally suppliers.

JULY 2022

PRO M OTI O N Scan this QR code to open the website

With balanced tourism in mind, what are you doing to support quality of life for the tourism and hospitality workforce in Ras Al Khaimah?

In 2021, Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority was ranked as the sixth best workplace in the U.A.E. by Great Place to Work, a global authority on workplace culture. We were also named one of the best workplaces for women, the first and only organization in Ras Al Khaimah to be awarded these certifications.

Embracing livability in our everyday practice is central to our balanced tourism vision. We have initiated several progressive policies to promote employee well-being, and have recently introduced RAKFAM, a series of initiatives aimed at enriching connectivity, community life, and facilities for tourism employees in the emirate.

RAKTDA has recently unveiled its all-new digital brand campaign.

How does this campaign represent Ras Al Khaimah, and what are you hoping to communicate through it?

Our new digital brand campaign, #RAKCalling, aims to provide visitors with immersive content that not only highlights the very best of the emirate but also gives a sense of how Ras Al Khaimah can make you feel. In collaboration with renowned content creators from Europe and the Middle East, the digital-first campaign showcases the diversity of Ras Al Khaimah and a range of tourism experiences across its pristine beaches, lush mangroves, sprawling deserts, and majestic

mountains. Appealing to those who cherish responsible, meaningful, and truly memorable experiences in the new era of travel, #RAKCalling will resonate with those seeking ‘a sense of place’ and wanting to ‘live their moments.’

Using highly visual, immersive content such as our #RAKCalling campaign allows us to cut through any cultural nuances and language

barriers, ensuring everyone understands how Ras Al Khaimah taps into the need for purposeful travel.

Much of Ras Al Khaimah’s popularity relates to ease of accessibility. What role do the U.A.E.’s airports play in this connectivity advantage, and what are you doing to further reinforce it?

The U.A.E. is home to the largest number of international airports within close proximity to Europe, Asia, and Africa, with over two billion people just a four-hour flight away.

Ras Al Khaimah International Airport is currently undergoing its biggest expansion strategy since 1976. We are constantly adding new strategic airline

The inOthis F O Rthoughts B E S M I D expressed D L E E A S T.C M advertorial are those of the client.

partnerships to make the emirate even more accessible to key source markets. 2021 saw Ras Al Khaimah International Airport cross the half a million mark in passenger traffic for the first time in its 45year history. Owing to the air transport arrangements entered between the Asian subcontinent and GCC countries, the second half of 2021 provided Ras Al Khaimah International Airport with a massive 120% increase in daily movements.

Cruising is one of the fastest growing segments of the tourism sector. How are you capitalizing on this potential?

In collaboration with RAK Ports, we have worked on a number of projects to further develop the emirate’s cruise offering. This includes the transformation of the current ferry terminal into a new boutique cruise passenger terminal and the development of marine transport infrastructure, with the aim of attracting 50 cruise ship calls each season, and 10,000 passengers within the next few years. We have also appointed a cruise consultancy firm to support the emirate’s cruise tourism and expand our network in all global cruise exhibitions.

visitrasalkhaimah.com JULY 2022

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TOP 100 CEOS

48

TOP 100 CEOs IN THE MIDDLE EAST 2022

I

rrespective of the economic environment, market conditions, and other factors, it is the CEO who bears most of the responsibility for the success or failure of the company they lead. This is becoming more apparent in the Middle East, where corporate governance has been improving for several years. There is now a clear separation between ownership and management in companies throughout the region. This trend is particularly strong in government-owned businesses, with even sectors such as defense and utilities now being incorporated and even being listed on stock exchanges. This has made CEOs focus more on long-term benefits that stem from innovation, technology, and ESG initiatives.

When we released our first Top CEOs ranking in 2021, the mood among the Middle East’s CEOs was focused on safety and the protection of business. This year has seen a reversal in fortunes, with record profits, new investments, large IPOs, and mega deals taking center stage. For example, so far in 2022, Amin H. Nasser has led Saudi Aramco to become the world’s most valuable company by market value again, usurping Apple. Meanwhile, Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber led ADNOC as it took three of its subsidiaries—ADNOC Drilling, Fertiglobe, and Borouge—public, with Borouge’s $2 billion IPO becoming Abu Dhabi’s largest-ever IPO. This year’s list of the Top 100 CEOs in the region consists of leaders from 26 nationalities. Emiratis dominated with 19 entries, followed by Egyptians with 16, and Saudis with 15. Banking and financial services is the most represented sector on the list with 27 CEOs, followed by eight telecom CEOs, and seven that each head energy and logistics companies. Combined they managed revenues of over $1 trillion last year. Their companies are collectively worth more than $5 trillion.

Methodology To create this ranking, we sent out questionnaires and collected information from stock market disclosures, industry reports, annual reports and financial statements, and other primary sources.

We ranked the CEOs based on: • The impact that they have had on the region, their country, and the markets that they serve.

• The CEO’s overall experience and time in their current role.

• The size of the company in terms of revenues, assets, and market cap.

• The achievements and performance of the CEO in the last year.

• The innovations and initiatives that the CEO has implemented.

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

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TOP 100

CEOs IN THE MIDDLE EAST 2022

1

Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber

• Group CEO and Managing Director

Nationality: Emirati Company: ADNOC Group Country: U.A.E. Sector: Energy Al Jaber has been Group CEO and Managing Director of ADNOC since 2016.

Founded in 1971, it is one of the world’s largest energy producers, with a current production capacity of four million barrels of oil and 11 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day. The group comprises nearly 19 businesses with operations in exploration, production, storage, refining, trading, and petrochemical products development. Al Jaber is also a member of the U.A.E.’s Federal Cabinet, the country’s Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, and the U.A.E.’s special envoy for climate.

Amin H. Nasser

• President and CEO

Nationality: Saudi Company: Saudi Aramco Country: Saudi Arabia Sector: Energy Nasser has been leading one of the world’s largest providers of crude oil to the global market since 2015.

Saudi Aramco had a market cap of $2.3 trillion as of June 13, 2022. In 2019, it was listed on the Saudi Exchange, and in 2020 it acquired a 70% stake in SABIC. The group reported revenues of $400.5 billion and assets worth $576.7 billion in 2021. Nasser is also a member of the International Advisory Board of the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals. He sits on the Board of Trustees for the King Abdullah University of Science & Technology, the World Economic Forum’s International Business Council, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Presidential CEO Advisory Board, and the JP Morgan International Council.

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

3

Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum

• Chairman and CEO

Nationality: Emirati Company: Emirates Group Country: U.A.E. Sector: Aviation Al Maktoum became the chairman of Emirates Airlines and president of the Dubai Department of Civil Aviation in 1985. Today, he oversees more than 85,219 people. The group recorded revenues of $18.1 billion and assets worth $44.7 billion for the financial year 2021/22. The airline flies to 140 destinations around the world and operates a fleet of over 262 aircraft. Al Maktoum is also chairman of the board for Dubai Airports, Emirates NBD, Dubai Aerospace Enterprise, the Alliance Insurance Company, and the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy.

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TOP 100 CEOS

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2

Akbar Al Baker

6

• Group CEO

Nationality: Qatari Company: Qatar Airways Group Country: Qatar Sector: Aviation

4

Toufik Hakkar

• Chairman and CEO

Nationality: Algerian Company: SONATRACH Country: Algeria Sector: Energy Hakkar has been working with SONATRACH for 27 years.

Algeria’s state-owned oil company produced 185.2 million tons of oil equivalent in 2021, up from 175.9 million tons of oil equivalent in 2020, an increase of 5%. Its production of liquefied natural gas also increased by 14% in 2021, reaching 26.3 million cubic meters. The company is currently developing three major petrochemical projects. In December 2021, Hakkar was awarded an order of merit medal by the President of the Algerian Republic.

Yousef Abdullah Al-Benyan

7 5

Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi

• Deputy Chairman, President and CEO

Nationality: Qatari Company: QatarEnergy

IMAGES FROM SOURCE

Country: Qatar Sector: Energy Al-Kaabi joined QatarEnergy in 1986 as a student and was appointed President and CEO in September 2014. Formerly known as Qatar Petroleum, QatarEnergy explores, develops, refines, produces, and utilizes the state’s natural resources, producing natural gas, petrochemicals, fertilizers, steel, and aluminum.

QatarEnergy signed a new deal to provide liquefied natural gas to Germany in May 2022. In November 2018, Al-Kaabi became Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs and Deputy Chairman of QatarEnergy.

Sector

Banking

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

24

Telecommunications

• Vice Chairman and CEO

Nationality: Saudi Company: SABIC Country: Saudi Arabia Sector: Industrials Al-Benyan has been in his role since 2015, before which he was the CFO of the company. SABIC is one of the world’s largest petrochemical manufacturers, with operations in over 50 countries and a global workforce of over 31,000 people. SABIC reported $46.6 billion in revenues and assets worth $84.9 billion in 2021. Saudi Aramco owns 70% of the company’s shares, and the rest is publicly traded on the Saudi Exchange. SABIC has 66 manufacturing and compounding plants across the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and the Americas and develops an average of 95 new products every year.

8

Energy

7

Logistics

7

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51 TOP 100 CEOS

Al Baker has been at the helm of Qatar Airways since 1997. Today, he oversees a team of more than 41,026 people. In the 2022 fiscal year, which ended March 2022, Qatar Airways carried more than 18.5 million passengers, compared to 5.8 million passengers in the previous year. The group reported 78% increase in revenues of $14.4 billion and assets of $41.4 billion. Al Baker was appointed SecretaryGeneral of Qatar’s National Tourism Council in 2019.

8

Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem

• Group Chairman and CEO

Nationality: Emirati Company: DP World Country: U.A.E. Sector: Logistics

9

Syed Basar Shueb

• CEO and Managing Director Nationality: Emirati

Company: International Holding Company (IHC) Country: U.A.E. Sector: Investments IHC had a market cap of $140 billion as of May 2022, making it the second most valuable company in the Arab world. In 2021, the group reported revenues of $7.8 billion, an increase of 305% compared to 2020, of which $3.2 billion came from the healthcare sector. In the same year, it recorded $3.2 billion in profits, up 284% from 2020. In April 2022, IHC announced it would be investing $2 billion into three green-focused companies under the Adani Group, extending its businesses in India and Africa. Shueb became CEO and Managing Director of IHC in 2019.

10

Osama Rabie

• Chairman and Managing Director Nationality: Egyptian

Company: Suez Canal Authority (SCA) Country: Egypt Sector: Logistics The SCA was established in 1956 to manage, maintain, and improve the Suez Canal’s operations, reporting directly to Egypt’s Prime Minister. The company employs 14,000 people.

It reported revenues of $6.3 billion in 2021, an increase of 12.8% compared to 2020 and the highest in its history. In the same year, 1.3 billion in net tonnes was shipped through the Suez Canal via 20,694 ships. Rabie assumed his current role through a presidential decree in 2019.

Sector

Aviation

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

6

Industrials

6

Real Estate and Construction

6

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Bin Sulayem joined DP World in 1982, and he has since transformed it from a port operator to an end-to-end logistics company. The company’s revenues increased by 26.3% in 2021 to hit $10.8 billion, compared to $8.5 billion in 2020.

In January 2021, DP World signed a three-year partnership with UNICEF to support its COVAX mission, providing free worldwide access to its logistical services and delivering two billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to hard-to-reach nations by 2022. In November 2021, DP World and Indonesia’s Sovereign Wealth Fund, Indonesia Investment Authority (INA) signed an agreement to jointly invest $7.5 billion into developing ports in the Southeast Asian country. Bin Sulayem is also the Chairman of Dubai’s Ports, Customs & Free Zone Corporation.

13

Musabbeh Al Kaabi

• CEO of U.A.E. Investments platform Nationality: Emirati

Company: Mubadala Investment Company Country: U.A.E. Sector: Investments

11

Abdulla Mubarak Al-Khalifa

• Group CEO

Nationality: Qatari Company: QNB Group Country: Qatar Sector: Banking QNB Group is the largest financial institution in the Middle East and Africa in terms of assets. The group recorded assets worth $300.3 billion and an operating income of $7.8 billion in 2021. Qatar Investment Authority owns about 51.9% of QNB’s shares, with the rest publicly traded. QNB Group operates 14 subsidiaries across Asia, Africa, and Europe, and employs 27,000 people. Al-Khalifa joined the group in 1996 and assumed his current role in November 2018.

12

Waleed Abdullah Al-Mogbel

14

• CEO

• Group CEO

Country: Saudi Arabia Sector: Banking

Company: First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB)

Al-Mogbel was appointed to his current role in early 2020, before which he served as Al Rajhi Bank’s COO and CFO. The bank employs more than 9,360 people and has 521 branches across Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan, and Malaysia. The company recorded revenues of $7.1 billion, profits of $3.9 billion, and assets worth $166.3 billion in 2021. In April 2022, Al Rajhi Bank announced that it had made donations worth $1.9 million to Saudi’s national campaign for charitable work. Al-Mogbel is also a board member of Al Rajhi Takaful and the chairman of Emkan Finance and neoleap.

Al Rostamani is the first woman to head FAB, the U.A.E.’s largest bank in terms of its assets, which were worth $272.4 billion in 2021. The bank employs 6,600 people, operating from 19 different markets across five continents, serving three million customers.

FAB acquired Bank Audi’s unit in Egypt in 2021. Al Rostamani is also a board member of the International Finance Corporation and the AW Rostamani Group, among others. She was ranked MENA’s third most powerful businesswoman by Forbes Middle East in 2022.

Nationality: Emirati

Nationality: Saudi Company: Al Rajhi Bank

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Hana Al Rostamani

Sector

Investments

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

6

Diversified

Country: U.A.E. Sector: Banking

3

Healthcare

3

Hospitality

3

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Al Kaabi leads Mubadala’s investment arm, which manages a portfolio of nearly $60 billion. In July 2021, Al Yah Satellite Communications Company (Yahsat) became the first Mubadala subsidiary to list through an IPO, debuting on ADX in July 2021 and raising $730 million. In January 2021, the sovereign fund also established the Abu Dhabi Hydrogen Alliance in partnership with ADNOC and ADQ to drive green hydrogen opportunities. Al Kaabi is also the chairman of Mubadala Petroleum and Yahsat, and the vice-chairman of Masdar, Mubadala Health, and Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.

15

•

Saeed Al Ghamdi

Managing Director and Group CEO

Nationality: Saudi Company: Saudi National Bank (SNB) Country: Saudi Arabia Sector: Banking

17

•

Paul Griffiths

CEO

Nationality: British Company: Dubai Airports Country: U.A.E. Sector: Aviation Griffiths joined Dubai Airports in 2007 as its first CEO. Dubai Airports owns and operates the Dubai International Airport (DXB) and the Dubai World Central (DWC). DXB supports 193 destinations across 92 countries worldwide as of May 2022.

It welcomed 29.1 million passengers in 2021 and handled 2.3 million tonnes of cargo. It launched its Terminal 3 in 2008. Dubai Airports opened DWC in 2010, which aims to become a global gateway with a capacity for over 160 million passengers per year.

Before joining Dubai Airports, Griffiths was a board member for Virgin Travel Group for 14 years. Prior to that, he was the managing director of Gatwick Airport in London for more than three years.

16

Hatem Dowidar

• Group CEO

Nationality: Egyptian Company: e& Group Country: U.A.E. Sector: Telecommunications Dowidar has been at the helm of e&, formerly known as Etisalat Group, since 2020. In that time, its market value has increased by 150.3%, from $33.2 billion in April 2020 to $83.1 billion in April 2022. e& acquired a 50.01% stake of Dubai Islamic Bank’s stake in Digital Financial Services in December 2021, raising its ownership to 100%. It also acquired a 9.8% stake in in the U.K.’s Vodafone Group in May 2022 for a reported $4.4 billion. Dowidar sits on the boards of the Etihad Etisalat Company (Mobily), Maroc Telecom, and the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce & Industry, among others.

Sector

Utilities

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

3

Defense

2

Financial Services

2

Insurance

2

JULY 2022

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54

Al Ghamdi has been leading SNB, Saudi’s largest bank, since April 2021, when it was formed by the merging of the National Commercial Bank and Samba Financial Group.

By the end of 2021, the bank recorded profits of $3.4 billion and assets worth $243.8 billion. Today, it has a presence in eight countries, with more than 500 branches and 476 self-service kiosks serving 11 million customers. Al Ghamdi is also the chairman of Jabal Omar and Manga Production and a board member of the Misk Foundation and the Institute of International Finance.

18

Olayan M. Alwetaid

• Group CEO

Nationality: Saudi Company: stc Country: Saudi Arabia Sector: Telecommunications

19

Steve Phimister

• Managing Director

Nationality: British Company: Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) Country: Oman Sector: Energy Phimister has been leading PDO, which delivers 70% of Oman’s oil and nearly all of its gas, since April 2021. The company employs 8,900 people and more than 70,000 contractors as of 2020.

The company is working with Oman Shell to study Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage opportunities in Oman to support Oman Vision 2040’s goal of energy transition. Phimister previously worked with U.K. oil and gas company Shell for 30 years.

20

Shayne Nelson

• Group CEO

21

Nationality: Australian Company: Emirates NBD

• CEO

IMAGES FROM SOURCE

Country: U.A.E. Sector: Banking

Nationality: Saudi

Nelson leads Emirates NBD, the second-largest public company in the U.A.E. in terms of its assets, which were worth $187.2 billion in 2021. The bank recorded $747.4 million in profits for Q1 2022, its highest quarterly profit since 2019. Credit rating agency Moody’s upgraded the bank’s long-term ratings to A2 from A3 and short-term ratings to P-1 from P-2 in May 2022. Nelson also sits on the boards of several entities, including Tanfeeth, DenizBank A.Ş. (Turkey), and the International Monetary Conference.

Sector

Technology

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

Ibrahim Almojel

Company: Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF) Country: Saudi Arabia Sector: Investments SIDF finances the industrial, mining, energy, and logistics sectors in Saudi Arabia.

It signed a financing agreement with Lucid Motors in May 2022 to establish the company’s first electric car factory in Saudi.

In 2020, SIDF approved 212 loans, with a total value of $4.5 billion. Almojel is also the deputy chairman of Saudi EXIM Bank and serves on the boards of the Saudi National Bank, the Awqaf Investment Company, and the Arab Mining Company.

2

Tourism

2

Automobile

1

JULY 2022

55 TOP 100 CEOS

Alwetaid has been at the helm of stc since 2021, before which he was CEO of stc Bahrain. Solutions by stc debuted on the Saudi Exchange in 2021, with a market value of $4.8 billion. In March 2022, stc signed an agreement with Saudi’s Public Investment Fund to establish a jointly-owned company specializing in services related to the Internet of Things. stc also plans to create a new data center company with an initial capital of $26.7 million. Alwetaid previously worked at Saudi Aramco.

22

Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer

• CEO

Country: U.A.E. Sector: Utilities

Country: Saudi Arabia Sector: Aviation

Al Tayer has been at the helm of DEWA since 1992. Since then, the company has established several other entities, including the Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation, the Etihad Energy Services Company, and Mai Dubai. DEWA made its debut on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) in April 2022.

Over 65,000 regional and international investors participated in the IPO, raising $6.1 billion. The company plans to increase the amount of power it generates from clean energy sources to 100% by 2050. Al Tayer is also a member of the Dubai Executive Council and Strategic Affairs Council and is vice chairman of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy.

Cynndy joined SAEI in 2021. He was the CEO of Saudi Ground Services before taking his current role and is still an executive board member for the company.

A subsidiary of the Saudi Arabian Airline Group, SAEI provides maintenance, repair, and operations solutions.

It employs 4,500 people and has agreements with global entities, including Honeywell, Thales, Leonardo, and Liebherr. Cynndy started his career with Saudi Aramco.

Today, he is also the chairman of Rotortrade, the Gulf Flight Safety Association, and the Middle East Propulsion Company Ltd, and vice-chairman of The Helicopter Company. He sits on the board for Saudi Amad for Airport Services and Transportation Support, and he is a founding partner of the U.S.-based Reaction.

Nationality: Saudi Company: Saudia Aerospace Engineering Industries (SAEI)

Abdulrahman Salim Al Hatmi 25

• Group CEO

Nationality: Omani Company: ASYAD Group Country: Oman Sector: Logistics

23

Alain Bejjani

• CEO

Nationality: Lebanese Company: Majid Al Futtaim Country: U.A.E. Sector: Diversified Bejjani became CEO of Majid Al Futtaim in 2015. Today, the company serves 560 million customers per year. After recording a net loss of $737.5 million in 2020, Majid Al Futtaim recorded profits of $670 million in 2021. In May 2022, it signed a strategic partnership with Binance that will enable the company to harness Web3 technologies. Bejjani was appointed co-chair of the World Economic Forum Stewardship Board/Regional Action Group for MENA in 2020.

Sector

Banking and Financial services

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

1

Al Hatmi has been Group CEO of ASYAD since it was established in 2016. Today, the group has 16 companies and spans three major ports. Wholly owned by the Oman Investment Authority, ASYAD has 11 subsidiaries.

In April 2022, the company acquired Al Ameen Stores and Refrigeration Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oman Fisheries Company, in a deal valued at $8 million. He is also a board member of OQ. Before taking his current role, he was the CEO of Oman Rail for three years.

Consumer Goods

1

Facilities Management

1

JULY 2022

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Fahd H. Cynndy

• Managing Director and CEO

Nationality: Emirati Company: Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA)

56

24

26

•

Jasim Husain Thabet

Group CEO and Managing Director

Nationality: Emirati Company: TAQA Group Country: U.A.E. Sector: Utilities

27

Abdulnasser Bin Kalban

• CEO

Nationality: Emirati Company: Emirates Global Aluminium Country: U.A.E. Sector: Industrials Bin Kalban has been leading the world’s largest premium aluminum producer since 2020. EGA produces 4% of the world’s aluminum and around 50% of the aluminum produced in the GCC, making the U.A.E. the fifth-largest aluminum-producing country in the world.

The company recorded $1.5 billion in net profits in 2021, an increase of 1,140% compared to the $121 million it made in 2020. Bin Kalban is a member of EGA’s Technical and Project Committee and its Finance and Commercial Committee. He also sits on the board for the Guinea Alumina Corporation, EGA’s bauxite mining subsidiary.

28

Mansour Mohamed AlMulla

• Managing Director & CEO

Nationality: Emirati Company: EDGE Group

IMAGES FROM SOURCE

Country: U.A.E Sector: Defense

29

AlMulla took the helm of the EDGE Group in January 2022, with 25 companies under its umbrella. In March 2022, the group launched its Learning & Innovation Factory. In Q1 2022, its subsidiary, NIMR, signed a manufacturing license agreement with Saudi Arabian Military Industries to enable the production of the JAIS 4x4 vehicle in the kingdom.

AlMulla is also a board member for the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA), the Abu Dhabi Ports Company, the Abu Dhabi Global Market, and the Etihad Aviation Group.

Sector

Food and Beverage

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

1

Free Zone

Jerry Inzerillo

• Group CEO

Nationality: American Company: Diriyah Gate Development Authority Country: Saudi Arabia Sector: Tourism Inzerillo was appointed to his current role in 2018, leading a $50.6 billion development project. In December 2021, DGDA announced 14 global hotel brands that will be opened in Diriyah, including Address Hotels & Resorts, the Hyatt Hotels Corporation, Ritz-Carlton, Raffles, the Rosewood Hotel Group, and Oberoi Hotels & Resorts. Inzerillo is also the vice-chairman of the Forbes Travel Guide, having previously been its CEO for four years. He was given a knighthood by the Knights of Malta in Rome in 1996, and he is a founding advisory board member of the Clinton AIDS Initiative.

1

Retail

1

Transportation

1

JULY 2022

57 TOP 100 CEOS

Thabet has been at the helm of TAQA since 2020. The company along with Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC), raised $700.8 million in January 2022 through its first green senior secured bonds linked to solar plant. TAQA posted $1.6 billion in profits in 2021, an increase of 49% compared to 2020. Thabet previously led the Abu Dhabi Power Corporation and the National Central Cooling Company (Tabreed).

He also currently serves on the boards of the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Etihad Aviation Group, and Abu Dhabi Ports.

30

Adnan Chilwan

• Group CEO

Nationality: Indian Company: Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) Country: U.A.E. Sector: Banking

31

Saif Humaid Al Falasi

Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi 32

• Group CEO

Nationality: Emirati Company: ENOC Group

• Managing Director and Group CEO

Country: U.A.E. Sector: Energy

Nationality: Emirati

Al Falasi joined ENOC in 2008.

Today, the group has 30 subsidiaries and employs more than 9,000 people. ENOC has a total of 162 fully operational service stations around the U.A.E. and is planning to expand to 186 in 2022. In February 2022, the company partnered with Tfe Intermediacao De Negocios Ltda to distribute its lubricants in Brazil. Before joining ENOC Al Falasi worked at ADNOC Group for 25 years.

33

Company: AD Ports Group Country: U.A.E. Sector: Logistics The AD Ports Group has contributed 13.6% and more than $20.8 billion to Abu Dhabi’s non-oil GDP growth since it was established in 2006. The group reported revenues of $1.1 billion in 2021, a 14% increase compared to 2020, and net profits of $232 million. It went public in February 2022 after raising $1.1 billion in an IPO.

Tony Douglas

• Group CEO

Nationality: British Company: Etihad Aviation Group Country: U.A.E. Sector: Aviation Etihad employs 12,533 people across eight divisions. In 2021, Etihad Airways carried over 3.5 million passengers. In the same year, it flew to 71 passenger and cargo destinations in 47 countries, posting passenger revenues of over $1.1 billion and cargo revenues of $1.7 billion. The national flag carrier also raised $1.2 billion in its first loan linked to environmental, social, and governance targets in October 2021. Douglas is also a board member of Abu Dhabi Airports.

Nationality

Emirati

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

19

Egyptian

16

Saudi

15

Qatari

7

Kuwaiti

6

JULY 2022

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58

Chilwan leads one of the largest Islamic banks in the world, with total assets of $78.2 billion as of March 2022. DIB employs more than 10,000 people. In February 2022, it became a member of U.A.E. Trade Connect, a commercialized blockchain platform. DIB announced in August 2021 that it would be increasing its foreign ownership limit from 25% to 40%. The bank recorded $1.2 billion in profits in 2021, which was the first year it had ever surpassed the billion-dollar mark. Chilwan is also chairman of DIB Bank Kenya and serves on the boards of Noor Bank, Deyaar, and the Liquidity Management Centre.

35

Bader Nasser Al–Kharafi

• Vice Chairman and Group CEO

Nationality: Kuwaiti Company: Zain Group Country: Kuwait Sector: Telecommunications

36

Ala’a Eraiqat

• Group CEO

Nationality: Emirati Company: ADCB Group Country: U.A.E. Sector: Banking

34

John Pagano

Eraiqat joined ADCB in 2004 and assumed his role as Group CEO in 2009. The bank’s assets grew from $111.9 billion in 2020 to $119.9 billion in 2021. In March 2022, ADCB received 37.5% of transferable exit instruments, amounting to a $2.3 billion facility, issued by the new NMC Holding Company following the completion of its debt restructuring process and a successful exit from administration. ADCB recorded $4 billion in revenues in 2021.

Eraiqat previously held senior positions at Citibank and Standard Chartered Bank. He is also the chairman of Al Hilal Bank and Abu Dhabi Commercial Properties, and he serves on the board of Abu Dhabi National Hotels. He resigned from ADCB’s Board of Directors in 2021.

• CEO

Nationality: Canadian Company: The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC)

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Country: Saudi Arabia Sector: Tourism TRSDC acquired Saudi tourism project AMAALA in 2021. It announced in January 2022 that it had closed its $3.8 billion green loan, a Riyal-denominated green financing credit facility. Both TRSDC and AMAALA aim to be 100% powered by renewable energy when completed. Pagano previously led the Baha Mar Development Company and Canary Wharf development in London. He is also a founder of Old Fort Capital Investments.

Nationality

British

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

5

Omani

4

Bahraini

3

Indian

3

Lebanese

3

JULY 2022

59 TOP 100 CEOS

Al-Kharafi became Zain Group’s vice chairman in 2014, and group CEO in 2017. The group today operates across seven countries in the Middle East and Africa, serving around 50.9 million customers as of March 2022. In August 2021, Zain Telecom announced the launch of the Zain Venture Fund, which invested in and signed an MoU with the U.S.-based Pipe and the U.A.E.-based Swvl. Al-Kharafi is also the chairman of the board for the executive committee of Boursa Kuwait and a member of the board of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). He is also a founder of BNK Holding, a privately held shareholding company.

39

John Hadden

• CEO

Nationality: British Company: Alshaya Group Country: Kuwait Sector: Retail

37

Fahad Al Hassawi

• CEO

Nationality: Emirati Company: Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (du) Country: U.A.E. Sector: Telecommunications Al Hassawi was appointed as acting CEO in September 2020 then become the CEO of du in June 2021. The company had 7.5 million mobile subscribers as of Q1 2022. In 2021, du recorded sales of $3.2 billion. In November 2021, du partnered with IBM to combat cybersecurity threats. It launched an e-Shop for U.A.E.-based SMEs to support digital transformation in 2020. In April 2022, it launched 5G Home Wireless service for its customers in the U.A.E. Al Hassawi previously worked for Emirates Airlines.

38

Tareq Al Sadhan

• CEO

Nationality: Saudi Company: Riyad Bank Country: Saudi Arabia Sector: Banking Riyad Bank recorded revenues of $3.6 billion and assets worth $86.9 billion in 2021. In February 2022, it closed a $750 million Additional Tier 1 Sustainability Sukuk, which was oversubscribed 4.3 times, with demand reaching $3.2 billion. The bank has a network of 340 branches in Saudi Arabia, as well as a London branch and offices in the U.S. and Singapore.

It employs more than 6,620 people as of 2021. Al Sadhan previously served as an Advisor to the Chairman in the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD), Acting Director General at the General Authority for Zakat and Tax (GAZT), and Deputy Governor for Supervision at the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA).

Nationality

Canadian

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

2

Jordanian

40

Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo

• Group Managing Director and CEO

Nationality: Qatari Company: Ooredoo Group Country: Qatar Sector: Telecommunications Fakhroo has been leading Qatar’s largest telecom company since November 2020, where he has been a board member since 2011. The company recorded revenues of $8.2 billion in 2021, compared to $7.9 billion in 2020. It had 121 million customers across 10 countries in MENA and Southeast Asia as of the end of 2021. Ooredoo is the official global connectivity services provider for FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Fakhroo is also a board member for Katara Hospitality. He sits on the board of trustees for Qatar Museums and on the board of commissioners of Indosat Ooredoo.

2

Moroccan

2

Algerian

1

JULY 2022

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60

Hadden became CEO of Alshaya Group in 2019, before which he was the company’s COO. He is currently overseeing its transformation program into an omnichannel operating model. The group has over 4,000 retail stores, cafes, restaurants, and leisure destinations under its umbrella, as well as a digital portfolio of more than 100 online sites and apps. The group opened 350 new stores in 2021 and plans to do the same in 2022.

42

Talal Said Al Mamari

• CEO

Nationality: Omani Company: Omantel Country: Oman Sector: Telecommunications

43

Talal Al Dhiyebi

• Group CEO

Nationality: Emirati Company: Aldar Properties Country: U.A.E. Sector: Real Estate and Construction

41

Al Dhiyebi became CEO of Aldar Properties in 2017. Aldar Properties is a developer of major projects in Abu Dhabi, including Yas Island and Ferrari World. It merged with Sorouh in 2013.

The company recorded profits of $187.3 million in Q1 2022, an increase of 26.5% compared to 2021. In December 2021, Aldar Properties and ADQ acquired 85.5% of SODIC for $386.8 million. In February 2022, Aldar Properties and Apollo Global Management signed a commitment that will see Apollo invest $1.4 billion in strategic capital including $500 million into a new land joint venture with Aldar. Al Dhiyebi also chairs the boards of Aldar Investment, Aldar Estates, Musanada, and board member of Miral Asset Management, Abu Dhabi Motorsports Management, Sandooq Al Watan, Abu Dhabi Housing Authority, and the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He is vice-chairman of Aldar Education.

Mohamed Eletreby

• Chairman

Nationality: Egyptian Company: Banque Misr

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Country: Egypt Sector: Banking Eletreby has been at the helm of Banque Misr since 2015. The bank employs 22,000 people. In February 2022, it announced an investment of $80.5 million into African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), becoming its largest non-sovereign shareholder. In April 2022, the bank partnered with Google to launch a training program targeting small businesses in Egypt.

Eletreby is also the chairman of the Federation of Egyptian Banks and Misr Capital Investments S.A.E.

Nationality

American

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

1

Australian

1

Danish

1

Dominican

1

JULY 2022

61 TOP 100 CEOS

Al Mamari has been the CEO of Omantel since 2014, before which he was the company’s CFO. The company recorded profits of $608 million and assets worth $19.7 billion in 2021. Omantel completed an IPO in 2005. In 2011, the company merged with Oman Mobile, and in 2017 it acquired 21.9% of Zain Group for $2.2 billion. In May 2022, Omantel signed agreements with Oman’s Ministry of Higher Education Research and Innovation, Energy Development Oman, Oman Airports, and the Omran Group to provide unified communications solutions and hardware support, among other services.

44

Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi

• CEO

Mohamed El Kettani

• Chairman and CEO

Nationality: Emirati Company: Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar)

Nationality: Moroccan Company: Attijariwafa Bank

Country: U.A.E. Sector: Energy

Attijariwafa Bank is the largest bank in Morocco and one of the largest in Africa. The bank employs more than 20,583 people, has nearly 10.6 million customers, and operates in 26 countries. The bank had total assets of $61 billion and profits of $630 million as of the end of 2021. In March 2022, Attijariwafa bank and the Moroccan Agency for Energy Efficiency signed an MoU to boost energy efficiency cooperation and green economy financing. El Kettani is also an Officer of the Order of the Throne of Morocco’s King Mohammed and an Officer of the Order of Legion of Honor of the French Republic. In 2019, he was promoted to the rank of Commander of the National Order of Côte d’Ivoire by the Grand Chancellor of the National Order of Côte d’Ivoire.

Country: Morocco Sector: Banking

Before becoming CEO of Masdar in 2016, Al Ramahi served as the company’s COO and CFO. Established in 2006, Masdar today has sustainable projects across 40 countries. Its clean energy portfolio was worth $20 billion in 2021, with a capacity of 15 GW. Al Ramahi is the board director for Masdar and chair of the Masdar Investment Committee. He is a board member for Shuaa Energy 2 PSC, Mubadala Health, Emirates Waste to Energy Company, and the Catalyst, and vice-chair of the Global Council on Sustainable Development Goals. He is also a member of the French Business Group, the Australian Business Group, the US-UAE Business Council, and the Sustainable Markets Initiative Taskforce for Energy Transition.

46

Paddy Padmanathan

• CEO and Vice Chairman

Nationality: Sri Lankan Company: ACWA Power Country: Saudi Arabia Sector: Utilities Padmanathan was promoted to his current position in January 2022, having previously served as ACWA Power’s CEO and President since 2007. ACWA Power employs 3,900 people across 13 countries. Its assets was valued at more than $67.7 billion as of May 2022. The company started trading on the Saudi Exchange in October 2021, in the country’s first $1 billion IPO since Aramco. In December 2021, ACWA Power signed an agreement for $1.3 billion in senior debt for a multi-utilities project at Saudi’s Red Sea Development Project. Before joining ACWA Power, Padmanathan was vice president and corporate officer at construction company Black and Veatch.

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

Egyptian- American

1

Sri Lankan

1

French

1

Italian

1

JULY 2022

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TOP 100 CEOS

62

45

47

Hussein Abaza​

• CEO and Managing Director

Nationality: Egyptian Company: Commercial International Bank (CIB) Country: Egypt Sector: Banking

48

Abdullah Al-Saadoon

• CEO

Nationality: Saudi Company: Sahara International Petrochemical Co. (Sipchem)

63 TOP 100 CEOS

Abaza has been the CEO and a member of the board for CIB since March 2017.

CIB was established in 1975 as a joint venture between the National Bank of Egypt and the Chase Manhattan Bank. It is Egypt’s largest private-sector listed bank.

It reported revenues of $2.7 billion in 2021, with net profits of $713 million and total assets valued at $26.8 billion. The company employs 7,307 people and serves more than 1.6 million customers across 213 branches. In April 2022, Alpha Oryx Limited—a subsidiary of the U.A.E’s ADQ—acquired a 18.6% stake in CIB for $987.5 million. Abaza was CIB’s CEO of Institutional Banking, COO and Chief Risk Officer. Previously, he served as Head of Research and Managing Director at EFG Hermes Asset Management.

49

Ahmed Abdelaal

• Group CEO

Nationality: Egyptian Company: Mashreq Bank Country: U.A.E. Sector: Banking Abdelaal joined Mashreq Bank in 2017. It was founded by the Al Ghurair Group and is among the oldest banks in the U.A.E. Mashreq currently operates in the U.A.E., Bahrain, Kuwait, Egypt, Hong Kong, India, Qatar, the U.K., and the U.S. The bank recorded profits of $171.5 million in Q1 2022, compared to of $17.5 million in Q1 2021. In February 2022, the bank acquired a stake in NymCard—a bankingas-a-service provider in the Middle East.

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Country: Saudi Arabia Sector: Industrials Al-Saadoon joined Sipchem as President of Operations and Manufacturing in 2001. The company recorded $6.5 billion worth of assets and $2.7 billion in revenues in 2021.

It has operations in over 100 countries, serving 500 global customers. In January 2021, Al-Waha Petroleum Company, a subsidiary of Sipchem, announced that it had signed a $267 million facility agreement with Banque Saudi Fransi to refinance the company’s existing syndicated bank facility, with a maturity date in 2027. Al-Saadoon also sits on the board of the company, having previously served as chairman. Before joining Sipchem, Al-Saadoon held several managerial positions in SABIC.

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

Maltese

1

Portugese

50

Bassel Gamal

• Group CEO

Nationality: Egyptian Company: Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) Country: Qatar Sector: Banking Gamal became CEO of QIB in 2013. Today, the bank has 22 branches in Qatar and one branch in Sudan. The bank’s network includes QINVEST, which is working with the Qatar Insurance Company to establish a Qatarbased Islamic asset management company in 2022. Gamal also chairs the QIB-UK Credit and Investment Committee and the Special Assets Committee. He’s also a board member of QINVEST and the Policies & Procedures Committee.

1

Tunisian

1

Turkish

1

JULY 2022

53

Arif Amiri

• CEO

Nationality: Emirati Company: Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Country: U.A.E. Sector: Free Zone Amiri assumed his current position at DIFC in 2015, having joined the company as Deputy CEO in 2014. DIFC recorded 996 company registrations in 2021, its highest recorded in a single year, and an increase of 36% compared to 2020. Its revenues increased by 16% in 2021 to hit $244.2 million, the highest in its history, surpassing pre-pandemic levels.

51

•

Randa Sadik

CEO

Nationality: Jordanian Company: Arab Bank Country: Jordan Sector: Banking Sadik has been Arab Bank’s CEO since February 2022, before which she was Deputy CEO from 2010. Arab Bank was first established in 1930 in Jerusalem as Arab Bank Limited, and was the first public shareholding company to be listed on the Amman Stock Exchange in 1978. It became Arab Bank plc in 1990. Today, Arab Bank has over 600 branches across five continents. The group recorded $2.2 billion in total income in 2021 and had assets worth $64.1 billion as of March 2022.

Sadik is also chairman of the Arab Tunisian Bank and the Management Committee of Al-Arabi Investment Group, and vicechairman of Arab Bank Australia ltd. She is also a board member of Oman Arab Bank.

Before joining Arab Bank, she worked with the National Bank of Kuwait for 24 years.

52

Shadi Malak

• CEO

Nationality: Emirati Company: Etihad Rail Country: U.A.E. Sector: Transportation Malak has been CEO of Etihad Rail since 2018. The project was established in 2009 and is one of the largest infrastructure projects in the U.A.E.’s history. Stage two of the project, to join Ghuwaifat on the border with Saudi Arabia to Fujairah, began construction in January 2020. It has awarded contracts worth approximately $4.9 billion. Additional routes are expected to carry 36.5 million passengers per year by 2030.

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

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TOP 100 CEOS

64

JULY 2022

54

Abdullah Albader

• CEO

Nationality: Saudi Company: Almarai Country: Saudi Arabia Sector: Food and Beverage

55

Walid Abukhaled

• CEO

Nationality: Saudi Company: Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI)

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Country: Saudi Arabia Sector: Defense SAMI was founded in 2017 by Saudi’s Public Investment Fund. The company’s five business divisions span aerospace, land, sea, advanced electronics, and defense systems. It employs more than 2,500 people. SAMI has multiple joint venture agreements with companies, including Airbus, Figeac Aero, and Lockheed Martin.

It established SAMI Composites LLC and Ammunition Industrial Complex in 2021. In 2021, SAMI’s annual revenues rose by 2,407%, and the value of its contracts and backlog exceeded $2.7 billion. Previously, Abukhaled held CEO positions at Northrop Grumman Middle East and GE in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. He was appointed Saudi’s Deputy Minister for Industrial Affairs at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in 2013.

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

65 TOP 100 CEOS

Albader joined Almarai in 2000 and was appointed General Manager of Bakery in 2015. In June 2022, the company approved an investment plan to enter the seafood products segment, with an initial investment of $67.2 million. Almarai’s food service segment recorded a 28% growth in value and 24% growth in volume in 2021, generating annual revenues of $613 million. In February 2022, Almarai acquired a 25% stake in Modern Food Industries through its subsidiary Western Bakeries for $67 million. The acquisition made Almarai the full owner of Modern Food Industries.

56

•

Abdullah Al-Khalifa

CEO

Nationality: Saudi Company: Alinma Bank Country: Saudi Arabia Sector: Banking Al-Khalifa joined Alinma Bank in 2020. It is one of the largest banks in Saudi Arabia in terms of assets, which were worth $46.3 billion in 2021. Alinma Bank is connected to 2.9 million customers via its digital platforms, including 1.2 million active users of the bank’s Smart App. Saudi’s Public Investment Fund owns 10% of Alinma Bank. Al-Khalifa previously held leadership roles at Samba Financial Group, Al-Rajhi Bank, and Banque Saudi Fransi.

Mohamed Karim Mounir 57

• Chairman and CEO

Nationality: Moroccan Company: Banque Centrale Populaire (BCP) Country: Morocco Sector: Banking Mounir became CEO of BCP in 2018, having previously been the general director of the company since 1997. Founded in 1961, BCP is a commercial bank offering banking intermediation and management services. The group has 10 cooperative banks in Morocco and is present in 24 countries through its subsidiaries. In 2021, the group reported $2.7 billion in revenues and net profits of $279 million, an increase of 112.4% compared to 2020. Mounir also sits on the boards of Union de Banques Arabes et Françaises SA and Involys, among others.

JULY 2022

60

Ahmed El-Hoshy

• CEO

Nationality: Egyptian- American Company: Fertiglobe Country: U.A.E. Sector: Industrials Fertiglobe is the world’s largest nitrogen fertilizer platform and the largest producer in MENA, with a combined production capacity of 6.5 million tons of urea and merchant ammonia. In 2021, it signed an agreement with Norway-based Scatec and the Sovereign Fund of Egypt to establish a 50-100 MW electrolysis plant in Egypt to produce up to 90,000 metric tons of green ammonia annually. El-Hoshy is also the CEO of the Netherlands-based chemical manufacturer OCI N.V. Having previously had no production assets in North America, OCI N.V. now has an annual capacity for over 5.5 million tons of nitrogen and methanol.

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Dana Nasser Al Sabah

• Group CEO

Nationality: Kuwaiti Company: Kuwait Projects Company (Holding) - KIPCO Country: Kuwait Sector: Investments Al Sabah was appointed as KIPCO’s Group CEO in early 2022, having been a board member since 2020. In 2021, the company recorded $2.4 billion in revenues, net profits of $23.8 million, and assets worth $33.7 billion. In March 2022, KIPCO announced an agreement to merge with Qurain Petrochemical Industries. Al Sabah is also the founder and chair of the board of trustees of the American University of Kuwait and the chairperson of the United Education Company. She sits on the boards of the Gulf Insurance Group, OSN, and Kamco Invest. She was previously the CEO of the Al Futtooh Holding Company.

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Isam Jasem Al Sager

• Vice-Chairman and Group CEO Nationality: Kuwaiti

Company: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) Country: Kuwait Sector: Banking

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NBK has a network of 140 branches across 14 countries and employs 7,511 people globally. In 2021, NBK launched Weyay Bank, the first digital bank in Kuwait.

In March 2022, it launched a Sustainable Financing Framework to integrate environmental, social, and governance standards into the bank’s operations. It plans to reduce gross operational emissions by 25% by 2025 and to become netzero operationally by 2035. Al-Sager also serves as the chairman of NBK (International) and sits on the boards of Watani Wealth Management, NBK Properties, and NBK Trustees.

JULY 2022

Hisham Talaat Moustafa

Omar Hariri

• CEO and Managing Director

• President

Nationality: Egyptian

Nationality: Saudi

Company: Talaat Moustafa Group Holding (TMG Holding) Country: Egypt

Company: Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani) Country: Saudi Arabia Sector: Logistics

Sector: Real Estate and Construction

Mawani supervises Saudi Arabia’s nine ports—six commercial and three industrial ports across the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, and the Arabian Gulf. In Q1 2022 the capacity of Saudi Ports increased by 7.18% to 74 million tonnes, the number of transhipment containers increased by 5.9% to 1.3 million, and passenger numbers increased by 61.7%, with a total of 258,076 passengers traveling through Saudi Ports. Hariri has previously worked with global companies like FedEx and DHL Express. Before his current role he was the CEO of Saudi Arabian Logistics Services.

Moustafa is the youngest son of the founder of TMG, which is Egypt’s largest listed real estate company with $7.5 billion in assets. It has a land bank of 74 million sqms and reported revenues of $825 million in 2021. The company has developed over 33 million sqms of land and sold over 90,000 residential units. It recently launched mega projects Privado-Madinaty, Celia and Noor City. TMG has also developed hotel projects, including the ​​ Four Seasons Sharm El Sheikh Resort, the Four Seasons Nile Plaza, the Four Seasons San Stefano Grand Plaza in Alexandria, and the Kempinski Nile Hotel.

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Ali Al Baqali

CEO

Nationality: Bahraini Company: Aluminum Bahrain (Alba) Country: Bahrain Sector: Industrials

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Al Baqali was appointed CEO of Alba in 2020. Alba is one of the Middle East’s biggest aluminum producers, with assets worth $7 billion as of December 2021. In 2020, Alba set up a fish farm at the Calciner & Marine Jetty.

In 2021, it established a pot lining treatment plant project for $40 million. Al Baqali is also Deputy chairman of the International Aluminum Institute, and a board member of INJAZ, Gulf Aluminium Council (GAC) and Tenmou.

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Amr Abuelenein

Chairman and CEO

Nationality: Egyptian Company: EGYPTAIR Holding Company Country: Egypt Sector: Aviation Abuelenein became EGYPTAIR Holding Company’s CEO and Chairman in 2021. Originally known as Misr Airwork, EGYPTAIR was first established in 1932. In 2002, the company became a holding for eight subsidiaries, including EGYPTAIR Airlines, EGYPTAIR Duty-Free, EGYPTAIR Maintenance & Engineering, EGYPTAIR Ground Services, EGYPTAIR In-Flight Services, EGYPTAIR Medical Services, EGYPTAIR Supplementary Industries, and EGYPTAIR Cargo. In January 2022, EGYPTAIR operated Africa’s first “green service flight,” which used environmentally-friendly products that aim to reduce the use of single-use plastics in flights. Abuelenein was previously the chairman and CEO of EGYPTAIR Airlines.

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67 TOP 100 CEOS

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Adel A. El-Labban

• CEO and Vice Chairman

Company: Ahli United Bank (AUB)

Country: Kuwait Sector: Logistics

Country: Bahrain Sector: Banking

Sultan became CEO of Agility in 1997. Today, it is one of the largest logistics companies in MENA, with assets of $9.5 billion in 2021. Agility operates in over 40 countries, with 16 subsidiaries as of 2021. It employs 16,000 people and has 14,000 shareholders. In 2021, the company recorded revenues of $1.6 billion. Sultan is also a member of the Board of Stewards of the World Economic Forum’s Platform for Shaping the Future of Advanced Manufacturing and Production and serves as a trustee for the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation.

El-Labban has been leading Ahli United Bank since 2000.

Ahli United Bank employs 3,294 people across eight countries. The bank reported $607.2 million in net profits attributable to its equity shareholders in 2021, an increase of 34% compared to 2020. In early 2021, AUB provided syndicated loans worth a total of $2.98 billion for various mega projects in the oil & gas, tourism, manufacturing, financial, and telecommunication sectors. El-Labban is also currently the Deputy Chairman of United Bank for Commerce & Investment in Libya.

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Waleed Khamis Al Hashar

• CEO

Nationality: Kuwaiti Company: Agility

Nationality: Omani Company: Bank Muscat Country: Oman Sector: Banking Al Hashar joined Bank Muscat in 2004. In 2021, the bank had assets worth $34 billion, compared to $32 billion in 2020. The company employs 3,850 people and serves two million customers across 174 branches. It facilitated over 86.5 million digital transactions worth a total of $50.4 billion and had over 1.5 million registered mobile and internet banking users as of December 2021. Al Hashar is also a board member of the Oman Banks Association, the College of Banking and Financial Studies, and the Securities and Investment Company (SICO) in Bahrain.

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Osama Bishai

• CEO

Nationality: Egyptian Company: Orascom Construction Country: Egypt Sector: Real Estate and Construction Bishai joined Orascom in 1985. The company employs 61,757 people in over 10 countries. In 2021, Orascom’s consolidated backlog grew 12% to $6.1 billion, and it recorded revenues of $3.5 billion. It has projects across Egypt and the U.S. In May 2022, Orascom increased its role in the development of Egypt’s new high-speed rail system. Together with Siemens Mobility and Arab Contractors, it entered into a contract with the National Authority for Tunnels to expand the network to 2,000 km. Orascom Construction’s total share of the project is worth $1.8 billion. Bishai also sits on the board of the BESIX Group.

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Tarek Sultan

• Group CEO

Nationality: Egyptian

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Tariq Chauhan

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Elham Yousry Mahfouz

• Group CEO and Co-Founder

• CEO

Company: EFS Facilities Services Group

Company: Commercial Bank of Kuwait (Al-Tijari)

Country: U.A.E.

Country: Kuwait Sector: Banking

Sector: Facilities Management

Mahfouz became CEO of Al Tijari in 2014, having previously been the general manager of international banking since December 2010. The bank reported revenues of $488 million and assets worth $14.1 billion in 2021. CBK announced funding for new projects in 2021 worth $1.6 billion, including a new PPP project sponsored by the Public Authority of Housing Welfare. In the same year, CBK was a manager for a syndicated loan for an oil field production facility, with a project value of around $398 million. Mahfouz is also a member of the legal bankers Institute in London.

Nationality: Indian

Chauhan has been Group CEO and Co-founder of EFS since 2009. The company designs, manages, and executes facilities management services in 21 countries through 28 operating companies and employs 20,000 people across Africa, South Asia, Turkey and the Middle East. In 2021, EFS recorded revenues of $900 million. It plans to launch an IPO in early 2024. Chauhan also sits on the Emerge Workforce Development Edtech Advisory Board.

Nationality: Egyptian

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Mikkel Vinter

CEO

Nationality: Danish Company: Batelco Country: Bahrain Sector: Telecommunications Vinter was appointed CEO of Batelco in 2019. The company recorded profits of $198 million and revenues of $1.1 billion in 2021. In February 2022, Batelco was ranked among the top 10 in Global Mobile Speed Rankings, making Bahrain the 18th fastest nation in the world.

Before he joined Batelco, Vinter founded Virgin Mobile Middle East & Africa in 2006. He also sits on the board for the Umniah Mobile Company, Sure Limited, and Dhiraagu (Dhivehi Raajjeyge Gulhun), and he is a member of the Al Waha Fund of Funds.

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Abdullah Al-Sulaiti

• CEO

Nationality: Qatari Company: Nakilat Country: Qatar Sector: Logistics

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Al-Sulaiti has been leading Nakilat since 2013, having first joined the company in February 2011. The company has a fleet of 69 liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers and reported $292 million in revenues in Q1 2022. In October 2021, Nakilat and Karpowership signed an MoU to collaborate in the LNG-topower market and jointly own and operate a fleet of floating storage regasification units. Nakilat also took delivery of the newly built LNG carrier “Global Sea Spirit” in 2021, which will be managed by its subsidiary, Nakilat Shipping Qatar Limited.

Before joining Nakilat, Al Sulaiti was a shipping manager at Qatargas from 2006 to 2011.

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Saeed Ghumran Al Remeithi

• Managing Director and CEO

Company: Emirates Steel Arkan Group

Country: Egypt Sector: Telecommunications

Country: U.A.E. Sector: Industrials

Hamed was appointed as Telecom Egypt’s Managing Director and CEO in 2019, before which he was the company’s Chief International and Wholesale Officer. The company reported a 73.5% increase in net profit and 16.2% in revenues to reach $2 billion for 2021.

In April 2022 the company announced the deployment of 2Africa, a 45,000km subsea cable system to deliver international connectivity to around three billion people, connecting Africa, Europe, and Asia. The project is being developed with other companies, including Meta, stc, and Orange. Hamed is also a member of Telecom Egypt’s board, representing the Egyptian government.

Al Remeithi was appointed Group CEO of Emirates Steel Arkan in 2021, when it was created by a merger between Arkan Building Materials and Emirates Steel. The company has since expanded its manufacturing capability and product range, as well as exporting to more than 50 countries around the world. In 2021, it recorded revenues of $2.1 billion, an increase of nearly 50% compared to $1.4 billion in 2020. Al Remeithi is also the chairman of the Al Gharbia Pipeline Companies, the Steel Producers Committee, and the Economic Committee of the WSA.

Nationality: Egyptian Company: Telecom Egypt

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Khalid Al-Subeai

• CEO

Nationality: Qatari Company: Dukhan Bank Country: Qatar Sector: Banking Al-Subeai has been the CEO of Dukhan Bank since 2014, before which he was CEO of the bank’s investment banking arm, The First Investor. In 2021, the bank reported revenues of $1.1 billion and had assets worth $30.4 billion.

Dukhan Bank (formerly Barwa Bank) merged with the International Bank of Qatar in 2019. In November 2021, it announced a partnership with Mowasalat (Karwa) to use an organic waste converter that turns food waste into useful products, such as compost and organic fertilizers. In June 2022, Dukhan Bank launched its direct remittance service to India.

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Adel Hamed

• Group CEO

Nationality: Emirati

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Karim Awad

• Group CEO and Chairman of the Executive Committee Nationality: Egyptian Company: EFG Hermes Holding Country: Egypt Sector: Banking and Financial services

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Guy Hutchinson

• ‎President and CEO Nationality: British

Company: Rotana Hotel Management Company Country: U.A.E. Sector: Hospitality Hutchinson became president and CEO of the Rotana Hotel Management Company in 2020, having joined the company as COO in 2014. It has a portfolio of 70 hotels across the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe, and Turkey, with 36 in the U.A.E. alone. The company serves an average of six million guests per year and employs 12,000 people. Rotana expects to deliver 10 new projects in the next three years across Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E., Qatar, and Turkey. In May 2022, it launched its newest brand, Edge by Rotana.

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Salem Khalaf Al Mannai

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Sherif Beshara

• Group CEO

Nationality: Egyptian Company: Mohamed & Obaid Almulla Group Country: U.A.E. Sector: Diversified Beshara became CEO of the Mohamed & Obaid Almulla Group in 2018, having joined the group in 2017 as Group General Counsel. The group’s portfolio covers healthcare, travel and tourism, hospitality, and real estate. Beshara is also the CEO of American Hospital Dubai, the group’s flagship brand. In 2021, the American Hospital Dubai announced a collaboration with Siemens Healthineers for enhanced diagnostic imaging and core diagnostics capabilities. In the same year, the American Health Academic Institute was launched as the education arm of American Hospital.

• Group CEO

Nationality: Qatari Company: QIC Group

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Country: Qatar Sector: Insurance Al Mannai joined QIC in 2001.

He previously held roles as Deputy Group President and CEO of QIC MENA and Assistant Vice President for Cargo in QIC’s marine department before being appointed Deputy Group President and CEO for the group in 2019. QIC has nine companies with total assets worth $12 billion around the Middle East, Asia, and Europe. Its diversified portfolio covers insurance, reinsurance, corporate ventures, business acceleration, and real estate. In 2021, the group reported a net income of $173 million, an increase of 400% compared to 2020. Before joining QIC, Al Mannai was the Deputy CEO of QLM. F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M

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Awad became Group CEO of EFG Hermes in 2013, having started his career with the company in 1998. The company was established in 1980 as Technical Financial Services before being incorporated as the Egyptian Financial Group (EFG) in 1984. In 2021, it reported revenues of $447 million. The company employs 6,509 people. In 2021, EFG Hermes acquired a majority stake in the Arab Investment Bank. Awad is also the chairman of the executive committee and a member of the board.

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José Silva

• CEO

Nationality: Portugese Company: Jumeirah Group Country: U.A.E. Sector: Hospitality

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Jean-Christophe Durand

• CEO

Nationality: French Company: National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) Country: Bahrain Sector: Banking Durand became CEO of NBB in 2016. It is the first locallyowned bank in Bahrain and also operates in Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. The bank recorded revenues of $490 million and assets worth $12 billion in 2021. Its profits reached $146 million in the same year, an 8.5% increase compared to 2020.

Durand also sits on the boards of Gulf Air, Batelco, and the Bahrain Islamic Bank. Before joining NBB, he was the regional CEO of BNP Paribas for the Middle East and Africa.

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Hisham Alrayes

• Group CEO

Nationality: Bahraini Company: GFH Financial Group Country: Bahrain Sector: Investments GFH Financial Group specializes in investment management, real estate development, commercial banking and treasury and asset management.

The company recorded revenues of $398 million and assets and assets under management worth $15 billion in 2021. GFH is listed on the Bahrain Bourse, Boursa Kuwait, and the Dubai Financial Market. It employs 171 people. In 2021, the group closed $1 billion in investments in international logistics, healthcare, and education sectors across the region. Alrayes also has roles at the Esterad Investment Company, Khaleeji Commercial Bank, GFH Capital, Infracorp, and GBCorp.

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Silva joined Jumeirah as CEO in 2018, having previously spent 27 years with Four Seasons. Jumeirah operates nearly 7,000 keys in nine countries with more than 7,800 employees. The Burj Al Arab is the most well-known of the group’s 25 properties, with 50% of its portfolio located outside of the U.A.E., including hotels in London, Capri, Mallorca, and Shanghai. In 2021, the company reopened the Carlton Tower Jumeirah in London following an extensive makeover. In the same year, the company opened its new Jumeirah Airport Lounge at Dubai International Airport.

Samia Bouazza

• CEO and Managing Director

Nationality: Lebanese Company: Multiply Group Country: U.A.E. Sector: Technology Bouazza founded Multiply Group as the Multiply Marketing Consultancy (MMC) in 2003. MMC was acquired by the International Holding Company (IHC) in 2020, and became a tech-focused holding company. The Multiply Group debuted on the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange (ADX) in December 2021, reaching a market capitalization of $5.2 billion a month later.

The group executed six domestic and foreign investment deals in 2021.

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Yasser Zaghloul

• Group CEO

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Nationality: Maltese Company: National Marine Dredging Company (NMDC)

Nasser Mohammed Al Huqbani 85

• Group CEO

Nationality: Saudi Company: Dr. Sulaiman Al Habib Medical Services Group Country: Saudi Arabia Sector: Healthcare Al Huqbani has been CEO of the Dr. Sulaiman Al Habib Medical Services Group for 14 years. The company develops and operates over 22 medical facilities, including 11 hospitals and seven medical centers across Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E. and Bahrain. In 2021 it had assets worth $2.9 billion. In the same year, the company established strategic partnerships with GE, Philips, Siemens, Dräger, Stryker, and Herman Miller. It employs 14,000 people, and had treated over four million patients by the end of 2021. Al Huqbani also sits on the boards of Trustees of the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties, the Saudi Russian Economic Forum, and the American College of Healthcare Executives. He is also the chairman of Cloud Solutions IT & Telecommunication Co. and Middle East Pharmacies Co.

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Massimo Falcioni

• CEO

Nationality: Italian Company: Etihad Credit Insurance

Country: U.A.E. Sector: Real Estate and Construction

Country: U.A.E. Sector: Insurance

Zaghloul became CEO of NMDC in 2009. The company has five business units: Marine & Dredging, Energy, Civil, Engineering Consultancy, and Marine & Energy Egypt. It employs over 12,000 people. The company recorded revenues of $2.1 billion, profits of $273 million, and assets worth $3.5 billion in 2021.

In 2022, NMDC won a contract worth $21.5 million for a dredging project in Egypt, which is expected to be completed in October 2023. Zaghloul is also the chairman of the Egyptian Emirati Marine Dredging Company (EEMDC).

Falcioni was appointed CEO of ECI in 2018, before which he was CEO of Coface for the Middle East. ECI is owned by the U.A.E. Federal Government.

Falcioni previously worked for Exxon-Mobil, Philip Morris International, and Volkswagen Financial Services.

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Sherif Elwy

• Managing Director and Vice Chairman Nationality: Egyptian

Company: Arab African International Bank (AAIB) Country: Egypt Sector: Banking Elwy assumed the leadership of AAIB in 2018. The bank reported total assets worth $15.3 billion in 2021, an increase of 7.6% compared to 2020. Profits in 2021 hit $136.7 million compared to $80 million in 2020. AAIB partnered with digital platforms provider Liferay in February 2022 to accelerate the bank’s digital transformation and improve its website. Elwy also signed a $95.9 million contract with EDECS in February to finance a multipurpose marine station at El Dekheila Port in Egypt.

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Thamer Al-Muhid

• Group CEO and Managing Director Nationality: Saudi

Company: Saudi Chemical Company Holding Country: Saudi Arabia Sector: Diversified

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Omar El Hamamsy

• CEO

Nationality: Egyptian Company: Orascom Development Egypt (ODE) Country: Egypt Sector: Real Estate and Construction El Hamamsy leads ODE and its parent company, Orascom Development Holding (ODH), which is based in Switzerland.

ODE reported assets worth $1.2 billion in 2021, an increase of 19.8% compared to $1 billion in 2020. El Hamamsy joined ODH and ODE from McKinsey & Company, where he was a senior partner in the Middle East office. He also sits on the board of Injaz Al-Arab and leads its Operations Committee.

Al-Muhid was appointed Group CEO of SCCH in February 2020. The group has five companies: SITCO Pharma, AJA Pharma, Chemical Company for Commercial Investment Ltd, the Suez International Nitrate Company, and the Saudi Chemical Company Ltd. SCCH recorded revenues of $909.6 million and assets worth $1.23 billion in 2021. In June 2021, the company announced a five-year agreement with GlaxoSmithKline for the AJA Pharma manufacturing site in Saudi Arabia. Al-Muhid previously held roles at SABIC, GE, and Almarai. He is also chairman of the Suez International Nitrate Company and sits on the board for the Southern Province Cement Company.

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Amin Alarrayed

• CEO

Nationality: Bahraini Company: Bahrain Real Estate Investment Company- Edamah Country: Bahrain Sector: Real Estate and Construction Alarrayed joined Edamah as CEO in 2018. Edamah was established as the real estate arm of the sovereign wealth fund of Bahrain. In May 2022, the company signed a ten-year lease agreement with Trident Warehousing valued at $7 million for an 8,137 sqm facility at Sitra Industrial Park. Alarrayed was previously the CEO of the First Bahrain Real Estate Development Company, leading the development of several real estate projects, including El Mercado in Janabiya.

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Essam Mohamed

• CEO

Nationality: Dominican Company: Gulf Pharmaceutical Industries (Julphar) Country: U.A.E. Sector: Healthcare Julphar operates in more than 50 countries across the world and employs 2,144 people. The company recorded revenues of $311 million and assets worth $661 million in 2021. In December 2021, Julphar signed an exclusive license and production agreement with Quantum Genomics to produce and market Firibastat— an APA inhibitor prodrug—in the Middle East, Africa, CIS, and Turkey. Mohamed was previously CEO of ELKENDI and MSPHARMA Group for eight and seven years, respectively.

Jalila Mezni

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Tarek Youssef Hosni

• Co-Founder and CEO

• CEO

Company: Societe d’Articles Hygieniques (SAH Group)

Company: Jamjoom Pharma

Country: Tunisia Sector: Consumer Goods

Country: Saudi Arabia Sector: Healthcare

SAH Group was founded in 1994 by Jalila Mezni and Mounir El Jayez and listed on the Tunisian Stock Exchange in 2014. The group reported revenues of $228 million in 2021. Today, the company is present in 20 African countries.

Its subsidiaries include SAH Ivory Coast, Azur Detergent, and Azur Papier. Lilas SAH started as a feminine product provider and entered the detergent market in 2019. In June 2022, it had 70% market share in feminine hygiene and 50% in baby products in Tunisia.

Hosni became CEO of Jamjoom Pharma in 2021. The company develops, produces, and distributes pharmaceutical products in over 30 countries across the Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia. It employs 1,300 people. In 2021 the company reported revenues of $250 million. Hosni previously worked at Pfizer, GSK, and Integrated Pharma Solutions.

Nationality: Tunisian

Nationality: Canadian

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AbdulAziz Al Balushi

• Group CEO

Nationality: Omani Company: OMINVEST Group Country: Oman Sector: Investments

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Al Balushi joined OMINVEST in 2014. The group was founded in 1983. In 2015, OMINVEST merged with ONIC Holding, creating the largest publiclylisted investment company in Oman. It reported revenues of $515.7 million and assets worth $2.1 billion in 2021. In the same year, the group launched a Global Capital Markets Programme to expand internationally, and launched a new office in DIFC. OMINVEST started expanding into the logistics sector in the U.S. and Europe through Jabreen Capital in 2021.

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Mohammad Saud Al-Osaimi

• CEO

Nationality: Kuwaiti Company: Boursa Kuwait Country: Kuwait Sector: Financial Services Al-Osaimi first joined Boursa Kuwait in 2015 as a member of the board. He became CEO in 2019, before which he was head of markets. The company reported revenues of $101 million, assets worth $360 million, and net profits of $65 million in 2021.

Boursa Kuwait had 167 listed companies across 13 sectors and a market cap of $135.2 billion as of end of 2021.

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Aloki Batra

• CEO

Nationality: Indian Company: FIVE Hospitality Country: U.A.E Sector: Hospitality Batra became CEO of FIVE Hospitality in 2017. FIVE Hospitality’s portfolio includes FIVE Palm Jumeirah and FIVE Jumeirah Village in Dubai as well FIVE Zurich in Switzerland. A new FIVE LUXE, JBR in Dubai set to launch in 2023, which once completed, FIVE Hospitality will have a total of 1,481 keys. In 2021, the group reported revenues of $206.6 million. The company launched its own music platform, FIVE Music, in 2021.

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Irfan Tansel

• CEO

Nationality: Turkish Company: Al Masaood Automobiles Country: U.A.E. Sector: Automobile

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Tansel joined Al Masaood Automobiles as CEO in 2017.

Today, Al Masaood is the primary distributor of Nissan, INFINITI, and Renault in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, and the U.A.E.’s western region, and it employs 1,000 people.

The company claims that its Nissan Service Center in Mussafah is the largest service center in the world.

The group recorded revenues of $1.5 billion in 2021.

In 2019, Al Masaood Automobiles was the first Nissan Dealership in the region to launch an e-commerce carbuying website with Nissan.

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Talal Al Ajmi

• CEO

Nationality: Kuwaiti Company: VI Markets Country: Kuwait Sector: Financial Services Al Ajmi founded VI Markets in 2010. Headquartered in Kuwait, VI Markets is a trading platform specializing in global brokering and offering instruments on Forex and CFDs. It is also a licensee of the One Connect Copy Trading app. Al Ajmi is also a board member at One Financial Market.

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Eddy Maroun

• Co-Founder and CEO

Nationality: Lebanese Company: Anghami INC Country: U.A.E. Sector: Technology Maroun co-founded MENA music streaming platform Anghami alongside Elie Habib in 2012. In February 2022, Anghami became the first Arab tech company to be listed on NASDAQ. Headquartered in Abu Dhabi, Anghami employs 180 people across Abu Dhabi, Beirut, Dubai, Cairo, and Riyadh. In 2021, the company recorded revenues of $35.5 million. Today, the platform has more than 75 million registered users across MENA, Europe, and the U.S.

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Nadia Al Saeed

CEO

Nationality: Jordanian Company: Bank al Etihad

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Country: Jordan Sector: Banking Al Saeed has been at the helm of Bank al Etihad since 2007. The bank reported assets worth $8.8 billion in 2021, an increase of 18.7% compared to 2020. The company employs 1,259 people. Al Saeed was previously the ICT minister for Jordan, and is currently first chairwoman of Endeavor Jordan.

She is also an angel investor and member of Beyond Capital Jordan, and sits on the board for the Jordan Payment Company.

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OLD UNICORN, NEW TRICKS. THE PROFILE BY ALEX KONRAD

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Billionaire brothers John and Patrick Collison built Stripe into one of the world’s most-hyped, highest valued — and profitable! — startups, worth some $95 billion. Now they must stave off going from disruptor to disrupted.

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IT’S JUST BEFORE FIVE O’CLOCK, AND STRIPE COFOUNDER JOHN COLLISON IS PREPARING TO ADDRESS HIS HUNDREDS OF IRELAND-BASED EMPLOYEES ON THE TOP FLOOR OF HIS HEADQUARTERS IN DUBLIN’S “SILICON DOCKS” DISTRICT. Such regular Friday town halls, which are also simulcast to the 2% to 3% it collects on such volume, reached nearly $12 New York, San Francisco, Singapore and anywhere else its billion in 2021, according to sources with knowledge of its 7,000 employees want to tune in from over Zoom, are an financials, up about 60% year over year. Net revenue, which almost sacred tradition at Stripe, the payments company excludes the cut Stripe passes along to partners like Visa that Collison cofounded with big brother Patrick in 2010. and Chase, reached nearly $2.5 billion. And, unusually for With Patrick away getting married, it’s up to John, 31 and a unicorn that’s still growing fast, Stripe finished the year with a dusting of gray hair now topping his boyish face, to with hundreds of millions in profit on an Ebitda basis, two field questions. sources add. Stripe declined to comment on its figures.

It could get contentious: There’s a social media “kerfuffle” Its eye-popping financials explain why investors including playing out over Twitter this week: Stripe has been accused Fidelity and Ireland’s sovereign development fund poured in a series of (since deleted) tweets by Zachary Perret, the an additional $600 million into Stripe in March 2021, billionaire cofounder of fellow fintech unicorn Plaid, of raising its total funding to date to $2.4 billion and valuing it meeting with his company under false pretenses only to at $95 billion. That puts Stripe behind only TikTok owner build a competing software tool.

Patrick, Stripe’s 33-year-old CEO, has The shockwaves from global instability interrupted his honeymoon to write a memo to the are being felt by businesses big and entire company (later shared publicly) warning that small. Like entrepreneurs everywhere, such scrutiny—and uncharitable interpretations of Stripe’s motives—will only increase over time. John, the Collisons must navigate the new Stripe’s president, is prepared for the worst. But the normal without slowing down. staff question, when it comes, is just about a name.

Is calling a new product Financial Connections a sign that Stripe is moving toward more boring monikers Bytedance, Chinese e-commerce juggernaut Shein and Elon from now on? It’s a serious question. Artful names like Musk’s SpaceX for the title of the world’s most valuable Atlas (software to help with company formation) and Radar startup. (Forbes estimates Patrick and John Collison each (fraud detection) sound better, John admits. But they’re own about 10% of Stripe, making them worth $9.5 billion terrible for search engine rankings. In the end, no one asks each.) about the Twitter dustup. (Plaid declined to comment.)

The Collisons have come a long way from the precocious “We will compete with a bunch of companies, and we’ll boy wonders who, a dozen years ago, wowed Silicon Valley partner with a bunch,” John says with a shrug. “Everyone with just nine lines of code—which was all developers just needs to be a grownup and well-behaved about it.” needed to copy and paste to enable credit card payments Even so, such “front page tests” of Stripe’s ethical on their sites. Stripe now offers a broad suite of financial reputation, as Patrick calls incidents that have the potential tools to handle everything from DoorDash driver payouts to bubble up in the popular press, will only prove more to taxes for Duolingo in-app payments and subscriptions to common as Stripe transitions from startup darling to tech the Atlantic. At the heart of it all: Patrick and John Collison, dreadnought. The company, dual-headquartered in San who still review every product that goes out the door, an act Francisco and Dublin, processed $640 billion in payments akin to scientific “core sampling” or restaurant owner–style last year across 50 countries. Its gross revenue, still mostly kitchen visits, depending on which brother you ask. They

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also still personally fill out “friction logs” of any user-unfriendly moments they encounter using Stripe and, in Patrick’s case, occasionally dive into the code itself.

“We’re not a glamorous business, just an infrastructure company that hopefully we’ll be able to compound for a long time,” says Patrick, his short cropped red hair sun-bleached after his rare week off. “The scope of the job doesn’t change that.”

The job is harder today than a year ago, when the biggest question about Stripe was when it would finally go public. The ongoing pandemic, a brutal land war in Europe, a global energy crisis (see page 102) and a busted supply chain have largely made such concerns moot. The S&P 500 is off nearly 20% so far in 2022; big tech concerns like Stripe’s public peers have fared even worse.

The shockwaves from such instability are being felt by businesses big and small—and Stripe, which powers transactions for everything from delayed Peloton bike orders to hard-to-find baby formula, has a front-row seat.

Like entrepreneurs everywhere, the Collisons must navigate this new normal without slowing down. They’re pushing Stripe into new markets in Southeast Asia and the Middle East while simultaneously shipping new products like an app

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Money Minder “By virtue of the fact that we handle people’s money, the bar is very high on how the company operates,” says Stripe Cfo Dhivya Suryadevara.

store and a crypto offering for social media creators.

They’re building out existing products to take Stripe deeper into the financial flow of a company and its customers. They’ve begun brokering small-business loans and issuing corporate credit cards. They’re rumored to be exploring entirely new areas like accounting. And they’re trying to do it all in the face of increasingly emboldened competition while appeasing demanding new enterprise clients such as Ford and Maersk.

“Businesses that don’t have to sing for their supper every day, I think they get a bit flabby and lazy,” John Collison says. “We still have a list four times longer of the things we would like to do.”

Stripe’s restless employees are eager for the liquidity of an IPO, but being private might be a blessing during the ongoing economic storm. In March, Fidelity, required to publicly update the value of its holdings, marked down Stripe by 20%.

Most unicorns—startups valued at $1 billion or more—are trading on the secondary markets at 20% to 40% discounts to their last official venture capital rounds. But Stripe’s shares remain hard for new investors to obtain and in high demand, with recent transactions implying a valuation of as much as $165 billion, per New York–based EquityZen, a marketplace for pre-IPO shares.

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Stripe’s closest publicly traded peers, such as Adyen, PayPal and Square, are all down more than 40% year to date. The Collisons are in no rush to join this crowd. But if any tech darling could stage a listing in this market, Stripe would be the obvious candidate, says analyst Jordan McKee, of 451 Research.

To Patrick, share prices and valuations are “academic” compared to what he thinks of as a multidecade mission.

“I get a little uncomfortable when people are externally too positive on Stripe,” he says. “There’s a lot we haven’t figured out yet.”

“Stripe was the way to index e-commerce. Instead of trying to go invest in every startup, you could just invest in Stripe.”

Internally, Stripes, as employees are called, love to share a statistic from a recent IMF study that concluded only 12% of the world’s spending happens online. That’s the scale of the opportunity. “It’s an enormous world out there,” Patrick says. “Our goal is to grow the GDP of the internet.”

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t least two Irish counties have claimed the Collisons as success stories since they were teens. Their parents, trained engineers, operated a lakeside hotel in County Tipperary, where the boys went to immersive school and learned to speak Irish and code at home; they attended secondary school in County Limerick. (The youngest Collison, Tommy, studied journalism and now works in communications at Bay Area software startup Retool.)

At 17, Patrick won a high-profile national competition for young scientists; his project, building atop Lisp, a programming language developed at MIT, placed second in the European Union overall. The winner: his future wife, Silvana Konermann, who represented Switzerland. (“That is not, sadly, misinformation,” he says now.) During the contest, he had corresponded with a technologist named Paul Graham, who had written a book on Lisp. A year after Patrick enrolled at MIT in 2006, he and John applied for Graham’s local startup accelerator, Y Combinator.

Their idea: tracking software for eBay sellers. Instead of developing it themselves, the two Collisons joined forces with an older pair of brothers, Harj and Kulveer Taggar, already in the program with a similar idea. When the four sold their startup, Auctomatic, for $5 million the next year, John was still in secondary school. In 2009, he followed his big brother to Cambridge, enrolling at Harvard. Around that time they had the idea to write a behind-the-scenes snippet of code called an API, or application programming interface, that would make it easy to add credit card

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functionality to a website. YC invested, but the Collisons never presented their company, first called /dev/payments, at Demo Day. It was only after dropping out of college a year later and relocating temporarily to Buenos Aires that they publicly launched their tool, which became Stripe, from a coffee shop.

Their API worked, and their unusual backstory— and Patrick’s promise to “pick up where PayPal left off ”—appealed to Sequoia’s Michael Moritz, himself an immigrant from Wales. Weeks after launch in 2010, Moritz invested in Stripe’s seed round, joined by PayPal billionaires Max Levchin, Peter Thiel and Elon Musk, then led its $18 million Series A in 2012.

To gain early users, Stripe’s founders employed a power move now immortalized at YC as “the Collison installation.” While some founders might share an email sign-up link after pitching their company to their peers, the Collisons grabbed potential users’ laptops and set them up with Stripe right then and there. Inside Stripe, the two set a hardworking and writing-heavy culture influenced by their admiration for Apple, Amazon and Berkshire Hathaway. Meetings started in silence as attendees read a prepared note and added written questions for debate; internal emails auto-copied team-wide group accounts so staffers could catch up on any thread without wasting anyone else’s time.

Stripe’s mostly young, entrepreneurial early staff took weekly runs in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights with Patrick and John and prided themselves on developing products with just one or two engineers. This approach helped Stripe quickly launch its second major product in 2012 to support the hypergrowth of early customers like e-commerce platform Shopify and ride-hailing app Lyft. Stripe Connect made it easy for them to pass along payments to merchants and drivers. Soon others—Amazon, Wayfair, Instacart, Postmates—had joined. “Stripe was the way to index e-commerce,” says early investor Elad Gil. “Instead of trying to invest in every startup, you could just invest in Stripe.”

On the flip side, the Collisons’ insistence on technically proficient managers meant that leadership roles remained vacant for months. Employees placed mock bets on how long certain newly hired leaders would last. “If you’re an executive here, you probably have a 50/50 shot of working out,” one early employee warned their new boss after their previous one lasted less than two years.

Stripe’s chronic understaffing helped contribute to expensive and embarrassing outages that, after one three-hour shutdown in 2015, had Amazon and Shopify threatening to walk. (Reliability is now a point of pride: During the 2021 holiday season, Stripe’s tools were down for a combined 1.2 seconds.)

Payments were how Stripe buttered its bread—they still

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n the roof of a nondescript parking garage an hour north of Dublin, John Collison marvels as shopping cart–sized drones land with a quiet whir, are quickly loaded with small orders of groceries—in one case, a single onion— and take off again on short delivery flights. Manna CEO Bobby Healy, who met Collison on Twitter and persuaded him to personally invest in his 75-person firm, fields a stream of questions from him about how it all works: the efficiency of its replaceable battery, its safety features and retractable drop-off mechanism.

Satisfied, John shifts gears: As Manna expands across Europe, what will it need from Stripe?

That’s an important question. Product development at Stripe is complicated these days, a matrix that factors in regulatory complexity, strategic value and urgency of customer needs. “There’s kind of an art to it,” John says. “You want to change your opinions when the facts change.” Adds Patrick, “Ultimately all that matters is whether our customers find us useful.”

Mostly that means focusing Stripe’s R&D teams—more than 40% of the company is still engineers, unusual for its scale—on a mix of practical improvements, such as adding payments in more countries in the developing world or improving its newly announced app store. But it also means monitoring emerging products and quickly matching them. Take Link, Stripe’s one-click checkout

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tool that competes directly with Bolt, a Miami startup that recently raised money at an $11 billion valuation, making its founder, Ryan Breslow, a billionaire. Though Link has been available for more than a year, Stripe has downplayed its interest in such consumer products. But as Bolt grew in recent months, Stripe has quietly beefed up its Link team, insiders say; the company’s jobs site lists open roles to help it grow and launch similar efforts.

Breslow has publicly accused Stripe, along with Y Combinator (which rejected him) of ruling Silicon Valley as “mob bosses.” (Stripe declined to comment.)

Breslow, whose own financial probity was questioned in a recent New York Times exposé, might not be the ideal messenger, but he’s not alone in distrusting Stripe’s motives. “Patrick talks about things not being zero-sum all the time, and we’re like, ‘This is the exact opposite of how you work in the world,’ ” says one fintech founder, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution.

“Since when did competition become a bad thing?” asks General Catalyst’s Hemant Taneja, who led Stripe’s 2012 Series B. Patrick, for his part, isn’t too focused on rivals and points out that Stripe’s size and influence are still, in the global scheme of things, relatively small. “Our focus should not be, does not need to be, on eating anybody else’s lunch,” he says.

A perfect storm of macro conditions may mean Stripe doesn’t grow as fast this year, John concedes, but people will still shop, he says, and people running businesses will still need Stripe. And the good news, in a worsening economic climate, is that software development requires a lot less capital than, say, building cars, as CFO Dhivya Suryadevara, who joined Stripe from General Motors in 2020, puts it.

“Why can’t we move money around in the cloud the same way that we can move data? Because isn’t money just data?”

After the drone visit, John settles in at a harborside pub in the town of Skerries for a Guinness and to pontificate about another cause close to the brothers: climate.

Recently, Stripe joined the likes of Alphabet and Meta in committing to make purchases of more than $900 million from carbon-capture projects. (He doesn’t mention that the Collisons often fly private.)

The local revelers ignore the still youngish tech billionaire sipping a pint in their midst. That is, until he goes to settle the tab. Wordlessly offered a credit card reader, Collison says he’d rather pay cash. The bartender raises an eyebrow: “Ironic enough!”

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are—but from early on, the Collisons pushed employees to understand their customers’ other financial problems, whether fraud, cash flow or inventory management.

“The vision has always been, ‘Why can’t we move money around in the cloud the same way that we can move data?’ ” says William Gaybrick, who came aboard as CFO in 2015 and is now chief product officer. “Because isn’t money just data?”

Big customers like Shopify now process billions through Stripe, but much of its business remains small- and medium-sized companies like the not-for-profit Gaelic Athletic Association, which has saved more than $1 million by having its affiliate clubs, scattered around the globe, manage their combined 500,000 members through Stripe. In the first year of the pandemic, food delivery service Postmates generated an additional $70 million in sales and saved millions more in fees by using several of Stripe’s products that helped retry failed transactions and charges, among other uses.

“If you want to build stuff that everyone’s heard about at Thanksgiving dinner, Stripe will never be that for you,” Patrick says. “But if you’re the kind of person who just finds building infrastructure for those people rewarding, then I think corporate-scale Stripe is actually fun and meaningful.”

• HOTEL REVIEW •

By Baraa Alfaouri

Naladhu Private Island Maldives

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When I hear the phrase “the perfect getaway,” the image that immediately flashes to my mind is one of deep blue oceans, golden sand, and the sound of waves crashing against a shore. I found all this and more at Naladhu Private Island Maldives, F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M

Journey Our adventure got off to an upbeat start when we boarded a flight from Dubai to Male International Airport, which took around four hours. When we landed, a team from Naladhu met us with a warm welcome, showing us to the VIP lounge and giving us access to free Wi-Fi as well as a variety of cold beverages and snacks as we waited for our luxurious yacht transfer to the resort.

*All resort expenses for this trip were covered by the Naladhu Private Island Maldives.

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located in Veligandu Huraa in the South Male Atoll, where my family and I spent four blissful nights.

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It was here where our adventure started. The cruise from the airport to Naladhu was close to 30 mins long, and on the day that we arrived, the weather was cloudy and windy. The island was breathtaking as we approached it, and as we got closer we could see the team on the dock waving at us, which was a lovely touch and one of the highlights of the trip.

Disembarking the yacht onto the island, we were handed a heavenly tropical drink and treated to a musical drum performance, both of which were delightful surprises.

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Accommodation Naladhu Private Island has 20 spacious houses offering stunning views, all with private pools, terraces, and outdoor swings. The houses offer intimacy and privacy, which makes the resort ideal for honeymooners as well as families.

As soon as we arrived, the staff showed us around the resort; we peeked into the gym, restaurant, swimming pool, and spa. Everything was within easy walking distance, and we were able to walk around the whole island in 15 minutes. The smell and sound of the ocean were all around us as we explored the desert island and the vegetation along the beach, watching the colorful birds fly overhead and among the trees.

The whole experience exemplifies getting lost in nature.

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Activities There are numerous activities suitable for families, groups of friends, and couples on offer, and the resort’s team was able to help us select activities that were a good fit for our family. There were classes in both group and individual yoga and cooking, as well as high-octane power sports such as kayaking, flyboarding, and many more.

We tried lots of different water-based sports, such as jet-skiing, which required a guide to accompany us while we cruised the water for half an hour. Kayaking close to the shore was a blast for the kids. My favorite activity was parasailing because the ocean and island views from that height were magnificent. We even spotted dolphins from above, which was the highlight of our day. The kids wanted to snorkel with turtles, so a member of the Naladhu team took them out and coached them the entire time. Manta Rays were among the many sightings they made while F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.C O M

exploring the reef and its abundant marine life.

The kids also absolutely loved the fishing trip, and their excitement while reeling in their very first catch is something we will never forget. The fishing guides had a lot of patience with the kids and showed them several different techniques, which made the whole experience more fun and challenging. We returned with only one fish but many fond memories and smiles all around.

Scuba diving lessons are also available for all levels of divers, from beginners to experts. The resort’s Discover Scuba Diving course covers theory and shallow water instruction, as well as a dive of up to 12 meters around the house reef. Naladhu also offers courses in Advanced, Rescue, or Dive Master certifications, as well as a PADI Certification Level 1 course, which enables you to dive to a maximum depth of 18 meters anywhere in the world.

Dining The island has a wide range of cuisines to suit all palates.

Our first lunch was at The Living Room, which is Naladhu’s main fine-dining luxury restaurant with a view of the lagoon. The concept is quite unique. The restaurant does not have a menu but instead allows diners to discuss their preferences with a chef and have any meal prepared to their specifications at any time of the day. The chefs were very accommodating, and the food was heavenly.

The remaining restaurants are on Anantara Dhigu Island, which can be reached by boat from Naladhu JULY 2022

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Following the tour, we were shown to our villa, where we were greeted with complimentary desserts and candy. The space was exquisite, with an oceanfront terrace view and a large private pool that was perfect for our family. We had plenty of room even with a king-sized bed and two spare beds in the accommodation. The property exuded elegance and relaxation, with wonderful embellishments in every nook. Relaxing on the balcony swing while gazing out at the breathtaking ocean views was all I needed to unwind and unplug from any stresses back home.

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in about seven minutes. Moving between the islands is simple and convenient, as a boat is constantly available to transport you all day. Every morning, we made our way to the Fushi Café for breakfast, where they offer a lavish international buffet complete with live cooking stations, freshly baked pastries, and a range of tropical fruits and drinks. The café also serves dinner, with a variety of options available.

On another day, we enjoyed a delicious lunch at the Aqua Italian restaurant, which is located beside the pool. In addition to the refreshing drinks and the spectacular view of the ocean, the children had a great time at the pool, where there were various activities and an ice cream truck to keep them cool during the day.

We opted to have seafood grills for dinner at the Sea.Fire.

Salt restaurant. Its natural and rural setting, paired with the fading sunset and ocean scenery, was enchanting.

On our last day, the resort organized a special lunch for us at the island’s Royal Villa, which features a private beach, a large pool, a master bedroom and ensuite on the top level, a double bedroom on the ground floor, and a kitchen. Our dreamy lunch was served in the spacious living room.

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Final thoughts This resort’s golden beaches, coconut palms, and deep blue waters made my holiday a dream come true. With Naladhu Private Islands, we experienced “the perfect getaway” and discovered the natural beauty of the Maldives.

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• THOUGHTS ON •

Brothers and Sisters “You may be as different as the sun and the moon, but the same blood flows through both your hearts.”

“Half the time when brothers wrestle, it’s just an excuse to hug each other.”

—George R.R. Martin

—James Patterson

“Siblings: children of the same parents, each of whom is perfectly normal until they get together.”

“Your siblings are the only people in the world who know what it’s like to have been brought up the way you were.”

—Sam Levenson

—Betsy Z. Cohen

“I’ve been the oldest child since before you were born.”

“The other night I ate at a real nice family restaurant.

Every table had an argument going.”

—E.L. Konigsburg “A five-year age gap between siblings is like a garden that needs constant attention.

Even three months apart allows the weeds to grow up between you.”

—George Carlin “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”

—Zadie Smith “I would tell people that I was raised an only child, and so was my brother.”

—Homer H. Hickham “Having a sister is like having a best friend you can’t get rid of. You know whatever you do, they’ll still be there.”

—Amy Li “Insanity runs in my family.

It practically gallops.”

—Cary Grant “Comparison is a death knell to sibling harmony.”

—Elizabeth Fishel

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—1 Peter 4:8 Cary Grant

“Children of the same family, the same blood, with the same first associations and habits, have some means of enjoyment in their power, which no subsequent connections can supply.”

“Your parents leave you too soon and your spouse and kids come along late, but your siblings knew you when you were in your most inchoate form.”

—Jane Austen “Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.”

“The love of a sibling is the most unconditional love of all—a love without demand, without expectations or pretense.”

—George Burns

—Anoir Ou-Chad

—Jeffrey Kluger

SOURCES: A GAME OF THRONES, BY GEORGE R.R. MARTIN; FROM THE MIXED-UP FILES OF MRS. BASIL E. FRANKWEILER, BY E.L. KONIGSBURG; ON BEAUTY, BY ZADIE SMITH; ROCKET BOYS, BY HOMER H. HICKHAM; MANSFIELD PARK, BY JANE AUSTEN.

FINAL THOUGHT “The real friend is he or she who can share all our sorrow and double our joys.”

—B.C. Forbes

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Pure Beverages Industry Company (PBIC) provides complete services related to the production and distribution of bottled water in all regions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and beyond. Specialized in healthy and high-quality mineral water, PBIC is becoming a leader in a sector that attracts huge investments considering population growth.

The creation of AJEX, Saudi’s logistics and transportation expert, specialized in Middle East and North Africa e-commerce, distribution and industrial solutions, introduces the latest technological advancements to the express logistics sector through a strategic partnership with SF Express, the logistics leader in China.

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Dussmann Group is a world-renowned facility management services provider specializing in integrated facility management and provides the whole range of facility services. Dussmann has been providing customized solutions to clients for six decades, making it a leader in the specific requirements of each industry.

Sandsoft Games is poised to lead the region with a portfolio of ground-breaking titles designed to entertain and to engage a massive untapped audience. Our industry expertise, market knowledge, strategic approach and partnerships, altogether create an advantage to capitalize on this exciting market.

SCOPA Industries Corporation is the preeminent defense company in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, owned 100% by Ajlan & Bros and contributes directly to the Saudi Vision 2030 by creating military industries, modernizing the Saudi Armed Forces, and reaching the global defense and security market by partnering with the worlds leading companies.

Tiqmo is a mobile payment service provider that is building a global ecosystem for digital payments and services. In partnership with the world leader in this field, Tiqmo is developing integrated digital solutions and advanced payment systems through bank cards and smart devices to enhance electronic payments and reduce cash handling.

SAT Co. is a leading events company delivering premium event management solutions at global standards; from the bass-driven excitement of music festivals to the heart-pounding world of sports in the MENA region.

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