Gulf Business April 2022 - BBG Edition

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100 MOST POWERFUL ARABS 2022 OUR CELEBRATED ANNUAL POWER LIST SHINES THE SPOTLIGHT ON THE MOST INFLUENTIAL ARAB MEN AND WOMEN ACROSS THE WORLD

SCAN TO WATCH A REVIEW OF THE NEW OPPO

RENO7 PRO 5G WITH A

SPECIAL AUGMENTED REALITY EXPERIENCE

P.59 EXPO 2020 DUBAI: The legacy lives on

P.68 DIFFERENT STROKES: Sacha Jafri on his upcoming art projects BD 2.10 KD 1.70 RO 2.10 SR 20 DHS 20

Gulf Business

CONTENTS / APRIL 2022

06

The brief An insight into the news and trends shaping the region with perceptive commentary and analysis

27 Cover Story: Arab Power List 2022 Our annual ranking tracks the trajectory of the world’s most illustrious and influential Arab personalities

59 An enduring legacy Expo 2020 Dubai has ended, but its impact and purpose is expected to unfold in the coming months and years

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Y O U R

G U I D E

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RE A L E S TATE I N V E S T M E N T

L E A R N T O M A K E W E L L- I N F O R M E D D E C I S I O N S A N D C R E A T E L A S T I N G W E A L T H

ava i l a b l e at a l l m a j o r b o o k s t o r e s a n d o n b o o k s a r a b i a . c o m

www.motivatemedia.com

MOTIVATEBOOKS

MOTIVATE_BOOKS

MOTIVATEBOOKS

CONTENTS / APRIL 2022

63 Lifestyle

Big waves: Dubai International Boat Show 2022 p.64

Timed growth: Rado CEO Adrian Bosshard p.66

All art: Sacha Jafri’s vision for the future on a canvas p.68

“The World Government Summit reflects the UAE’s commitment to create platforms for the youth to voice their opinions and share ideas” Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai

74 The SME Story Interviews with entrepreneurs from the fintech as well as food and beverage sectors

Editor-in-chief Obaid Humaid Al Tayer Managing partner and group editor Ian Fairservice Group director Andrew Wingrove andrew.wingrove@motivate.ae Editor Neesha Salian neesha.salian@motivate.ae Deputy editor Varun Godinho varun.godinho@motivate.ae varungodinho Tech editor Divsha Bhat divsha.bhat@motivate.ae Contributor Zainab Mansoor editorial.freelancer@motivate.ae zzainabmansoor Senior art director Olga Petroff olga.petroff@motivate.ae Art director Freddie N. Colinares freddie@motivate.ae Photographer Mark Mathew

General manager – production S Sunil Kumar Assistant production manager Binu Purandaran Production supervisor Venita Pinto Chief commercial officer Anthony Milne anthony@motivate.ae Group sales manager Manish Chopra manish.chopra@motivate.ae Sales executive Sonal Sawant sonal.sawant@motivate.ae Sales executive Sonam Sharma sonam.sharma@motivate.ae Group marketing manager Joelle AlBeaino joelle.albeaino@motivate.ae Group marketing manager Dominic Clerici dominic.clerici@motivate.ae

Cover: Freddie N. Colinares Follow us on social media: Linkedin: Gulf Business Facebook: GulfBusiness Twitter: @GulfBusiness Instagram: @GulfBusiness

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The Brief Regional Q&A Alan’s Corner Future Strategy

09 10 12 13 14

EMERGING VENTURE MARKETS FINTECH YEARLY FUNDING EVOLUTION (2017-2021) Fintech has been a prominent beneficiary of the return of a risk-on approach by investors globally in 2021

Funding &M # of deals

APR

22

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

Source: Fintech 2022 Venture Investment Report

The path to productivity The key is doing the right thing at the right time p.13 6

April 2022

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The Brief / Global COMMENT

The unspoken word ILLUSTRATION: GETTY IMAGES/FANATIC STUDIO

Bloomberg columnist Allison Schrager shares how to best manage the biggest risk of all – uncertainty

T

hese are uncertain times, but we’ve never lived with less risk.

That may sound crazy coming out of a pandemic that disrupted our lives in uncountable ways. But there is a big difference between risk and uncertainty, and each requires different coping strategies. Risk can be managed with insurance or hedging; Uncertainty demands flexibility.

That’s important to know when making big life decisions like buying a house, changing jobs, having a baby or retiring.

Risk includes things we can measure and see coming, uncertainty arises from the things that take us by surprise. Society has become very adept at measuring and managing risk with the help of data and technology. When it comes to things we can measure, much less is left to chance. And if we can’t eliminate risk, we can insure against it. Since the 1970s we’ve had more ways than ever to manage or eliminate risk in markets, in the economy, and in many aspects of our daily lives. The payoff was rising markets, low inflation (until recently), and stable wages and jobs. So, we’re gobsmacked when we’re hit by something we didn’t expect — like pandemics and wars that send the world spinning. For most of human history people lived with uncertainty and risks they couldn’t manage. Violent conflicts and gulfbusiness.com

deadly disease outbreaks were a fact of life.

This changed in the 20th century when the government took on more of our risk: welfare programmes eased hardship, countries cooperated through international organisations and more trade, and technology gave us more tools to insure against risk. In the 1970s, the word risk became associated with something you could manage or avoid.

But the last two years may mark a new era. We can still manage risk and have better tools to do so, but in the new world order it’s about managing uncertainty — a much more difficult proposition. You can’t plan for the unforeseeable.

It’s still possible to manage the risks that arise from uncertain times, but it requires a different strategy — it takes resiliency.

Governments and central banks had the flexibility that made the pandemic less bad than it might have been. They had the fiscal space and credibility to throw tons of money at the pandemic with enhanced unemployment benefits, stimulus checks and massive purchases of debt. The mRNA technology is remarkably flexible, and scientists used it develop a vaccine in record time. Now the Russia-Ukraine crisis poses a new source of uncertainty. We have riskmanagement tools in fiscal policy and in reengineering global markets such as energy,

and that will help make the crisis less risky.

But as the last two years have shown, riskcontrol can’t shut out uncertainty. And individuals must figure out how to manage their own lives. Our first instinct when faced with more uncertainty is to avoid making decisions, bulk up on cash, don’t relocate, wait on retirement and avoid new debt. But the heightened uncertainty may last a long time and you can’t just keep your life on hold.

Cash is normally attractive when times are uncertain, but with inflation today it’s not a safe strategy either. We still need to invest in risky assets and if you put off a house, baby, or job change you may be waiting a long time. So, to manage uncertainty, the best thing you can do is promote resilience by not taking excessive risk and promoting flexibility in your life. Invest in stocks but avoid assets that are illiquid or excessively volatile. If you are thinking about retirement, you needn’t have to wait, you just need to keep your options open for a possible return to part-time work.

The same principle applies if you are considering buying a house or changing jobs.

Rather than going for that big fixer-upper in an up-and-coming neighbourhood, buy a smaller house in a better neighbourhood that you know you can easily resell if the housing market sours. It could be planning on a part-time job if you go back to school, or a side hustle if you take a less stable job.

Or, when it comes to cyber risk, hold on to paper copies of your bank statements and make sure your computer is backed up to the cloud or an external hard drive.

We’ve been fortunate this past half-century to live in a world with remarkably little risk most of the time. But it’s also made us more vulnerable in other ways. We discount the unexpected because we rarely experience the costs of bad shocks. Companies hold fewer inventories when they don’t worry about global supply chains breaking down; we take on more debt if we don’t expect to lose our jobs, or we might book a non-refundable trip when we can’t imagine a pandemic disrupting travel plans.

The last two years have reminded us that that no matter how much we minimise risk, we can’t plan for everything. We must build more options into our lives so that we feel less helpless when something big does go wrong.

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BRAND VIEW

Trust, trade and thrive An award-winning licensed and regulated platform, CMTrading, founded nearly a decade ago by traders for traders, has reportedly attracted over a million subscribers

P

ost the pandemic-induced slump from over two years ago, markets around the world have made a strong comeback with many big-ticket companies, both regionally and globally, entering with their initial public offerings.

For many traders, especially those who are new to the market, the process of getting started is often a cumbersome one, which eventually proves detrimental to the overall intent to invest. That’s where brokers step in with customised solutions.

Established in 2012, CMTrading is an award-winning, fully licensed and regulated broker with branches in the Dubai, Johannesburg, Lagos and Seychelles.

Founded by traders, for traders, CMTrading

has been providing clients with a trading experience that’s meant to facilitate rather than hinder the process.

CMTrading claims to have over a million subscribers worldwide, offers trading tech, up to 200:1 leverage, and more than 150 tradable assets, ranging from forex to commodities, stocks, indices, and cryptocurrencies. To safeguard the interests of the traders, their funds are kept in segregated accounts in top-tier banks.

Since 2015, CMTrading has won 17 awards with the recent and notable ones including Best IB Program GCC 2022, Best Partner Program GCC 2022, Best Broker Africa 2017 – 2022, Best IB Program GCC 2021 and Fastest Growing Online Broker Middle East 2019.

YOUR LOCAL INTERNATIONAL BROKER Celebrating 10 Years of Trading Excellence

Best Partner Program GCC

Best IB Program GCC

Fastest Growing Online Broker Middle East

2022

2021-2022

2018-2019

To cater to customers within the region, CMTrading also provides customer service in English and Arabic. There is also the option to open Islamic accounts which are Shariacompliant accounts and incur no swap charges or rollover interest on overnight positions, with their holders only able to access trading instruments that adhere to Sharia law. Furthermore, its other services include a full-fledged mobile app, CopyKat (copy the world’s best traders), trading signals, dedicated market analysts (Silver Accounts and over), and several other benefits.

For those turning to the platform to educate and upskill their knowledge of the markets, CMTrading offer several educational tools, including weekly expert webinars, step-by-step video tutorials, in-depth blog articles, eBooks and live in-person seminars.

It also offers a CMTrading Partners programme, where by introducing clients, traders can earn commissions as well.

To know more, visit CMTrading.com Note: CFDs are leveraged products. Trading in CFDs carries a high level of risk thus may not be appropriate for all investors. The investment value can both increase and decrease, and the investors may lose all their invested capital.

Under no circumstances shall the company have any liability to any person or entity for any loss or damage in whole or part caused by, resulting from, or relating to any transactions related to CFDs

ILLUSTRATION: GETTY IMAGES/BELOPOPPA

The Brief / Regional A N A LY S I S

Malek Sukkar, CEO, Averda

Hastening the UAE’s journey to zero waste A good way to encourage recycling and composting is to make it expensive to put things in landfill

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aste collection services in the UAE efficiently remove the waste we create out of our sight, and in general, out of our minds too. The result is that an average resident in the UAE generates nearly 3kg of waste every day, almost double the amount of an average person in Europe, and among the highest amounts per capita in the world.

The scarcity of recycling and composting infrastructure in the UAE means that the vast majority of produced waste is still deposited in landfill facilities.

A shift change in the amount of waste we generate and how we manage it is desperately needed. There are promising signs of progress, but also still a great deal of work for us all to do. Individual consumers have an important role to play, but the role of governments and companies is key.

Making the changes we require needs two different approaches. The first is to lean into our capitalist economic system, and ensure that waste is given a clear value, a price much closer to the environmental cost it has on the planet. The most basic economic lever for reducing waste and encouraging recycling and composting is to make it expensive to put things in landfill, a form of the ‘polluter pays’ principle. The implementation of progressive disposal fees is varied across the different emirates. They were introduced a few years ago in Sharjah and at the start of this year in Dubai. As soon as dumping waste becomes more expensive than recycling, and both are charged in line with the actual environmental cost, the greater the incentive to reduce waste.

The second significant change we need is one of mindset, with each individual and corporation feeling more responsible for doing the right thing – for reducing waste overall, for ensuring as much of their unavoidable waste as possible is recycled or

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IF FOOD WASTE WERE A COUNTRY, IT WOULD BE THE THIRD HIGHEST CONTRIBUTOR TO GLOBAL WARMING IN THE WORLD, AFTER THE US AND CHINA

composted, and – in the case of manufacturing industries – for using recycled content in their products.

While plastic used for food and drink has to be ‘food grade’ there’s some ongoing work to clarify standards around this. While the government is working to mandate these standards and use regulatory levers to encourage the use of recycled materials, we can reasonably expect large corporations to hold themselves to the same standards in the UAE that they do in Europe and North America. This is true across all industries, from the big FMCG groups to the oil and gas sector. Corporations need to ramp up their sustainability efforts and hold themselves to the highest global standards across all their markets.

A high proportion of the waste we generate here is food; most estimates put it at around half of all municipal waste. At present, with the exception of a few good micro-composting initiatives, it goes into landfill where it decomposes in the absence of oxygen, generating the undesirable greenhouse gas methane. If food waste were a country, it would be the third highest contributor to global warming in the world, after the US and China. Leaving aside the morality of throwing away food in a world where so many people are going hungry, the environmental impacts are unsustainable. We must act faster to tackle food waste everywhere. Where possible food should feed people. Where it is not suitable for people, we should use it for animal feed. Where it cannot feed animals, we should compost it and use the nutrient-rich result to improve soil quality and agricultural yields.

One significant co-benefit of taking food waste out of our bins would be to improve the quality of plastics and paper, enabling a much greater quantity to be recycled. Today, much of this potentially useful material is rendered practically unrecyclable due to contamination by foods and liquids.

There is much to do, and where to start? The first place to start is by measuring waste, after all, ‘what gets measured gets managed’. All companies should monitor their waste outputs and examine the data for trends and opportunities to reduce the volume. In addition to data analytics, creativity, innovation and generosity can also go a long way – if you are producing waste that might be useful to others, find a way to encourage second use. This can even be done with excess food, as shown by NYU in Abu Dhabi who use digital technology to make leftover food from events available to faculty staff and students.

We are only at the beginning of a long journey towards a zero-waste future, and each one of us has an important role to play if we are to get there in time to leave a habitable planet for our children and grandchildren.

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rethink how to leverage logistics service providers to meet business objectives and customer expectations.

Why has quick commerce become key to e-commerce?

INTERVIEW

Smart, speedy and seamless Soham Chokshi, CEO and co-founder of Shipsy, a logistics software solution provider, shares how disruptive technologies can enable companies to boost delivery productivity and optimise costs How has the supply chain and logistics industry responded to pandemic-related challenges?

The effect of the global pandemic led to the formation of a digitally connected market where the consumer was seated atop the supply chain. Stay-at-home orders and health concerns pushed people, even those avoiding the virtual world, towards online purchasing channels.

This drove retailers, e-commerce providers, logistics service providers and on-demand delivery providers to ensure rapid innovation, especially when it came to last-mile execution. To address this, businesses embraced smart logistics management tools to help them scale, ensure availability, provide delightful and safe deliveries, drive faster fulfillment operations, optimise costs and even identify new revenue streams. Specifically, disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, automation, big data and predictive analytics and the internet of things became critical for logistics-powered businesses to ensure resiliency and navigate the ‘new normal’.

A critical development that occurred during the initial phase of the pandemic was the need to bring inventory closer to customers. Soon, businesses started converting physical stores with lesser footfalls into dark stores. It emerged as a vital aspect of on-demand deliveries. But this again triggered the need to revisit service-level agreements (SLAs) and 10

April 2022

13%+

increased deliveries per driver

USING A SMART LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT PLATFORM

ILLUSTRATION: GETTY IMAGES/FILO

The Brief / Logistics

14%

reduction for last-mile delivery costs

The emergence of the quick commerce (or q commerce) industry is taking customer expectations to a whole new level. While it started with consumers demanding groceries, food and medicines to be delivered in less than 45 minutes, the expectations are now are moving across retail and e-commerce. Hence, e-commerce and retailers will need to reimagine how they execute delivery operations.

Businesses will experience an urgent need to ensure high levels of customer transparency, make driver management processes highly efficient and intelligent and enhance real-time customer communications. Other areas that they will need to focus on are bringing inventory closer to customers by balancing physical and dark stores, driving real-time visibility of inventory and improving logistics service provider management to adhere to stringent SLAs. How are AI and automation supporting the logistics industry?

AI and automation-powered smart logistics management platforms enable businesses to optimise delivery costs, improve resource utilisation, ensure fast and accurate decision-making and drive rapid scalability.

AI-powered route planning tools can consider multiple factors while chalking out the most efficient and cost-effective delivery route, which otherwise is difficult for a human brain to analyse. These factors include cost, fuel consumption, third-party logistics (3PL), performance, order volumes, delivery model and types, proximity from the store and more. This significantly reduces operational costs and boosts profitability per order. Using a smart logistics management platform, businesses can reduce last-mile delivery costs by 14 per cent and increase deliveries per driver by more than 13 per cent. Also, these disruptive technologies enable companies and logistics service providers to further optimise costs and boost delivery productivity by intelligently planning routes to ensure multiple pickups and drops.

Businesses can significantly reduce investment in tedious and repetitive manual efforts by leveraging automation. It can enable them to automate core delivery operations like task allocation, scheduling, roster management, driver payouts, compliance, 3PL selection and more. Not just costs, automation empowers logistics-powered businesses to deliver efficiency at scale. AI and automation-driven logistics management tools can reduce person-hours spent in shipment handling processes by 56 per cent. It curbs gulfbusiness.com

The Brief / Logistics

time invested in manual ERP data entry processes by 65 per cent and ensures 77 per cent reduction in steps needed to execute shipping operations.

Another critical area that automation influences is customer experience. By automating delivery operations, brands can automatically send out realtime notifications and alerts to customers on delivery progress and delays, if any. This fulfills a customer’s need for instant gratification and ensures delivery transparency. Advanced delivery management tools can improve customer experience by more than 28 per cent. Additionally, delivery flexibility is the key to raising customer satisfaction. Brands will leverage technology to allow customers to change the location or time of delivery as per their needs on the fly.

Returns are increasingly becoming a competitive sales point for businesses. According to Doodle, 68 per cent of consumers expect free returns. Just like ensuring cost-efficient last-mile operations, companies will need to embrace advanced logistics management tools to reduce investments in managing returns.

gulfbusiness.com

Tell us about green logistics and deliveries.

57%

OF CUSTOMERS are willing to change their purchasing habits to reduce their carbon footprint

Faster order fulfillment is bound to influence trip volumes. As we move ahead, brands must leverage tools that minimise carbon footprint, especially now when environmentalism is rapidly going mainstream and regulations around carbon emissions are getting stricter. According to research conducted by IBM, 57 per cent of customers are willing to change their purchasing habits to reduce their carbon footprint. As much as 65 per cent of consumers in the Middle East – according to a PwC report – have become more eco-friendly during the pandemic. So, it won’t be surprising to see customers buying into brands that focus on sustainability.

To reduce carbon footprint and build sustainable supply chain operations, businesses must embrace smart logistics management tools. Such tools can help companies achieve sustainability goals by reducing miles travelled, increasing first attempt deliveries, eliminating empty miles, decreasing trip volumes, improving resource utilisation and curbing paper usage.

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The Brief / Alan’s Corner

Alan’s Corner

ensure that everyone in the organisation knows why the company exists, where it’s going, who is responsible and what each person has to do to get there. A clearly defined North Star and strategy is essential to shape that.

Alan O’Neill, managing director of Kara, change consultant and speaker

What makes a great CEO?

ILLUSTRATION: IR STONE

It’s not just about leadership or commercial acumen, there’s much more to it than that

Aligns organisation and culture. The CEO will shape and model a culture that pays respect to the heritage of the business, the aspirations of the shareholders, the market dynamics and the behaviours that reflect the best chance of success. It’s about going deeper and focusing on the drivers of what engages your people.

As part of the annual budgeting and planning process, a CEO should reassess the most appropriate structure to deliver the strategy. This isn’t just about moving existing names around the chessboard, but instead it starts with asking ‘what does the most effective organisation chart look like?’. As a result, that might involve making some very tough decisions about key people.

Leads the top team. As a facilitator, the CEO must

ensure that the top team works as one. Keep an eye on the rhythm that shows itself in decision-making, meetings, communications and personal traits. Is the team the right size? Is it diverse? Are individuals working together effectively outside of team meetings?

I

Googled ‘top CEOs in the world’, and the search threw up names such as Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook and Warren Buffet. But that’s misleading, because it infers you have to be running a giant corporation to be in this league of greatness. I’m happy to say I’ve worked with many fantastic CEOs who head charities, startups, family companies and organisations with revenues of under a million dollars.

According to research by McKinsey and Company, 30 per cent of the success of a company is down to historical investments, debt and past decisions.

Around 25 per cent of the success is due to market and geographic conditions and 45 per cent is attributed to the current CEO. Of course, if a CEO has been in the same role for say more than five years already, then perhaps that CEO could claim the (historical) 30 per cent also.

In McKinsey’s research, only three out of every five CEOs live up to the role in their first 18 months. The resounding feedback from CEOs is that neither an MBA nor other academic qualifications prepare you quite as well as actually being in the role. There are some obvious traits that typify the role, such as leadership, commercial acumen and risk management, but you won’t be surprised to discover that there is much more to it than that.

OF THE SUCCESS OF A COMPANY

A GREAT CEO… Sets strategy. To remove ambiguity, a CEO must

is down to historical investments, debt and past decisions

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Keeps the board engaged. The role of a board is to

oversee and guide long term efforts to create value and ensure risk is managed. In doing that, they should be independent and have good governance. The CEO should collaborate with the board to keep it appraised of progress and that it is forward-looking. The CEO should also make recommendations for a diverse mix of skills on the board, especially to support gaps at an executive level.

Manages external relations. The CEO will often be

called on to be the public face of the company. Knowing its impact on society and the wider community is therefore essential. And it should be able to communicate effectively the ‘why’ of the business.

Manages time. In addition to all the obvious leader-

ship skills, a great CEO needs to organise their time effectively. Delegation is also key.

30%

THE LAST WORD Even if your leadership style is to be consultative and inclusive, being a CEO can be quite lonely and stressful at times. You will have to make tough decisions on your own. And if you’re the CEO of a small business, you may well be CEO and every other major position all rolled into one. And that’s hard. gulfbusiness.com

The Brief / Future COMMENT

Rehan Khan, principal consultant for BT and a novelist

ILLUSTRATION: GETTY IMAGES/DANE MARK

focusing on the essential things that produce success in the first place.”

The implication of McKeown’s advice is that we learn to say no more often, but that is not a bad thing, because it means we can focus on the priorities that fulfil our purpose. As a result, we should be asking ourselves what challenge do I want to work on and what do I want to spend my time on?

The path to productivity It’s not about how much you do, but it’s about doing the right thing at the right time

O

ne piece of advice I repeat time and again when people ask me about productivity and the time management journey, is that the path is not linear, we all have times in life where we fall back into bad habits, we procrastinate and are not very productive.

This happens to me quite often, and I have to remind myself not to be distracted, focus on what I value most, and reset my journey towards what my true purpose in life is.

BE MINDFUL One way to gain momentum towards what you should be doing is to pay attention to what is necessary. It is not about how much you do, but it is about doing the right things, the necessary things.

For individuals who want to be successful at work, but also have a purposeful life away from the office, here lies the dilemma of attainment. For if we do not prioritise our lives someone else will and life will play out in the following way: Stage 1: We begin by working hard to accomplish what we set out to do and are clear about our purpose and priorities and it is this clarity that leads to our attainment.

Stage 2: We become known as a ‘fixer’,

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SAYING NO WHEN IT MATTERS I’ve had moments in my career where I said no to bosses, because it was taking me away from the central purpose of my role, and so the success of the organisation. I remember one boss who had a ‘special project’ which he wanted me to take a look at when I had a moment. I really did not have a moment, unless I was prepared to give up many hours of my weekend for the next two months.

I qualified the ‘opportunity’ out. My boss was not impressed and found a peer of mine who did take on the ‘challenge’, with the result that my peer burned himself out, resenting the manager for giving them the special project. He went on to find an opportunity outside the organisation. We all know the tremendous cost involved in recruitment and retention, so to bleed talent out in this way is a terrible waste.

As the late management thinker Peter Drucker said: “In a few hundred years, when the history of our time will be written from a long-term perspective, it is likely that the most important event historians will see is not technology, not the Internet, not e-commerce. It is an unprecedented change in the human condition. For the first time – literally – substantial and rapidly growing numbers of people have choices. For the first time, they will have to manage themselves. And society is totally unprepared for it.”

Drucker is right, the majority of people have not asked themselves what their purpose in life is, what do they want to spend their limited time on, and what should they avoid. Ultimately, the hopeful message is that we can all prepare by asking ourselves what is necessary and then choosing to ignore everything else.

“For the first time – literally – substantial and rapidly growing numbers of people have choices. For the first time, they will have to manage themselves. And society is totally unprepared for it” someone who has a reputation for getting things done and so, we are offered further openings and opportunities.

Stage 3: However, these additional openings and opportunities create strains on our time and energy and our efforts become dispersed as we get stretched.

Stage 4: We are seriously distracted from what should have been the most important priority. As a result, we undercut the clarity, which resulted in our attainment in the first place, and this leads to us burning out and crashing.

Greg McKeown, author of Essentialism, says that: “Success can distract us from

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The Brief / Strategy A N A LY S I S

Lovrenc Kessler, managing partner, and Ahmad Sharaf Aldine, manager, Simon-Kucher & Partners Middle East

Prioritising price

in volume. We see quite a few success factors that contribute to high pricing power. These include: BRAND VALUE If you have a strong brand, you are able to increase your prices. As best put by the CEO of Ralph Lauren who expects to see 17 per cent price increases: “You’re bringing in a younger, higher value, less price sensitive consumer that is able to absorb that price.”

Innovation and specialisation are key to determine your pricing power

A

ILLUSTRATION: GETTY IMAGES/ERHUI1979

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CONTROL OVER YOUR DISTRIBUTION CHAIN If you have control over your distribution chain, you are also very likely to successfully pass on any higher costs in your production. One such example is Apple, which has been able to achieve over 16 per cent CAGR on stock price between September 2021 and February this year.

44% In six months

s companies recover from the impact that Covid-19 has had on their top line over the last two years, it is crucial for C-levels to be aware – and ideally, get ahead – of the trends that will likely drive the future of their commercial success.

The drive to achieve higher returns, manage new corporate tax introductions (9 per cent recently announced in the UAE), and keep up with inflation (6.5 per in Qatar in the last two years) have naturally led companies to hike up their prices. This price increase trend is seen across most if not all industries, from oil price increasing by 44 per cent over the last six months to a 7.5 per cent increase on the price of Oreos. Multiple notable price increase announcements have also been made recently by CEOs in logistics (DHL), consumer goods (Mondelez, Kraft Heinz), luxury retail (Ralph Lauren) and telecom (Airtel).

The million-dollar questions for C-levels become: are those price increase numbers high enough from a business perspective? Should they be even higher? And most importantly, how can we get to such price increases? A key aspect for increasing prices is to understand your pricing power which translates to the company’s ability to raise prices without having to suffer from a decline

OIL PRICE INCREASE

7.5%

OREOS PRICE INCREASE

INNOVATION AND SPECIALISATION Innovation and specialisation are quite key to determine your pricing power. For example, the pharmaceutical industry that has typically a lot of patents has been very successfully implementing price increases and continues to do so.

In a study we conducted to understand the experience of companies in the area of pricing, 57 per cent of the participating companies confirmed that they have indeed felt a higher price pressure in the last 12 months, while only 37 per cent of respondents said they were not involved directly or indirectly in a pricing war. The study revealed that the majority of companies (68 per cent) plan to increase price at most in line with inflation in 2021, confirming the undervaluation of price as a profit lever.

This is why it is important that C-levels stay involved in pricing decisions. It’s important to have pricing on top of your management agenda, but also measure it, monitor it and communicate it externally and internally. External communication will be key so that the expectations of the customers and competition can be anticipated, while effective internal communication will ensure that there is no confusion and that everybody is pulling on the same street.

To conclude, an effective way of alleviating the pressure on your margins would be to apply a simple framework that starts with a clearly formulated pricing strategy, which sets out the direction to manage price priorities and market dynamics. The second thing is then identification of your value drivers.

Ensuring that you have the optimum product prices before going into execution. Finally, the encompassing key lever is price governance, which provides structure and ensures control so that all these steps are taken seriously and are also being followed diligently. gulfbusiness.com

BRAND VIEW

Paving the future

Nebras Education Holding, the education division of UAEbased Yas Holding, aims to empower learners and students to catalyse future growth

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uture-centric education systems are a vital precursor to enterprising, knowledge-based economies. For countries to prosper, the importance of empowering and enabling flexible academic solutions cannot be understated, a notion that was thrust into the spotlight with the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, it is incumbent upon education providers to keep pace with evolving digital demands and realign their business models accordingly.

For UAE-based investment firm Yas Holding, which has diversified operations across several industries, the education industry holds immense potential for growth. Yas Holding’s education division - Nebras Education Holding, which develops education and learning technology solutions – is aligned with the group’s mission to underpin the country’s development through investments across the education space that would unlock future opportunities.

“As today’s education sector is constantly evolving, our mission is to empower students, learners, and educators alike with improved access to the latest technologies, products, and tools to deliver quality education and learning outcomes,” opines Suresh Vaidhyanathan, Yas Holding Group CFO. “We partner with the local government,

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semi-government, and private sector entities to prepare future leaders for the fourth industrial revolution and knowledge-based economy.

“Our portfolio of edutech-based solutions simplifies complex topics and offer tools that help students to learn, understand, and implement knowledge better. We deliver these solutions, platforms, and products through our specialised subsidiaries, including ITWorx Education, Ibtikar, and Second Step.”

Nebras aims to curate solutions that complement traditional learning methods and introduce an interactive learning experience tailored to students’ capabilities. Ali Jaber Al Yafei, divisional

“We strive to create diverse learning environments through our specialised edutech companies, working constantly to develop a range of educational platforms and solutions”

CEO of Nebras and United Technology Holding adds: “We strive to create diverse learning environments through our specialised edutech companies, working constantly to develop a range of educational platforms and solutions.

These include a school management information system (TheSIS) by Second Step, social learning space (Winjigo), knowledge and training platforms (Learning Curve and Teacher Kit) by ITWorx, as well as a digital ebooks publishing and reading platform (Al Diwan powered by Akadimi) by Ibtikar.”

Last November, the company compiled its educational platforms and solutions in an integrated suite and launched LearningSpace, offering a comprehensive set of tools for educators aimed at accelerating digital transformation across public and private sectors. “We also collaborate with internationallyrecognised providers of educational content platforms to enhance our portfolio of offerings. These include Matific (a K-6 Math learning platform), Boclips (a curated and safe video learning platform), Nahla wa Nahel (an Arabic learning platform endorsed by the UAE Ministry of Education), and Jusoor (an interactive, virtual lab for science-based experiments),” Al Yafei adds.

In an attempt to underpin education providers, Nebras also partnered with several education institutions as well as the country’s education ministry to accelerate the ongoing digital revolution.

Muhannad Abu Hassan, Nebras CEO, explains: “We develop strategic partnerships with the UAE Ministry of Education, as well as public and private education institutions, to help them respond to the ongoing digital revolution in the industry and enable them to accelerate their digital transformation.

“Educators face multiple challenges in the new reality of remote and blended education. In response, we invest in edutech innovations, develop education kits and reading platforms, and organise coding competitions to reshape our region and the world. We impart knowledge and expertise, empowering students to learn at their own pace anytime and anywhere through personalised learning,” adds Hassan.

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The Brief / Learning

COMMENT

Ralph Ward and Dr M Muneer Ward is a global board advisor and author, and Muneer is co-founder and chief evangelist at Medici Institute

Get on board We look at why boards should foster an ‘always learning’ culture, and how invaluable insights and knowledge gleaned from this approach can benefit enterprises

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nce board wannabes get a seat at the table, they believe they only need to guide the enterprise with their expertise. Seasoned board veterans, though, know better. The truth is you can never stop learning.

Metaverse; diversity, equity and inclusion; environmental, social and governance (ESG); technologies such as augmented and virtual reality: new trends are constantly transforming the world of business. Your past experience won’t be of much use unless you have the ability and inclination to acquire new skills and learn about the latest trends. We’ve spoken to a number of senior board members and they were unanimous in their agreement, with many disruptive forces in play flummoxing them. And it is not just technology that’s causing this.

The global economic turmoil, increased pace of merger and acquisition activity, erratic business risks and tighter regulatory crackdowns are some of the current challenges for boards, for instance.

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Unless the directors are abreast with the impact of new events on their business and acquiring new skills, they will never be able to guide the enterprise in the right direction.

The 2020-2021 NACD Board Trends and Priorities of the American Boardroom Report found that 49 per cent of directors believe their board doesn’t allocate enough time to director education. Whether it is pre-board induction, ongoing updates, or a continuing education programme, directors’ hunger for learning isn’t getting fed.

Of course, setting aside special sessions for half-day or day-long board education (often as part of a board retreat) isn’t easy, given their busy schedules.

We recommend a different approach to this problem, and we’ve tried and found this to be highly effective. What if a 15-minute short ‘course’ or briefing on an important topic is made part of every board meeting? You can introduce education into your board agenda as a reserved, bite (or byte)-sized session.

Here are some ways to make it happen.

First, the board chair, CEO and corporate secretary agree on this being a good idea, and plan it out based on the enterprise’s need. The chair takes the lead because this is truly a good governance practice; the CEO and chair are involved to find the right expert for the topic, and fix the date and time. They agree to build the training into each board meeting agenda, and then discuss the topics that need to be covered in every quarter with the rest of the board.

This makes the session a must. And if you don’t want everyone sitting around looking at their phone for 15 minutes, it’s critical to come up with good content.

As for the content, you can cover the first few sessions just off the top of your head.

Cybersecurity and data protection, ESG trends, risk heat maps, audit and financial trends, new strategy playbook, new technologies impacting the industry, metaverse entry, legal issues for the company, new facilities, culture change, products or hires could be a good start list to choose from. Get ideas from the entire board on what they would like to know more about. Remember, this isn’t a major production – 15 minutes is just enough time for a briefing, with time for some questions and answers later.

Smart people know how to use that foundation to learn more, if needed.

Who leads the sessions? Of course there are external experts for each topic, but first look at internal staff, or maybe a partner from your audit or cybersecurity firm.

Consultants are good bets too. Depending on the reputation of the enterprise, it could even be a global thought leader. The faculty from a business school in the area and senior consultants you work with are also good choices. Or, one of the committee members can do it.

What about virtual meetings? With shorter virtual sessions, the idea of bitesized training can gel with most directors. Bytes are easier to be delivered too by global experts who don’t have to be on-site.

It could be pre-recorded and the speaker can appear only for questions and answers.

Finally, keep content interesting and fast-paced. Sharply limit PowerPoint (if you must use that at all). Use this as an opportunity for staff to make an impression on the board. And always leave time for questions, discussion and feedback. gulfbusiness.com

BRAND VIEW

Home truths

Naghmeh Sheikholeslami, CEO of Seven Century Real Estate Brokers, one of the top five DLD gold-ranked agencies in Dubai, talks about the latest property trends and how her company is leveraging the opportunities in the market What are some of the key property trends in the first quarter of 2022?

The recovery and growth we experienced in 2021 has continued this quarter. We’re seeing an increase in home buyers compared to people who are looking at property just as an investment. People want to experience community living. They are looking to reconnect with the outdoors and want more spacious homes, particularly with hybrid working becoming more of a given. We are seeing new communities being launched and off-plan sales rising.

Buyers are also showing a preference for mortgage payments.

The rental market is similarly bullish, with demand rising as more people look to moving to Dubai. The emirate’s economic stability, tax-free environment and multicultural society are a big draw. The prospect of higher rental yields minus taxes is also attracting more investors from all over the world.

Technology is now playing an important role for agents and buyers. Thanks to video calls, people can remotely view property in Dubai from anywhere in the world. The Dubai Land Department (DLD) has also upped the ante to ensure transparency in the home buying process, allowing transactions regarding the purchase or sale of real estate remotely via online services.

What are some of the popular areas in terms of rentals?

Rental properties in Downtown Dubai and Business Bay are in high demand. Damac Hills is also very popular, with tenants looking to live closer to the community centre. Higher rental costs have led people to look at more

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we’ve grown in scale and size. We’ve seen ups and downs such as the global recession in 2009, during which we never closed shop or changed our phone numbers. We also attended to all our clients around the clock all through the pandemic, ensuring they continue to be a top priority.

Customer service and trust are very important in our business, so we work hard to negotiate the best deals for our clients with developers and sellers.

We specialise in properties in Business Bay, including Paramount Towers; Damac Hills 1; Akoya D2; Sports City, JVC and Town Square.

We are optimistic about 2022 being a productive year in terms of sales. We are also restructuring the company and expanding our office.

Having a property management/ holiday homes division has also been an advantage. We are always in touch with our valued clients and update them about new regulations and laws.

Tell us about the company’s recent achievements.

reasonably priced rental properties, including townhouses in Damac Hills 2 that are known to offer a community living experience at affordable prices, starting at Dhs45,000 per annum.

Tell us about your company and its operations.

We started our company in 2007. Today,

Our efforts helped us receive the Gold Ranked Agency Award from DLD in 2021 for the fourth time. It’s a real honour to receive this award yet again.

What advice would you give someone looking to buy a house in Dubai?

The best thing to do is find a wellexperienced advisor who’ll offer you practical advice after understanding your needs and budget. This will help make the process of buying a home a lot easier.

“We are optimistic about 2022 being a productive year in terms of sales. We are also restructuring the company and expanding our office” April 2022

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The Brief / Infographics

Welcoming the world THE WORLD HAS OPENED UP WITH TRAVEL FREEDOM EXPANDING SIGNIFICANTLY IN THE PAST TWO DECADES

Rise and fall

The two graphs below show the countries that have climbed the highest and fallen most sharply in the Henley Passport Index over the past decade

Passports and visas are among the most important instruments impacting on social inequality worldwide as they determine opportunities for global mobility” DR. CHRISTIAN H. KAELIN,

+49

+35

+34

+28

+25

+25

+24

UAE

COLOMBIA

TIMOR-LESTE

CHINA

GEORGIA

UKRAINE

PERU

RANK

2022

15

39

55

64

48

35

36

2012

64

74

89

92

73

60

60

RANK

chairman of Henley & Partners and the inventor of the passport index concept

2012

92

96

63

87

93

79

94

70

2022

107

109

75

98

103

89

104

80

YEMEN

SYRIA

THE GAMBIA

NIGERIA

BANGLADESH

MALI

NORTH KOREA

SIERRA LEONE

-15

-13

-12

-11

-10

-10

-10

-10

IN 2006, THE GLOBAL AVERAGE NUMBER OF COUNTRIES THAT COULD BE VISITED WITHOUT HAVING TO OBTAIN A VISA IN ADVANCE WAS 57

107

COUNTRIES

THE GLOBAL AVERAGE NUMBER OF COUNTRIES THAT CAN BE VISITED IN 2022 WITHOUT HAVING TO OBTAIN A VISA IN ADVANCE

ALL DATA ARE NORMALISED TO A SCALE OF 0 TO 100, WITH 100 THE BEST SCORE

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REGIONAL OVERVIEW The UAE leads the region in the index with its passport holders allowed easy access to 175 destinations around the world

QATAR

KUWAIT

BAHRAIN

OMAN

SAUDI ARABIA

53rd

54th

62nd

64th

65th

Ranking in 2022

Ranking in 2022

Ranking in 2022

Ranking in 2022

Ranking in 2022

97

95

84

80

79

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

15th RANKING IN 2022

175

Visa-free destinations

Visa-free destinations

Visa-free destinations

Visa-free destinations

GLOBAL RANKING Top ranking countries such as Japan and Singapore offer the most travel freedom to their citizens

JAPAN

SINGAPORE

RANK 02

Visa-free destinations

Visa-free destinations

RESIDENCE BY INVESTMENT PROGRAMME Country

Visa-free score: 190

Canada

Programme

Quebec Immigrant Investor Programme

RANK 01

RANK 03 Visa-free score: 189

SOUTH KOREA

FINLAND

ITALY

GERMANY

SPAIN LUXEMBOURG

Visa-free score: 192

Minimum capital

CAD 1.2m

Processing time 48–56 months

Key benefit

The right to live, work, and study without restriction in Canada

AUSTRIA HAS ONE OF THE WORLD’S STRONGEST PASSPORTS. OPTIONS FOR OBTAINING AUSTRIAN CITIZENSHIP START FROM A MINIMUM INVESTMENT OF

EUR3 MILLION

SOURCE: THE HENLEY PASSPORT INDEX REPORT 2022

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April 2022

19

The Brief / Lightbox

Twenty-four-year-old Charles Leclerc of Monaco driving the Ferrari F1-75 ahead of Sergio Perez of Mexico and Oracle Red Bull Racing, walking away from his car (16) during the F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain at Bahrain International Circuit on March 20.

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April 2022

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PHOTO: CLIVE MASON/GETTY IMAGES)

INTERVIEW / FINANCE

A DIVERSIFIED STRATEGY FOR GLOBAL GROWTH EFG Hermes Holding’s Karim Awad shares the key milestones and diversified strategy driving the company’s success in frontier emerging markets (FEM)

BY NEESHA SALIAN

EFG Hermes Holding has transformed itself from a pure-play investment bank into an Egyptian universal bank and the leading investment bank franchise in FEM. Tell us about the highlights and milestones of this journey.

I joined the company in 1998 and became group CEO in October 2013. Since taking over the management team, the first milestone – towards our transformation into the firm we are today – was shedding non-core assets including divesting our majority stake in the Lebanese bank, Crédit Libanais, in 2016. It was an asset that represented a big portion of our balance sheet. However, the bank – which was Lebanon focused – didn’t have synergies with our limited operations in the country.

This step increased our cash reserves, derisked our position in the country, and helped us return some cash to our shareholders. It also marked a significant pivot in our business and operations.

We organically increased the focus on our non-bank financial institutions (NBFI) platform, EFG Hermes Finance, which we launched in 2015, introducing our leasing business, EFG Hermes Leasing. We also added more complementary businesses supporting non-banking activities. In 2016, we acquired a majority stake in Tanmeyah Microenterprise Services, the largest private microfinance company in Egypt.

Tanmeyah offers financial services and promotes financial inclusion through micro-enterprise lending and very small enterprise lending as well as other financial solutions available through its extensive branch network.

In 2018, we established valU, a buynow-pay-later (BNPL) fintech platform, which was the first MENA BNPL offering 22

April 2022

access to a wide network of retail, e-commerce and service providers across a diverse array of categories, including home appliances, electronics, healthcare and education.

In 2021, the company acquired a 51 per cent stake in Arab Investment Bank (aiBANK). This marked our strategic entry into Egypt’s dynamic commercial banking sector and the transformation of our Egyptian operations into a universal bank with a FEM focused investment bank, a commercial bank, and a successful NBFI platform. Our efforts to geographically diversify our investment bank business have seen us set up operations in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Kenya, Nigeria, the UK, and the US. Today, we have a team of over 6,509 employees, offering a multitude of financial services to the MENA region and FEM. What are some of the key services and products that are driving the company’s success today?

We are excited about a number of things we are doing, particularly in reference to our operations in the UAE. The UAE is a key market for us and this year marks our 20th anniversary since we set up operations in 2002. We are proud to be part of the shift we are seeing in the country’s capital markets over the past few years, as more offerings come in from Abu Dhabi

and Dubai. We were involved with three key initial public offerings (IPOs) coming out of Abu Dhabi, including ADNOC Drilling, Yahsat and Fertiglobe on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange in 2021, and more recently, the DEWA IPO, which will list on Dubai Financial Market. Saudi Arabia is similarly an important market for us. In 2021, we were involved with three IPOs, including ACWA Power on Tadawul, and we continue seeking both potential IPO advisory deals and more merger and acquisition work as Saudi Arabia’s market grows further.

In Egypt, valU, our BPNL platform, has taken the market by storm since its launch. It’s a pioneering brand, and we are proud we established it from scratch.

There’s a fantastic team running this franchise and we are excited about seeing it grow and expand further.

What are some of the factors that have helped the company’s rapid growth and expansion?

People are the key factor driving the company’s growth. Our strategy is built on six pillars, with the first being people. We believe in hiring the right people, training them well, and promoting people from within the organisation, when we can. It not only nurtures their growth but also preserves our work culture and values.

Secondly, our ability to cross-sell across an expanding network of financial services has increased during the past years, as we continue to grow each of our business lines and to play our role in increasing financial inclusion and job creation across frontier emerging markets. This model continues to reap great benefits for our shareholders by providing greater visibility on profitability and future dividend distribution as well as potentially significant upside through contemplated partial exits of some of our growing subsidiaries.

PEOPLE ARE THE KEY FACTOR DRIVING THE COMPANY’S GROWTH. OUR STRATEGY IS BUILT ON SIX PILLARS, WITH THE FIRST BEING PEOPLE. WE BELIEVE IN HIRING THE RIGHT PEOPLE, TRAINING THEM WELL, AND PROMOTING PEOPLE FROM WITHIN THE ORGANISATION, WHEN WE CAN. IT NOT ONLY NURTURES THEIR GROWTH BUT ALSO PRESERVES OUR WORK CULTURE AND VALUES” gulfbusiness.com

INTERVIEW / FINANCE

Karim Awad, group CEO, chairman of the executive committee, and member of the board of EFG Hermes Holding

for some parts of our business because of the unpredictable market conditions.

However, the diversity we’ve built into our business over the past seven to ten years will help mitigate risks, and sustain and drive growth across our divisions. We also see countries in the GCC doing well, as they build on higher oil prices and budget surpluses.

This is complemented by capital markets moving in the right direction and new exciting offers coming on board.

We are also very excited about prospects in Egypt. Ongoing fiscal and economic reforms introduced by the government present a strong medium-term growth outlook for Egypt. We are also looking at capital markets showing positive momentum, which will continue to drive our growth in this market.

Tell us about EFG’s financial results for 2021.

regional and international financial ecosystem?

What are the sectors that look promising in the current climate?

Despite prevailing market headwinds, we have seen growth across all our divisions. It proves that our business model is resilient, with our strategy being on point. The firm has continued to gain ground by capitalising on great opportunities and achieving milestones operationally across all our lines of business.

The group’s revenue surpassed the EGP6bn mark for the first time in 2021, reflecting a 12 per cent year-on-year rise. Net profit after tax and minority interest was EGP1.5bn, another 12 per cent rise over the previous year’s figures.

Our NBFI platform delivered another year of solid results: Tanmeyah, continued to make up the lion’s share of revenue while valU saw total transactions more than double during the year. The sell-side business also delivered good results, with our investment banking division reporting an all-time high top-line figure after having closed a record number of transactions in a single year. Together, these achievements have allowed us to maintain our standing as a major financial services player in frontier emerging markets.

We have tremendous respect for FAB, its management team and the bank’s future-forward strategy. The offer came as a validation that we are on the right track. We believe there are a lot of synergies that can be created by a shareholder such as FAB and what we do at EFG Hermes Holding.

We are optimistic about consumerdriven sectors such as food and beverages and pharmaceuticals on the long-term.

The region’s tech sector, particularly with all the development we are seeing in the industry, holds great promise.

In fact, one of our subsidiaries, EFG EV Fintech, has been actively investing in tech startups and companies.

We are seeing companies in that thriving sector, not just in Egypt, but also across the Middle East making great headway as they scale up, bringing a new breed of stocks into the stock markets for new and experienced investors. Sectors such as oil and gas, and commodities will do well based on the current scenario.

First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) recently offered to buy a controlling stake in EFG Hermes.

How has this reinforced the strength of your brand across the

What are some of the key trends across the global investment landscape and how is EFG Hermes leveraging these for further growth?

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What are the company’s plans for the year?

We have plans to increase our market share in Saudi Arabia on a number of fronts. We’ve hired a new CEO to lead our Saudi operations and drive growth, particularly in the investment banking division.

We are looking to export valU to new markets. As we’ve done traditionally, we first established our investment bank business in Egypt, and once it reached a certain scale; we introduced it to other markets. We feel valU is also ready for that move.

Going forward, we will continue growing our investment banking business across other markets as well as the commercial bank business that we recently bought into.

The current year could pose challenges

What’s your take on cryptocurrency and its place in the future of finance?

I’ve learned over the years that it’s not prudent to write off certain trends.

While it is relatively new and has a small share of the financial market, cryptocurrency is rapidly gaining mainstream support.

Many banks that were skeptical about it at one point are now changing their outlook, with cryptocurrency gaining traction among their clients. Going forward, cryptocurrency will become more mainstream and entrenched in the global economy.

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Metaverse marketing is the industry’s future Everdome, that is set to launch later this year, is expected to be the most hyper-realistic space across the entire metaverse landscape

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n the 1990s, the internet revolutionised the marketing industry. We’ve gone from clickable banners in Web 1.0 to the rise of the influencer in Web 2.0. And now the metaverse, an interconnected network of 3D worlds, will shake things up once again. We’re entering into a new phase of customer engagement - one that ups the ante by creating a hyperrealistic environment that allows for more immersive brand experiences than we’ve ever seen before.

As a digital environment that combines real world objects, destinations, and people with boundless imagination, the metaverse offers unlimited potential. It’s leaps and bounds beyond Web 2.0 to the point of being almost incomparable. The metaverse essentially serves as a second world that users can retreat to. A world that is completely free of the limitations that restrict our everyday lives. There is no gravity, no geographical distances that can’t be traversed in the blink of an eye (or the click of a button), no physical restrictions, no pandemics... the metaverse is whatever we want it to be.

Moreso, we can choose who we want to be in the metaverse, whether that’s by using an avatar that accurately portrays our real-world image, by creating an idealistic version of ourselves, or choosing something entirely fantastical.

The only limit in the metaverse is our own imagination.

Bally Singh, chief marketing officer, Everdome and Metahero Of course, that is a massive boon for users, but just take a moment to imagine what could be achieved by creative brands looking to go above and beyond for their next marketing campaign. In a metaverse that allows you to shape reality however you want it to be, the world is your oyster - which would actually be achievable, if an oyster-shaped world is what your brand needs.

The introduction of hyper-realism to the metaverse opens up things even further, by giving brands the ability to retain trueto-life visuals for products and people alike. This is a massive step up because until now, the metaverse has been based around cartoonish graphics. Not only do these have limited appeal, but they also

BRAND VIEW

Hyper-realism IN THE METAVERSE

OPENS UP THINGS EVEN FURTHER, BY GIVING BRANDS THE ABILITY TO RETAIN TRUE-TO-LIFE VISUALS FOR PRODUCTS AND PEOPLE ALIKE

offer limited scope, especially in a marketing context. No-one wants to see their brand represented in anything less than a perfect form. Hyper-realism allows for metaverse representation that is as close to realistic perfection as is possible.

When it launches later this year, Everdome will be the most hyper-realistic verse across the entire landscape of the metaverse. Throughout Everdome’s three phases, users will participate in a journey to colonise Mars. This will include a prelaunch phase on Earth, followed by the launch process and travel time to the Red Planet, before settling there.

It is a stunning example of how photorealism can be used to create beautiful visuals as well as deeper engagement and a more enriching virtual environment for people to explore. After all, users want to invest their valuable time in games that are visually appealing as well as engaging from a storytelling perspective.

As any experienced marketer will tell you, these same two tactics, visual appeal and engagement, apply for brands too. Capturing the attention of consumers relies on more than just having a good product. You need to get potential customers to buy into the brand story, the lifestyle, the promise of something exceptional. This can be difficult to achieve through 2D internet platforms let alone traditional marketing channels, and of course not all customers can be reached in the real world either due to physical limitations.

Enter the metaverse, where the rules of reality are thrown out of the window.

With the use of Metahero’s 3D scanning technology, products of all kinds can be replicated within the metaverse with real-to-life details. To give a little more technical context, Metahero employs Ultra-HD photogrammetric scanning technology to bridge the physical and digital worlds. This allows people to scan and create 3D non-fungible tokens (NFTs), as well as creating their own 3D, photorealistic avatars - which is where Metahero meets Everdome.

By combining Metahero’s tech with the immense graphic abilities of Unreal Engine 5 from Epic Games, Everdome

“It is a stunning example of how photo-realism can be used to create beautiful visuals as well as deeper engagement and a more enriching virtual environment for people to explore”

will leave users questioning what’s real and what isn’t.

That’s what makes this an extremely exciting time for sales and marketing.

We’re enhancing the metaverse ecosystem beyond what anyone has currently experienced, and creating the opportunity to discover and interact with new people, places, and products.

We’re opening the door for people to live in the digital world, while also creating new channels of engagement for brands, businesses and more.

As mentioned earlier, the metaverse offers unlimited potential. Everdome’s hyper-realistic environment will create opportunities for brands to give consumers a richer engagement experience. This will allow them to explore products on a deeper level, whether that’s a physical item, a guided tour of a property, a virtual tourist retreat, or even a school lesson. With no limitations on what is possible within the metaverse practically anything can be recreated within it, from fine jewellery to the Seven Wonders of the World to the mountains of Hatta in the UAE – which is where Everdome’s pre-launch Phase 1 is set.

With this vast amount of potential in mind, there really isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ approach for brands or businesses to get the most out of the metaverse. Each company will have their own way of using it to their advantage and to exceed their objectives, and, of course, every product is different. Also, given that it is a relatively new environment – especially when it comes to the hyper-realism of Everdome – a helping hand may be needed to guide metaverse strategies.

INTERVIEW / TELECOM

RESHAPING the current technological paradigm Shunli Wang, vice president of Huawei Middle East, tells Gulf Business about the upcoming headwinds that will impact regional governments, telecom operators, and the wider ICT ecosystem Tell us about the trajectory of the digital economy this year.

You announced some key partnerships with Middle East carriers at Mobile World Congress.

How will these partnerships enhance the ICT sector in the region?

A key part of our strategy is to create platforms for close communication with carriers and industry partners to share knowledge, experiences, and best practices. With the advent of the digital economy, 5G, and new digital services, digital operations transformation is becoming an important factor for carriers’ business success. We are supporting carriers directly to build cloud-oriented networks with AI capabilities, which we believe will define the future of the sector.

The global digital economy continues to develop rapidly. We estimate over 50 WE ARE SUPPORTING per cent of global GDP will be digitalised CARRIERS DIRECTLY TO by the end of 2022. Many countries in BUILD CLOUD-ORIENTED the Middle East have already announced NETWORKS WITH AI substantial investment plans for the digital economy, recognising that the CAPABILITIES, WHICH WE ICT industry will play a significant role BELIEVE WILL DEFINE THE in helping them to meet their socioFUTURE OF THE SECTOR” economic development visions.

In this context, telecom operators in the Middle East will play an increasingly important role in leading What is ‘fibre to the room’, and how will it the development of the future digital economy. By diversifying impact people in the coming years? their computing resources, operators can create synergies Homes are increasingly becoming a centre point for remote between connectivity and IT to boost enterprise digitalisation offices, online education, e-shopping, and telemedicine. for new growth.

However, it is often challenging to provide Wi-Fi coverage in How do we adapt to the ‘gigaverse era’, and multi-storey villas and large apartment blocks. Fibre-to-thehow can Middle East carriers manage the room (FTTR) solutions will solve this problem. Our gigabit increased demand for bandwidth?

FTTR solution for smart homes and digital enterprises, As digital transformation is accelerating, it requires carriers to enable gigabit wi-fi 6 coverage in any room. This provides embrace an all-scenario Giga network to enable a new digital life true gigabit, ultra-broadband services to residential and and digital industries. The target mobile broadband ‘gigaverse’ SME users. should support gigabit experiences for everyone. That means Your company examined three priorities at expanding gigabit coverage everywhere and enabling the digital MWC to maintain its own future competitivetransformation of all industries. ness. What does this mean for your Middle Our own value proposition for the target gigaverse network, East operations? powered by 5G, is based on facilitating a 10x user experience In recent weeks we have showcased a series of new technolocompared to 4G, reducing the cost per bit and the power gies and solutions from across all our business units to help consumption per bit to one-tenth of what it is today, and ensure success through digital transformation. We met with supporting rapid data growth from consumers, business, and organisations from across the Middle East and abroad to home services. discuss 5G business strategies, green technology, and connectivity + IT. We also confirmed strengthening our investments GLOBAL GDP in foundational technologies that reshape the current techwill be digitalised by the end of 2022. Many countries nological paradigm. Ultimately, we are focused on creating in the Middle East have already announced business and social value to light up a bright future of the substantial investment plans for the digital economy region’s digital economy.

50%+

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ARAB POWER LIST

100 MOST

POWERFUL ARABS 2022 SPECIAL REPORT 27

SPECIAL REPORT

T

he past 12 months can best be described as a period of transition, with the global economy working its way to recovery. Economic highs and lows and geopolitical pressures persist, but it’s been an eventful period for those on our Arab Power List. Some have seen their fortunes rise while others have had to test their resilience to prove they are here to stay.

We have prolific business leaders and industry stalwarts sharing space with rising cultural icons and elite athletes on our list this year. They are joined by 17 new faces, including three women, who have stood out for their contribution to the field of diplomacy, medicine and space exploration. We also have the founders of a tech unicorn that has found its way to Nasdaq and other influential leaders who are contributing to strengthening the Arab world’s profile globally.

Read on to know more about the movers and shakers who’ve made it to our celebrated Gulf Business Arab Power List 2022.

METHODOLOGY Gulf Business looked at the events of 2021-22 and rated each individual case on the basis of four criteria: financial capital, human capital, expansion plans, and personal fame levels. In general, Gulf

Business has excluded politicians and royalty, unless the contenders have a strong leaning towards business activity. We have included Arabs from across the world.

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Origin: KSA Residence: KSA Sector: Diversified 2021 rank: 1

Yasir Al-Rumayyan Chairman, Aramco/Governor, PIF

Backed by a massive pool of resources, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has had a busy last year. With plans to grow its assets under management to around SAR4tn by the end of 2025, the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund has been frequently making headlines. Last year, it led the acquisition of Newcastle United and raised $3.2bn from the sale of its stake in telecom operator stc.

Meanwhile, Saudi Aramco, the world’s biggest oil producer, of which Al-Rumayyan is chairman, recently discovered natural gas fields that can produce over 100 million cubic feet per day in total. Al-Rumayyan, who also serves on the boards of Uber and Reliance Industries Limited, is expected to play a key role in the country’s growth agenda.

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Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Energy 2021 rank: 2

Dr Sultan Al Jaber Managing director and group CEO, ADNOC

State-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has had an enterprising last year. It announced investments of almost $6bn to enable drilling growth, following which the oil giant announced conventional oil, condensate and gas discoveries of up to one billion barrels of oil equivalent from an exploration well in Abu Dhabi’s Onshore Block 4 concession.

At the company’s helm is Dr Sultan Al Jaber, who is second on our list for driving the company’s ambitious growth strategy.

Al Jaber was named the highest-ranked CEO outside of the US and China, according to Brand Finance. The UAE’s Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, Al Jaber also chairs clean energy company, Masdar, and Abu Dhabi Media.

Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Diversified 2021 rank: 3

HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum Chairman and chief executive, Emirates Group/Chairman, Emirates NBD

When it comes to regional aviation leaders, it is tough to see past Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum. Sheikh Ahmed led Dubai carrier Emirates’ resurgence in the wake of the pandemic. The airline inked agreements and launched initiatives to support tourism to several destinations including Spain, Maldives and Saudi Arabia, as well as transported 600 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines on its flights to over 80 destinations by December. Sheikh Ahmed is also the chairman of Dubai Airports and Dubai Civil Aviation Authority. Meanwhile, as chairman of Dubai-based lender Emirates NBD, he oversaw the bank post Dhs9.3bn in net profit in 2021, surging 34 per cent over the previous year.

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Origin: Qatar Residence: Qatar Sector: Diversified 2021 rank: 5

Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi President and CEO, QatarEnergy/ Chairman and MD, Industries Qatar

Leading two of Qatar’s most significant business assets, QatarEnergy – formerly Qatar Petroleum – and Industries Qatar, Al-Kaabi continues to play a prominent role in shaping the country’s economic growth. He is also spearheading QatarEnergy’s upstream growth strategy.

Al-Kaabi joined QatarEnergy in 1986, and eventually rose through the ranks to lead the company in 2014. AlKaabi was appointed Minister of State for Energy Affairs in November 2018.

He is also a board member of Qatar Investment Authority.

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Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Diversified 2021 rank: 6

Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak Group CEO and managing director, Mubadala Investment Company

With $243bn in assets under management, Mubadala Investment, headed

by Al Mubarak is playing a key role in diversifying Abu Dhabi’s economic growth. He also chairs the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation, Emirates Global Aluminium and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank. Al Mubarak is a member of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council too. Besides investing across various sectors, Mubadala signed an MoU with Bahrain’s Mumtalakat in December 2021 to explore co-investment opportunities worldwide.

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Origin: KSA Residence: KSA Sector: Energy 2021 rank: 7

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Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Real Estate/Retail 2021 rank: 11

Amin Nasser President and CEO, Aramco

“I believe our industry has a new quest before us,” Amin Naseer, CEO of the world’s biggest oil producer said at the World Petroleum Council Congress 2021. Last year, Aramco announced its ambition to reach operational net-zero emissions by 2050, complementing the kingdom’s net-zero target aimed for a decade later. Aramco posted $110bn in net income for 2021, up 124 per cent from $49bn recorded in 2020. Earlier this year, 4 per cent of Aramco’s shares were also transferred to Saudi’s Public Investment Fund, to support the kingdom’s economy.

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Origin: Lebanon/ Mexico Residence: Mexico Sector: Telecoms 2021 rank: 4

Carlos Slim Helú Honorary chairman, America Movil

With a net worth estimated at $86.6bn, Slim is one of the richest people on the planet. He began investing in government bonds at the age of 10 and has honed his business acumen ever since. Having made his fortune in the telecoms industry, his diversified businesses empire incorporates interests ranging from real estate and media to technology and healthcare.

Regarded as one of the most generous billionaires outside of the US, he has encouraged his peers not to approach philanthropy as a means of charity, but to consider it through the lens of problem-solving in order for it to have maximum impact.

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Mohamed Alabbar Founder, Emaar/noon.com

Developer Emaar Properties posted its highest ever property sales worth $9.19bn last year. It also reported a net profit of $1.035bn for 2021, recording 80 per cent growth from $574m in 2020. Besides being at the forefront of real estate, Emaar founder, Alabbar, has also driven the e-commerce platform noon.com, which opened its largest warehouse space in Riyadh recently, spanning over 45,000 sq m. Alabbar is also the chairman of Zand, a digital bank, which will offer retail and corporate services, post launch.

Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Science and Technology

2021 rank: 8

Sarah bint Yousif Al Amiri Chairwoman, UAE Space Agency

After reaching Mars, the chairwoman of the UAE Space Agency, Sarah bint Yousif Al Amiri is not standing still. The agency announced a new interplanetary mission last year, involving an expedition to the orbit of Venus as well as an exploration of the asteroid belt beyond Mars.

With the UAE embarking on new space initiatives, Al Amiri, also the UAE’s Minister of State for Advanced Technology and head of the Emirates Scientists Council, will be a guiding force in the country’s technological advancements on Earth and beyond.

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10 Origin: KSA

Residence: KSA Sector: Finance

2021 rank: 10

HRH Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud Chairman, Kingdom Holding Company

The Saudi business magnate’s Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) reported SAR1.017bn in net profit after zakat and tax for 2021. Last year, Prince Alwaleed was reappointed as KHC’s chairman for a three-year term, while earlier this year, a KHC affiliate completed the sale of a 23.75 per cent stake in Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts at an enterprise value of $10bn. Meanwhile, Alwaleed Philanthropies, the humanitarian organisation he chairs, has spent over $4bn on social welfare and started over 1,000 projects in more than 189 countries over four decades.

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Mohamed Al Hammadi

Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem

Yousef Abdullah Al Benyan

Group chairman and CEO, DP World / Chairman, Virgin Hyperloop

Vice chairman and CEO, SABIC

Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Energy 2021 rank: 9

Managing director and CEO, Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation

ENEC announced last month that Unit 2 of the Barakah plant started commercial operations, adding 1,400MW of clean electricity to the national grid, bringing the total produced by Units 1 and 2 to 2,800MW. Once fully operational, the plant will produce up to 25 per cent of the UAE’s electricity needs and will prevent around 22.4 million tons of carbon emissions every year, equivalent to the emissions of 4.8 million cars. Having led ENEC in delivering a peaceful nuclear energy programme, Al Hammadi will continue to be instrumental in growing this sector.

Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Logistics 2021 rank: 12

In February, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem announced a GBP1m investment from DP World to support two finalists of the Earthshot Prize, an environmental platform founded by Prince William and The Royal Foundation.

DP World also reported a 9.4 per cent year-on-year increase on a reported basis in gross container volumes across its network last year, ahead of the average industry growth of 6.5 per cent. Sulayem also chairs Virgin Hyperloop; Dubai’s Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation as well as the Dubai Chamber of International Trade.

Origin: KSA Residence: KSA Sector: Industry 2021 rank: 15

Driven by its CEO Yousef Al Benyan, the petrochemicals firm SABIC posted a net income of SAR23bn for 2021, a massive surge from SAR70m during the prior year.

Last year, SABIC signed an MoU with Omani energy company OQ to study the development of a new petrochemical project in Oman. In collaboration with Malaysia’s HHI, SABIC also produced the world’s first certified circular polymers through the advanced recycling of recovered ocean-bound plastic. Outside of SABIC, Al Benyan chairs the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA).

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Origin: Qatar Residence: Qatar Sector: Sports 2021 rank: 13

Hassan Al Thawadi Secretary general, Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy/ Chairman, FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022

Over 1.2 million tickets for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 were requested worldwide within the first 24 hours of going on sale earlier this year. Al Thawadi is overseeing the preparations for the tournament’s successful delivery, which will begin in November.

Besides his roles as the secretary general of the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy and chairman of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, Hassan Al Thawadi also serves on the boards of Qatar International Islamic Bank and Qatar Investment Authority.

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Origin: Qatar Residence: Qatar Sector: Finance 2021 rank: 17

Mansoor Ebrahim Al-Mahmoud CEO, Qatar Investment Authority

Al-Mahmoud assumed the CEO role of Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) in 2018. Under his tutelage QIA, one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, manages $450bn in assets and ranks as the world’s ninth largest by total assets, according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute. QIA has steered its strategy to focus more on diversification and investments with ESG goals. Outside of QIA, Al-Mahmoud is the vice chairman of Qatar Stock Exchange and serves on the board of Qatar National Bank.

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Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Finance 2021 rank: 18

Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair Chairman, Mashreq

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Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Diversified 2021 rank: 14

Reem Al Hashimy Director general, Expo 2020 Dubai

For her continuous efforts over the past several years to organise Expo 2020 Dubai, director general Reem Al Hashimy received special recognition as part of the Dubai Government Excellence Programme.

Expo 2020 Dubai, divided into three districts based on the subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability, saw the participation of 192 countries and recorded over 22 million visits during its six-month run. Al Hashimy also serves as the UAE Minister of State for International Cooperation and chairs the UAE’s National Committee on Sustainable Development Goals and philanthropic association Dubai Cares.

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UAE lender Mashreq, of which Al Ghurair is chairman, swung to Dhs1bn in net profit in 2021, from a Dhs1.3bn loss the previous year. With the inauguration of its first representative office in Shanghai last year, Mashreq operates in 13 countries, including the UAE. Besides maintaining a prominent position within the UAE’s banking sector, the philanthropist also chairs the Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation for Education, which has committed Dhs4.2bn to fund education and upskilling programmes for Emiratis and the Arab youth. Additionally, Al Ghurair serves as the chairman of Dubai Chambers and the UAE Banks Federation.

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Origin: Qatar Residence: Qatar Sector: Finance 2021 rank: 19

Abdulla Mubarak Al-Khalifa Group CEO, Qatar National Bank

Qatar National Bank reported QAR1.093tn in total assets for 2021, staying above the trillion-riyal mark for two consecutive years. Meanwhile, its net profit soared 10 per cent to equal QAR13.2bn last year. The lender expanded its international presence by opening its first branch in Hong Kong last year. Al-Khalifa, who rose through the ranks to become the bank’s group CEO, will play a pivotal role in steering the lender towards further growth. Al-Khalifa also serves on the board of telecom company, Ooredoo.

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Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Finance 2021 rank: 20

Mohammed Ibrahim Al Shaibani Managing director, Investment Corporation of Dubai

The Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD), which has holdings in major Dubai entities such as ENOC, Emirates and Emirates NBD, posted Dhs1.4bn in net profit for the first half of 2021.

At the helm of ICD, the world’s 11th largest sovereign wealth fund by total assets, according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute, is Al Shaibani. Outside ICD, Al Shaibani chairs Nakheel and Dubai Islamic Bank and serves as the vice chairman of Dubai Aerospace Enterprise.

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Origin: KSA Residence: KSA Sector: Finance 2021 rank: 16

Lubna Suliman Olayan Chairperson, Saudi British Bank

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Origin: UAE Residence: UAE 2021 rank: 21

Sector: Finance

Hana Al Rostamani Group CEO, First Abu Dhabi Bank

First Abu Dhabi Bank posted Dhs12.5bn in group net profit for 2021, up 19 per cent year-on-year, while its total assets exceeded Dhs1tn. With more than two decades of banking and financial services’ experience and leading from the front is the bank’s first female and incumbent CEO, Hana Al Rostamani, who is also a board member of the AW Rostamani Group. Last year, the lender received a licence to open a branch in Shanghai. It will also open a representative office in Iraq, it announced in March.

Chairperson of Saudi British Bank (SABB), Lubna Olayan is one of most influential businesswomen in the region. Olayan became the first woman to chair a Saudi-listed entity when she was appointed to the role following the merger between SABB and Alawwal Bank. SABB recorded net profit after zakat and income tax of SAR3.2bn for 2021, up 177 per cent compared to 2020. A strong voice for women’s empowerment in the kingdom, Olayan served as the CEO of Olayan Financing Company for over 35 years. Last year, she was appointed as chair of the Saudi Swedish Business Council.

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Origin: KSA Residence: KSA Sector: Finance 2021 rank: 28

Sarah Al Suhaimi Chairperson, Saudi Tadawul Group

As chairperson of Saudi Tadawul Group, Sarah Al Suhaimi spearheads efforts to align the kingdom’s capital market with global peers. The group operates a portfolio of four subsidiaries, one of which is the Saudi Exchange.

The group posted SAR587.7m in net profit after zakat and tax for 2021, recording a 17 per cent increase over the previous year. Al Suhaimi, who served as the CEO of SNB Capital from 2014 to 2021, is also a board member of telecom operator stc, and the Cultural Development Fund.

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Essa Kazim

Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak

Fahd Hamidaddin

Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Finance 2021 rank: 22

Governor, DIFC

The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) recorded 996 company registrations in 2021, the highest ever in a single year since its inception.

Last year, DIFC also recorded its highest ever annual revenue and operating profit, equalling Dhs897m and Dhs573m respectively. Meanwhile, the total number of active companies operating in DIFC increased by 25 per cent to 3,644 in 2021. Its governor Essa Kazim is also the vice chairman of telecom operator e&. Kazim, who was the erstwhile chairman of Dubai Financial Market, serves on the board of Nasdaq Dubai as well.

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Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Diversified 2021 rank: 27

Chairman, Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi/Aldar Properties

With an overall goal of attracting 23 million tourists annually by 2030, Abu Dhabi is charting a growth course for itself. Overseeing the emirate’s development as a cultural and tourist hotspot is Al Mubarak, chairman of the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi.

Al Mubarak also leads Aldar Properties as chairman, which acquired Al Hamra Mall, marking its entry into Ras Al Khaimah this year, and launched the world’s first Louvre-branded residences in Abu Dhabi. Al Mubarak serves as the chairman of twofour54 and Miral Asset Management.

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Origin: KSA Residence: KSA Sector: Tourism

CEO, Saudi Tourism Authority

Saudi Arabia is keen to revamp its tourism landscape to tip the scales towards a diversified economy. As CEO of Saudi Tourism Authority (STA), Fahd Hamidaddin is tasked with steering the mandate to build domestic and inbound visitation.

Earlier this year, STA signed a MoU with Emirates to boost inbound tourism into the kingdom. Hamidaddin’s erstwhile roles include being the chief of investment, strategy and tourism marketing for the Saudi Ministry of Tourism. He manages the development of the Visit Saudi destination brand as well as serves on the board of the Qiddiya Investment Company.

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HH Prince Naif bin Sultan bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Kabeer

Mohammad Saud Al-Osaimi

Saeed bin Mohammed Al Ghamdi

Chief executive officer, Boursa Kuwait

Managing director and CEO, Saudi National Bank

Origin: Saudi Arabia Residence: Saudi Arabia Sector: FMCG 2021 rank: 40

Chairman, Almarai

Almarai, the Middle East’s biggest dairy company and the first dairy company to be certified to the NSF Global Animal Wellness Standard, is now making a greater push into the poultry business.

Last year, it announced a SAR6.6bn investment to double poultry production in Saudi over five years. Prince Naif has been at the forefront of driving forward an agenda of food security and self-reliance in the region. Beyond the F&B sector, his expertise lies in diverse fields, including petrochemicals, insurance and telecoms. He is also chairman of Zain KSA and Global Company for Downstream Industries.

Origin: Kuwait Residence: Kuwait Sector: Finance 2021 rank: 42

Boursa Kuwait, with Al-Osaimi at the helm, has had a successful strategy to climb out of the pandemic’s economic abyss. In 2021, it reported annual profits of $52m, up 26.3 per cent year-on-year with the value of trading also up 26.6 per cent over 2020. The exchange is set to introduce several new services over the coming months including central counterparty service for the cash market, derivative products including index and single-stock futures, a fixed-income market for corporate bonds and sukuks, and possibly even SPACs. Al-Osaimi is ensuring that expansion will be undertaken responsibly, with Boursa Kuwait launching its ESG guide last September.

Origin: KSA Residence: KSA Sector: Finance 2021 rank: 23

Created after the merger of Saudi banks National Commercial Bank (NCB) and Samba, Saudi National Bank reported an almost 11 per cent increase in net income for 2021, equalling SAR12.7bn, while its assets stood at SAR914bn.

Leading the banking powerhouse is Al Ghamdi, its managing director and CEO. A veteran in the kingdom’s banking and finance space, Al Ghamdi also previously served as an advisor to the governor of the Saudi Central Bank and will be instrumental in leading the lender towards further growth.

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Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Diversified 2021 rank: 30

Dr Raja Easa Al Gurg Vice chairperson and managing director, Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group

Dr Raja Easa Al Gurg steers one of the UAE’s most prominent family businesses - Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group. The group, which has 27 companies in its portfolio, spans the retail, building and construction, industrial and real estate sectors.

Al Gurg is also the deputy chairperson of National Bank of Fujairah, which posted a net profit of Dhs115.2m for 2021. Besides serving on the board of Dubai Chambers, she is also the president of the Dubai Business Women Council.

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NEW

Origin: Lebanon Residence: UAE Sector: Culture and Society

Elie Habib and Eddy Maroun Co-founders, Anghami

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Origin: Egypt Residence: UK Sector: Sports Rank 2021: 24

Mohamed Salah Footballer, Liverpool FC

The Egyptian footballer is considered one of the world’s best players. Salah, who plays for Liverpool FC, has many awards to his credit, including two Premier League Golden Boot awards, two Premier League titles, a Champions League, the FIFA Club World Cup, the UEFA Supercup, English League Cup, as well as two African Footballer of the Year awards.

His net worth is estimated to be in the vicinity of EUR88m. The player is waiting on his new contract that could make him one of the Premier League’s highestpaid players.

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NEW

Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Science and Technology

Salem Humaid AlMarri Director general, Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre

Salem AlMarri has played a prominent role in ensuring the success of several projects within the UAE National Space Programme, including the Emirates Mars Mission, Mars 2117 and the UAE Astronaut Programme. The director general of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre, AlMarri was the first project manager of UAE satellites DubaiSat-1 and DubaiSat-2. With over 15 years of experience, AlMarri has overseen the expansion of the centre and will be instrumental in further developing the sector.

The Lebanese-born, Abu Dhabi-headquartered Anghami made history this year when it became the first Arab tech company to list on the Nasdaq exchange in New York. The music streaming powerhouse has over 72 million songs in its library, in excess of 75 million registered users and more than 200,000 podcasts. It has also struck strategic initiatives such as the launch of Vibe Music Arabia, a joint venture label with Sony Music Middle East to support independent Arab artists, besides the unveiling of the Anghami Lab venue in partnership with Addmind. It’s been a dream run for a company that rebranded last month and whose idea was sowed when co-founders Habib and Maroun were on a ski trip together in Lebanon. They found it cumbersome to download the latest music and transfer it to their iPod. Anghami rose from that predicament with an initial $1m funding, to a company that was valued at $220m at the time of being listed.

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Origin: Qatar Residence: Qatar Sector: Culture and Society 2021 rank: 34

Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani Chairperson, Qatar Museums

With the FIFA World Cup set to be held in the country this year, all eyes are on Qatar. It’s also a moment when the country’s rich cultural heritage will take centrestage. Playing a pivotal role in that endeavour is Sheikha Al Mayassa, arguably one of the most prominent proponents for the advancement of the region’s art scene. This year, as part of Qatar Museums’ expansion, it plans to take the museum experience outdoors with the installation of around 40 new and commissioned works at locations including shopping malls, railway stations, educations institutions and even football stadiums. The earnestness with which she approaches her role to truly democratise art and make it accessible to the public can be gathered from her Instagram bio: “Public Servant 24/7/365.”

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SPECIAL REPORT

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Origin: KSA Residence: KSA Sector: Finance 2021 rank: 35

Fahad Al Mubarak Governor, Saudi Central Bank

The former advisor to the Saudi Royal Court and the first chairman of the Saudi stock exchange, Tadawul, has a deep-rooted view of global financial markets. In his current role as governor, it will require him to bring all of his approximately four decades of experience in the field of finance to balance an increase of interest rates by the US Federal Reserve internationally and a soaring agenda of diversification internally to maintain the kingdom’s growth. Saudi’s real gross domestic product for 2021 increased by 3.2 per cent, and under Al Mubarak’s steady direction, the Central Bank will look to continue the momentum.

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Origin: Saudi Arabia Residence: Saudi Arabia Sector: Diversified 2021 rank: 37

Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel Chairman and CEO, Abdul Latif Jameel

The Jeddah based-business has several interests across real estate, energy, healthcare, media and financial services, among others. However, its operations in transportation and mobility landed it a windfall last November when EV maker Rivian raised $11.9bn in an IPO, netting Abdul Latif Jameel nearly $9bn owing to its 114 million shareholding.

Jameel, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumnus, is the secondgeneration family member running the business, and is an ardent supporter of the arts. Jameel is also a notable philanthropist and the founder chairman of Community Jameel.

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Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Diversified 2021 rank: 33

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Origin: UAE

Residence: UAE

Sector: Diversified

Khalaf Al Habtoor Founding chairman, Al Habtoor Group

Helal Al Marri Director general, Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism

The newly formed Department of Economy and Tourism has been tasked to bolster Dubai’s competitiveness by attracting foreign investment, raising exports, underpinning SMEs, and developing plans for the emirate’s economic sectors. Director general Helal Al Marri, a man of multiple roles, is to play an instrumental role in navigating the department in achieving its targets.

Meanwhile, Dubai Financial Market (DFM) Company, of which Al Marri is chairman, posted Dhs103.8m in net profit in 2021, while the market capitalisation of listed securities increased 20.5 per cent to Dhs411bn.

Dubai businessman Khalaf Al Habtoor runs a conglomerate with businesses spanning the hotel, automotive, real estate and education sectors. Speaking of his IPO plans in an interview with Bloomberg TV in November of last year, the founding chairman of Al Habtoor Group (AHG) said that the firm will either list the entire group or each of its units “one by one.” Besides the UAE, AHG also maintains a presence in the UK, the US, Austria, Hungary and Lebanon.

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Origin: Kuwait Residence: Kuwait Sector: Retail 2021 rank: 36

Mohammed Alshaya Executive chairman, Alshaya Group

The Alshaya family-owned Kuwaiti business can trace its roots back to 1890 when it was established as a shipping company. Today, the conglomerate with a retail and franchise model spread out over 70 brands including Mothercare, Starbucks, Cheesecake Factory and Victoria’s Secret, operates across the MENA region and Europe. Apart from his role at the Alshaya Group, Mohammed is also the chairman of the board of directors of Mabanee, one of Kuwait’s largest real estate developers, and a member of the board of trustees at the Arab Thought Foundation too.

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Origin: LebaneseSwitzerland Residence: Switzerland Sector: Retail 2021 rank: 49

Nayla Hayek Chairperson, Swatch Group/CEO, Harry Winston

The Swatch Group saw net sales of CHF7.313bn in 2021, up 30 per cent year on year. It has 17 brands in its portfolio including Omega, Breguet and Harry Winston, positioning it among the world’s largest watchmaking groups. Its latest Omega x Swatch collection has led to a global shopping frenzy, becoming one of the year’s most exciting collaborations. The Swatch Group is central to the functioning of the Swiss watch industry as it supplies key components to a number of external brands as well. At the helm of the group is Nayla, who is also on the board of Belenos Clean Power Holding.

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Origin: Saudi Arabia Residence: Saudi Arabia Sector: Finance 2021 rank: 38

Sheikh Sulaiman bin Abdulaziz Al Rajhi Co-founder, Al Rajhi Bank

Al Rajhi Bank is Saudi Arabia’s second-largest lender by way of assets, and announced a plan to increase its capital by $4bn, after recording a net profit of SAR14.47bn for the 12-month period ending December 31. Sheikh Sulaiman, a self-made billionaire worked as a porter at the age of nine, and several odd jobs to make ends meet during his teenage years, including collecting dates and a wholesale seller of imported kerosene. It wasn’t until 1957 that he co-founded Al Rajhi Bank which went on to become one of the Middle East’s biggest financial institutions. With one eye on his beginnings, the noted philanthropist has already committed the majority of his multi-billion fortune to charitable causes.

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Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Diversified

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Mohamed Ali Al Shorafa Al Hammadi Chairman, Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development

Mohamed Ali Al Shorafa Al Hammadi plays an influential role in driving Abu Dhabi’s diversification strategy as a key member of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council and chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development.

He is the head of the Abu Dhabi Investment Office, chairman of the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development, chairman of Hub71 – a key initiative of the Abu Dhabi Government’s development accelerators programme; and chairman of the Securities & Commodities Authority. Al Hammadi is also the chairman of the Free Zones Council, which was set up last year. The Free Zones Council is responsible for reviewing the regulatory legislation for each free zone in Abu Dhabi.

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Origin: Kuwait Residence: Kuwait Sector: Diversified 2021 rank: 43

Bader Nasser Al-Kharafi Vice chairman and CEO, Zain Group

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Origin: Saudi Arabia Residence: Saudi Arabia Sector: Telecoms 2021 rank: 46

Olayan Mohammed Alwetaid Group CEO, stc

Saudi telecom firm stc recorded a 2.87 per cent increase in consolidated net profits after zakat and tax of SAR11.31bn in 2021, making it one of the Middle East’s most profitable mobile-phone operators. In December, Saudi’s Public Investment Fund sold part of its stake in the operator for $3.2bn. Alwetaid, who formerly worked at Aramco and took over as group CEO in March last year, has been at the forefront of overseeing the operator’s strategic expansion in international markets, but also domestically pushing forward with an ambitious and widespread 5G strategy – it recently partnered with Nokia to undertake the Middle East and Africa’s first trial of a 1-Terabit highcapacity channel.

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Origin: Egypt Residence: Cairo Sector: Diversified 2021 rank: 39

Mohamed Mansour Founder and board member, Mansour Group

It’s been a long way to the top for the tenacious Mansour. A debilitating accident nearly cost him a leg when he was 10 years old, and a few years later, while studying in college in America, his father’s business in Egypt was nationalised – which is when Mansour took to working in a pizza parlour for $1.25 an hour to make ends meet.

Overcoming the challenges, Mansour along with his father, Loutfy, rebooted the family-owned business. Today, the Mansour Group is one of Egypt’s largest businesses with over 60,000 employees, operations in 100 countries and interests across several verticals including automotive, food and beverage, and investments, with revenues of over $7.5bn.

With a total of 48.9 million customers across seven countries in the MENA region, Zain Group is one of the leading telecom companies in the region whose net profit climbed 2 per cent in 2021 to reach $616m. Bader began his career at the Al-Kharafi group and went on to occupy several prominent positions. Apart from Zain Group, he is also the non-executive board member of Boursa Kuwait, and is a board member of Kuwait’s Gulf Bank too, besides being a director on Bahrain’s Foulath company. This year, Zain is focused on AR and VR technologies as well as forays into the metaverse.

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Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Diversified 2021 rank: 77

Murshed Al Redaini Group CEO, Yas Holding

As the group CEO of Yas Holding, Al Rediani has spearheaded a series of successful divestments and acquisitions across key sectors, resulting in a portfolio that spans 60 companies and 7,000 employees. Yas Holding has a strong position as an investment company engaged in agriculture, healthcare, education, aviation, technology, services and real estate. It has invested in markets across the Middle East, Europe, Asia and Africa. Al Redaini’s main goal has been transforming the company into an agile, innovative and progressive organisation that supports the UAE’s vision for growth.

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SPECIAL REPORT

THE NUMBERS GAME

The movers and shakers in the Arab Power List: Where do they reside and which sectors do they operate in?

Gender

Residence Female

Ranks

Male

UK 3 Switzerland 1

NEW

Qatar 8

NEW

Bahrain 2 Morocco 3

Sectors

FMCG

33

Chairman/ Chairperson/ Vice-chairperson

UAE 49

2

Logistics Real Estate Aviation Telecoms Energy

Egypt 6

Tunisia 1

2

Industry

3

29

3

CEO

Kuwait 6

3

Mexico 1

3

US 3

4

Saudi Arabia 14

Lebanon 1

4

11

Science and Technology 5 Sport

Culture and Society

Diversified

42

Founder/Co-founder

Palestine 1

5

Retail

Finance

Designation

Oman 3

Diplomacy 1 Tourism

17 33 35 15

3 President 24 Others

6 10 23 26

SPECIAL REPORT

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Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Science and technology 2021 rank: 48

Faisal Al Bannai Executive chairman, Edge Group

Having previously founded DarkMatter Group and Axiom Telecom, Al Bannai took over a more prominent role at Edge in January when he was appointed as executive chairman of its board. Edge has built cutting-edge tech capabilities in weapon systems, electronic warfare and cyber protection. It is now showcasing its services to foreign countries having reportedly signed 20 export sales contracts last year worth Dhs1bn. Al Bannai is also on the board of trustees of Khalifa University, and secretary general of the Advanced Technology Research Council that awarded Dhs40m in research funding to 53 R&D projects last year.

48

Origin: Bahrain Residence: Bahrain Sector: Finance 2021 rank: 44

Khalid Al Rumaihi CEO, Mumtalakat

Among the most influential figures steering the kingdom’s economy, apart from being the CEO of the country’s sovereign wealth fund, Mumtalakat, Al Rumaihi is also on the boards of its most prominent financial institutions, including the Bahrain Development Bank and the Bahrain Real Estate Investment Company, besides being the former managing director at Investcorp. As the kingdom targets a 5 per cent increase in its non-oil economic sector this year, Al Rumaihi will likely make a concerted effort to diversify and expand the wealth fund’s global portfolio, which manages assets of approximately $18.9bn in 13 countries.

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Origin: Egypt Residence: UAE Sector: Telecoms 2021 rank: 51

Hatem Dowidar CEO, e&

Having overseen a recent rebranding of Etisalat group to e& this year, Dowidar has played an instrumental role in it being ranked earlier as the world’s strongest telecom brand by Brand Finance. With a telecoms portfolio of over $12.5bn, a net profit of Dhs9.3bn and a UAE subscriber base of 12.7 million for 2021, it is only primed for further growth. Dowidar, who before joining e& in 2015 was the group chief of staff of Vodafone in London is now, apart from e&, also on the board of Khalifa University and the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

49

NEW

Origin: Egypt Residence: Egypt Sector: Finance

Karim Awad Group CEO and chairman of the Executive Committee, EFG Hermes Holding

Awad, who started his career 24 years ago with EFG, has risen to the top to become a board member. He became group CEO in 2013 and undertook a massive restructuring of the firm, an exercise whose outcome is evident considering it reported a net profit in 2021 after tax and minority interest of EGP1.5bn, a 12 per rise cent year-on-year. It is figures such as these which has led the UAE’s First Abu Dhabi Bank to make an offer to buy a controlling stake in Egypt’s biggest investment bank. With Awad at the helm, EFG has earned itself a position as a leading adviser on initial public offerings across the region, and even entered Egypt’s commercial banking sector last year with a 51 per cent acquisition in Arab Investment Bank (aiBank).

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SPECIAL REPORT

50

Origin: Oman Residence: Oman Sector: Finance 2021 rank: 50

Mohammed bin Mahfoodh Alardhi Executive chairman, Investcorp

After almost four decades on the Bahrain stock exchange, Investcorp delisted last year. Managing assets of around $40bn, it is also the Gulf’s largest private investor in US real estate with an approximately $3.5bn holding across 32 million square feet in the country alone.

Investcorp is led by Alardhi, the former chief of the Oman Air Force. Apart from Investcorp, he is also the chairman of Sohar International Bank as well as the chairman of the board of directors of the Muscat Stock Exchange.

51

Origin: Egypt Residence: Egypt Sector: Industry/ Sport 2021 rank: 47

Nassef Sawiris Executive chairman, OCI/co-owner, Aston Villa FC

Last year, ADNOC and the Euronextlisted OCI took their jointly-owned fertiliser venture Fertiglobe onto the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX).

With a $795m IPO, it was the third-largest ever listing on ADX at the time. That Fertiglobe’s shares jumped 20 per cent on its trading debut was only a testament to the future prospects of the firm which sold the UAE’s first cargo of blue ammonia to Japan a few weeks ahead of the listing. Apart from being the coowner of Aston Villa FC, some of his strategic investments include a 6 per cent stake in Adidas and another stake in LafargeHolcim, which is among the world’s largest cement manufacturers.

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52

Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Finance 2021 rank: 61

Jassim Alseddiqi Group CEO, Shuaa Capital

Alseddiqi, who is also the chairman of the GFH Financial Group and serves on the boards of First Abu Dhabi Bank and Dana Gas, has business acumen that is honed to spot untapped potential. He puts that to full use via Shuaa Capital which has $14bn in assets under management and has backed talent including Anghami much before it became the first Arab tech company to list on Nasdaq.

Keen to do the same with the next wave of high-growth tech and financial services based companies within the MENAT region, Shuaa recently listed a $100m SPAC on Nasdaq New York.

53

Origin: Egypt Residence: Egypt Sector: Diversified 2021 rank: 53

Naguib Sawiris Managing director and CEO, Orascom Investment Holding

In 2011, Sawiris created the world’s sixth-largest mobile telecommunications provider when he merged Orascom Telecom Holding, which he had founded, with VEON. At Orascom Investment Holding which Sawiris subsequently set up, he manages a diversified investment portfolio that mainly focuses on technology, media and telecom interests around the world. Apart from being the chairman of Ora which undertakes high-end property development, the global strategic business insights of the Egyptian billionaire has led to key advisory roles on global platforms including the New York Stock Exchange, the National Bank of Kuwait and the London Stock Exchange’s Africa Advisory Group.

SPECIAL REPORT

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NEW

Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Logistics

Captain Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi Group CEO and managing director, Abu Dhabi Ports Group (AD Ports)

As group CEO of AD Ports, the operator and manager of 11 commercial ports and Fujairah Terminals, Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi and ZonesCorp, Captain Al Shamisi supervises the development of assets and activities, and helms operations. Under his leadership, the company reported a net profit of Dhs845m in 2021 from Dhs397m in 2020. In 2021, it issued a $1bn, 10-year bond, jointly listed on the London Stock Exchange and Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX). In February, AD Ports Group also listed its shares on ADX.

56

Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Diversified 2021 rank: 56

Hamad Buamim President and CEO, Dubai Chambers

There’s an ambitious plan to boost Dubai’s trade to Dhs2tn over the next five years and to make it a global hub for companies to set up their operations. This year, the body was restructured to include three divisions: Dubai Chamber of Trade, the Dubai Chamber of International Trade and Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy which will focus on startups and tech-focused companies. Over 27,800 new members joined the Dubai Chambers in 2021, a 60 per cent year-on-year growth, with the value of exports and re-exports of its 287,000 member companies amounting to Dhs227bn. Buamim, is well on course to realise the emirate’s soaring economic potential.

55

Origin: Qatar Residence: Qatar Sector: Aviation 2021 rank: 55

Akbar Al Baker Group CEO, Qatar Airways

Al Baker has led the airline since its relaunch in 1997 to grow it into a highlyawarded carrier. The airline which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year plans to resume services to 180 prepandemic destinations on its network, having already resumed flights to over 140 of these. Al Baker was recently appointed to chairman of the governing board of the powerful oneworld alliance whose members include British Airways, Qantas and Cathay Pacific, among others. In addition, he is also chairman of Qatar Tourism which will seek to build on the buzz that the upcoming FIFA World Cup is likely to ignite.

57

Origin: Bahrain Residence: UAE Sector: Aviation 2021 rank: 59

Adel Ali Group CEO, Air Arabia

If Ali were to be judged solely on the merit of numbers, he’ll come out in the lead. Air Arabia reported a 476 per cent increase in its net profit for 2021. The low-cost carrier also expanded its fleet size to 58 aircraft last year, and added 44 new routes across its hubs in UAE, Egypt and Morocco. Now, the Sharjahheadquartered carrier led by Ali is playing a strategic role in expanding the aviation industry within the the UAE – by way of its partnership with Etihad in Abu Dhabi – and also internationally through its proposed joint venture airlines called Fly Arna in Armenia and Fly Jinnah in Pakistan, which are expected to get off the ground this year.

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SPECIAL REPORT

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Origin: Qatar Residence: Qatar Sector: Telecom 2021 rank: 58

Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo Managing director and CEO, Ooredoo

Ooredoo Group which has a consolidated customer base of over 121 million subscribers, saw a few blockbuster deals in 2021, including the $6bn merger with CKK Hutchinson in Indonesia and a $750m telecommunication tower deal with Edge Point Indonesia. Playing an instrumental role in Ooredoo’s dealmaking was none other than Fakhroo, who was previously co-head of mergers and acquisitions at the Qatar Investment Authority and the former deputy undersecretary for Budget, Treasury and Financial Affairs at the Ministry of Finance.

Apart from Ooredoo, he is currently on the board of Accor and Qatar Museums, as well as having been recently appointed to the board of Katara Hospitality.

59

NEW

Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Retail

60

Origin: Kuwait Residence: Kuwait Sector: Diversified 2021 rank: 41

Kutayba Yusuf Alghanim Executive chairman, Alghanim Industries

A young Alghanim returned from the University of Berkley to Kuwait and started a self-financed high-end furniture store called Al Dar. However, a liquidity crisis in the family business, which was being managed by his father at the time, meant that the young Kutayba was called on to help the family which he did by successfully opening new lines of credit for the company, and automating its processes and modernising its organisational culture. Today, Alghanim Industries has a diversified portfolio spanning over 30 businesses across the automotive, food and beverage, engineering and industrial sectors, among others and an employee base of over 14,000.

Mohammad A Baker Deputy chairman and CEO, GMG

A family-owned Dubai-based business that was started by his father Abdulaziz Hassan, Mohammad Baker took the reins of it in 2016 and led an impressive expansion. The group employs around 7,000 people in 12 countries, with Baker aiming to double its global workforce by 2025, besides expanding into Asia. Currently spread across four main verticals – sports, food, health, and consumer goods – GMG has introduced over 120 brands into the market over the last four decades. Apart from bringing international heavy hitters such as Nike, Vans and The North Face, GMG has also created homegrown concepts such as Sun & Sand Sports, Supercare and Farm Fresh.

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61

Origin: Lebanon Residence: Lebanon Sector: Culture and Society 2021 rank: 60

Elie Saab Fashion designer

Saab briefly stepped out of the physical fashion world when he along with Dolce & Gabbana, Paco Rabanne and Tommy Hilfiger, among others, participated in the first-ever Metaverse Fashion Week last month. One of the Middle East’s most prolific designers whose creations are worn by the likes of Mandy Moore and Jennifer Lopez, Saab is expanding his characteristic style beyond the runway. This year, he opened his third store dedicated to homewares in Paris (the other two are located in Beirut and Milan), and also announced a new Les Vagues residences by Elie Saab project in Qatar.

SPECIAL REPORT

62

NEW

Origin: Palestine Residence: UAE Sector: Retail

Mona Ataya Founder and CEO, Mumzworld

With Mumzworld, Ataya has built an e-commerce juggernaut that has raised over $50m in funding since starting up in 2011 and serves key markets in the region. Ataya positions it as a venture that empowers women. From hiring women to lead key roles within the organisation that she co-founded along with Leena Khalil, to ensuring that an investment round in Mumzworld’s second year of operations was open exclusively to women, Ataya isn’t paying lip service to the cause. Last year, she revealed that Mumzworld had achieved a 10x growth over the previous five years. In 2021, Saudi’s Tamer Group acquired a majority stake in the company.

64

Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Industry 2021 rank: 65

Abdulla Jassem Kalban Managing director, Emirates Global Aluminium

Apart from his role at Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), he is also a board member of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy and the Dubai International Financial Centre Authority, as well as the vice chairman of Dubal Holding.

Last year proved to be a breakout year for EGA which recorded a net profit of Dhs5.5bn, up a staggering 1,140 per cent over the previous year. Beyond the production of aluminium, EGA is also focusing on recycling it. This year, it revealed plans to build its first aluminium recycling facility which will be capable of handling 150,000 tonnes a year, making it the largest unit of its kind in the UAE.

63

Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Finance 2021 rank: 66

Ala’a Eraiqat Group CEO, ADCB

ADCB reported a 38 per cent increase in net profit to Dh5.247bn for the 2021 financial year. But for Eraiqat who also is the chairman of Al Hilal Bank, growth goes beyond the bottom line. In what would be a significant milestone for ADCB – a bank that he became CEO of in 2009 – it received an upgrade in its MSCI ESG rating to ‘AA’ from ‘A’ in August last year due to its efforts to support small businesses, besides its work around customer data protection.

65

Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Real Estate 2021 rank: 63

Hesham Al Qassim CEO, wasl Asset Management

Dubai’s real estate sector is booming. In 2021, Dhs151.07bn worth of properties were sold, the highest value of real estate sales transactions in 12 years. Overall, its real estate market witnessed transactions worth Dhs300bn last year. As CEO of wasl Asset Management, whose real estate division manages over 47,000 residential and commercial properties in Dubai, he’s a central figure to the city’s property market. Beyond it, Al Qassim is key to the city’s economic planning as well by way of him being the vice chairman and managing director of Emirates NBD, chairman of the Emirates Islamic Bank, and on the boards of DIFC Investments as well as e& (formerly Etisalat), among others.

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SPECIAL REPORT

66

Origin: Mauritania Residence: UAE Sector: Culture and Society 2021 rank: 54

68

Origin: Oman Residence: Oman Sector: Diversified

Sheikh Abdullah bin Bayyah Chairman, UAE Fatwa Council

At the forefront of shaping interfaith dialogue and promoting peace, Sheikh Abdullah has previously served as a judge at the High Court of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and the Head of Sharia Affairs at the Ministry of Justice.

He is a scholar whose work is widely followed and respected across the world.

In December, the UAE Fatwa Council of which he is currently the chairman organised a meeting between Fatwa authorities and organisations from around the world to encourage coordination in jurisdictional matters.

67

Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Diversified 2021 rank: 64

Badr Jafar CEO, Crescent Enterprises

Jafar is at the reins of UAE-based Crescent Enterprises, a multi conglomerate with interests ranging from ports and logistics to power and engineering, that is empowering other businesses within the region too. CE-Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Crescent, has committed to doubling its VC investments in startups to reach Dhs1bn by 2022. But Jafar’s core focus has been philanthropy and to that end he partnered with New York University Abu Dhabi last year to begin the Strategic Philanthropy Initiative. It aims to study and promote impactdriven philanthropy in the UAE and the wider region.

48

69

NEW

Suhail Salim Bahwan Chairman, Suhail Bahwan Group

After parting ways with his brother in 2002, Suhail Bahwan launched his own group.

Today, the octogenarian businessman is the chairman of one of Oman’s biggest conglomerates.

His eponymous group has businesses spanning healthcare, lifestyle, engineering and infrastructure and logistics, though the chairman passed on most of the managerial duties to his daughter Amal a few years ago. The company operates with over 7,000 employees according to its website.

Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Aviation 2021 rank: 75

Ghaith Al Ghaith CEO, flydubai

As CEO of Dubai-based airline flydubai, Ghaith Al Ghaith has had to steer the budget carrier through some tough challenges during the pandemic. In 2020, the airline saw a loss of $194m and the grounding of its Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. In 2021, the airline swung to a profit of $229m, and also nearly doubled its revenue to over $1.4bn, compared to just $773m in 2020. Ghaith attributes this to the airline’s decision to launch flights to seasonal summer destinations and the increase in its flight schedule. The airline will also receive delivery of 20 Boeing 737 MAX 8s to support the airline’s future growth. Ghaith, who has over 30 years of experience in the aviation industry, is confident of the carrier’s continuing success with the return of demand for travel globally.

SPECIAL REPORT

70

Origin: Qatar Residence: Qatar Sector: Diversified 2021 rank: 69

Shaikh Thani Bin Abdullah Al-Thani Founder, Ezdan Holding/Philanthropist

Sheikh Thani is the founder of Qatari conglomerate Ezdan Holding Group, which is focused on real estate. His contribution to sectors such as health, Islamic finance and takaful insurance are also significant. He is the main shareholder in the Qatar Islamic Insurance Company, and founder of the Medical Care Group.

The group owns Al Ahli Hospital, the largest private hospital in Qatar. Sheikh Thani is the Chairman of Qatar Society for Rehabilitation of Special Needs, and has made sizeable donations through the Thani Bin Abdullah Bin Thani Al-Thani Humanitarian Fund to support UNHCR’s work in Yemen, Lebanon, Bangladesh and Chad.

71

72

73

Mishal Kanoo

Issam Kazim

Tarek Sultan

Chairman, Kanoo Group

CEO, Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism)

CEO and vice chairman, Agility

Origin: Bahrain-UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Diversified 2021 rank: 68

Kanoo, who is based out of Dubai, is chair of the Kanoo Group, one of the largest family-owned conglomerates in the region.

The company, which was established in 1890, has business interests across the Gulf region with products and services ranging from shipping, travel, machinery, logistics, property, oil and gas, power, chemicals, engineering and training, among others.

Kanoo has always advocated corporate philanthropy, supporting the arts, education, social welfare and other important issues. He is also a sought-after speaker at conferences and summits.

Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Tourism 2021 rank: 84

Kazim heads all the activities, ranging from the branding, promotion and marketing of Dubai as a destination globally, to facilitating global partnerships and being Dubai Tourism’s key media spokesperson. He has led innovative marketing campaigns, including the recent ‘Dubai Presents’, featuring Zac Efron and Jessica Alba. Dubai Tourism played a key role in promoting the emirate as a safe destination during the pandemic and Expo 2020.

It recently reported that Dubai welcomed 7.28 million international overnight visitors between January and December 2021, a 32 per cent year-on-year rise.

Origin: Kuwait Residence: Kuwait Sector: Logistics 2021 rank: 71

Tarek Sultan is vice chairman of Agility, a global supply chain company, and a major investor in technology to enhance supply chain efficiency and sustainability. Sultan is credited with shaping the company’s expansion from a $300m business into a company with a market cap of over $7bn. Agility is one of the largest private owners and developers of warehousing and light industrial parks in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, and its subsidiary companies offer fuel logistics, airport services, commercial real estate and facilities management, remote infrastructure services and digital and e-commerce logistics.

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SPECIAL REPORT

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NEW

Origin: Oman Residence: Oman Sector: Energy

Mazin Rashid Lamki CEO, Energy Development Oman

Lamki took over as CEO of Energy Development Oman (EDO) earlier this year. He has more than 20 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, across diverse commercial and operational roles.

The company was set up in 2020 to play a central role in Oman’s energy transition to renewables as well as boost economic diversification. In August last year, state-owned EDO raised $2.5bn in its first ever financing transaction, a significant milestone in Oman’s bid to permanently reduce the state’s budgetary commitments to Petroleum Development Oman, the country’s biggest oil and gas producer.

75

76

Fadi Ghandour

Khaled Mohammed Balama

DJ Khaled

Executive chairman, Wamda/ co-founder, Aramex

Governor, Central Bank of the UAE

Musician

Origin: Jordan Residence: UAE Sector: Finance 2021 rank: 79

Ghandour’s entrepreneurial skills have awarded him an iconic status in the region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. He founded Aramex in 1982, taking the company public on Nasdaq in 1997. He was also the founding investor of Maktoob, which was acquired by Yahoo. In 2014, he set up Wamda Capital, one of the region’s leading venture capital firms which invests in promising high growth technology businesses. The company invests in both growth and seed stages, taking portfolio companies through successive rounds of financing through to exit. Wamda’s latest investment was in Skillbee, a startup that helps migrant workers get jobs.

50

NEW

Origin: UAE Sector: Finance Residence: UAE

Balama was appointed as governor of the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) on April 5, 2021. He has been on its board since 2008. He has more than three decades of experience in banking, financial services, asset management and investments. Balama’s key responsibilities include carrying out CBUAE’s key mandate to sustain the UAE’s monetary and financial stability, and protect the interests of the UAE’s banking system.

In March 2020, the central bank rolled out the Targeted Economic Support Scheme (TESS) offering zero-cost collateral funding to banks to reduce the economic fallout from the pandemic.

TESS has been extended until June this year. In September 2021, CBUAE issued new guidance to help financial institutions combat money laundering and terrorism financing. In December, it developed an enhanced framework to supervise banks’ exposure to the real estate sector.

77

Origin: Palestine Residence: US Sector: Culture and Society 2021 rank: 67

If you have to judge a record producer’s standing in the industry, you’ll only have to look as far as his collaborators - the list is impressive.

His Khaled Khaled album that was released last year, featured appearances by Cardi B, Justin Bieber, Jay-Z, and Post Malone, among many others. It effortlessly debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, and this year it went platinum – his fourth album to bag the coveted certification.

DJ Khaled is upping the ante even further by taking to Instagram in a series of posts recently to reveal that he has begun work on what he calls his “biggest album.”

SPECIAL REPORT

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Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Diversified 2021 rank: 74

Dr Amina Al Rostamani

Origin: Palestine-US Residence: US Sector: FMCG 2021 rank: 80

Mohammad Abu Ghazaleh Chairman and CEO, Fresh Del Monte

Fresh Del Monte announced that its gross profit for 2021 was $303.8m compared to $250.9m in 2020. Pandemicrelated challenges impacted the company’s numbers, with net sales for 2020 at $4.2bn, down from $4.5bn in 2019. Negotiating these challenges, however, has been the forte of Mohammed Abu Ghazaleh, who purchased Fresh Del Monte in 1996. He transformed a company reeling under $300m of debt into a global brand that produces, markets and distributes fresh and fresh-cut fruit and vegetables, prepared fruit and vegetables, beverages and snacks across the world. Sustainability is a key part of the company’s ethos and operations. By 2025, Fresh Del Monte aims to plant and donate 2.5 million trees and have 100 per cent of its protected areas globally monitored on an annual basis through species inventories.

COO, AW Rostamani Group

Dr Amina Al Rostamani, who holds a doctorate in engineering from George Washington University, has played an important role in promoting Dubai as a global innovation, business, fashion and design hub. The CEO and board member of one of the region’s most prolific privately-owned family businesses, Al Rostamani has steered the group to grow its interest in auto, real estate, logistics and travel among other sectors. She is the CEO of AWR Properties and the former CEO of Tecom Group.

Al Rostamani continues to hold positions on the boards of HSBC Bank Middle East as well as Sandooq Al Watan and Al Jalila Foundation.

80

Origin: Kuwait Residence: Kuwait Sector: Finance 2021 rank: 89

Shaikha Al Bahar Deputy group CEO, National Bank of Kuwait

Shaikha Al-Bahar, the deputy CEO of National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) Group is one of the most respected names in the region’s banking industry. With her valuable experience in institutional finance, including privatisation, project finance, bond issues, advisory services and IPOs, she is a strong voice in Kuwait’s financial community. She has been spearheading the bank’s digital transformation over the years, with NBK launching Kuwait’s first digital bank, Weyay, in November 2021 to appeal to the younger generation of tech savvy customers. The bank also posted strong net profits for 2021 of $1.2bn, compared to $814.4m in 2020, improving by 47.1 per cent year-on-year. At the end of December 2021, NBK’s total assets grew by 11.9 per cent on annual basis, to reach $109.9bn.

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SPECIAL REPORT

81

Origin: Syria Residence: UAE Sector: Retail 2021 rank: 73

Ronaldo Mouchawar Co-founder, Souq.com/ Vice president, Amazon MENA

Mouchawar’s success story is an inspiring case study for entrepreneurs. He founded Souq.com in 2005. Its impressive success attracted the attention of Amazon, which acquired it for around $580m in 2017. Mouchawar, who now serves as the regional head of Amazon, has continued to grow the brand’s reach and presence, particularly during the pandemic, with Amazon.ae delivering goods from the UAE to customers in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Oman. In September 2021, Souq.com rebranded as Amazon.eg in Egypt, marking the last local operation to shift its platform after it became part of global e-commerce giant. Souq.com was rebranded as Amazon.sa in Saudi Arabia in 2020 and in 2019, in the UAE.

82

Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Real Estate 2021 rank: 82

Hussain Sajwani Founder, Damac Properties

The extraordinary growth of Damac can be attributed to the exemplary vision and entrepreneurial skills of Sajwani.

As founder of Damac and DICO Group, Sajwani is a key figure in the Dubai’s property market. In 2002, he identified the market opportunity and established DAMAC Properties, which has grown to become one of the largest property development companies in the Middle East. The company has built prestigious projects in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Amman, Beirut, Jeddah, Riyadh and London.

The DICO Group’s global footprint extends across North America, Europe, Asia, Middle East and Africa.

DICO Investments Co, his flagship investment company, focuses on investments in private equities, mergers and acquisitions, and holds majority and minority stakes in publicly traded companies in diverse sectors.

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83

Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Science and Technology

NEW

Nora AlMatrooshi Astronaut

The first female Arab astronaut, Nora AlMatrooshi, marks a debut appearance on our list this year and rightly so. Selected from over 4,000 candidates, the Emirati astronaut is part of the second batch of the UAE Astronaut Programme. It’s hardly surprising that AlMatrooshi’s passion for space manifested at a young age, as she relished attending stargazing events. The Emirati trailblazer, who ranked first in the UAE for the 2011 International Mathematical Olympiad, has joined the NASA Astronaut Candidate Class of 2021 to train for future space missions.

84

Origin: Palestine Residence: Palestine Sector: Diversified 2021 rank: 83

Munib Al Masri Chairman and founder, Edgo Group

Munib Al Masri, the chairman and founder of Edgo Group and a philanthropist, is respected for his continuing support to advance the economic and social development of the state of Palestine. In March, Masri signed an agreement with the Doha-based Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Humanitarian Funds to establish the Qudsna Endowment Foundation and cooperate on humanitarian and development projects in Jerusalem. Masri is vice chairman of the board of directors of Qudsna. The foundation aims to support education, sponsor students and promote economic empowerment. Additionally, the Munib R. Masri Development Foundation supports projects in Palestine and throughout the world.

The Edgo Group, which Masri set up with his wife Angela in 1956, continues to deliver integrated service solutions to the energy markets in 23 countries across the Middle East, Africa and Asia. He is also co-founder and chairman of Palestine Development and Investment Company.

SPECIAL REPORT

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Origin: Tunisia Residence: Tunisia Sector: Sports 2021 rank: 87

Ons Jabeur Tennis player

Ons Jabeur made history at Abu Dhabi in December last year, becoming the first Arab to compete and win the Mubadala World Tennis Championship. This is not the first record set by the Tunisian player. She was the first Arab woman to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final at the 2020 Australian Open. In 2021, she became the first Arab woman to play in a Wimbledon quarter-final. Jabeur is also the first Arab woman to win a WTA Tour title at the 2021 Birmingham Classic, a defining moment for the Arab tennis player.

Jabeur, who reached a career-high No 7 in the rankings in November 2021, is currently ranked at No 10 and is the highestranked Arab player — female or male — in history.

87

Origin: Bahrain Residence: Bahrain Sector: Diversified 2021 rank: 85

Mona Almoayyed Managing director, Y.K. Almoayyed & Sons/Chairperson, Edbaa Bank

Mona Almoayyed, who belongs to one of Bahrain’s leading business families, is the managing director of Y.K. Almoayyed & Sons, a company with more than 300 international brands. As a member of the board of the Arab International Women’s Forum, she has supported the forum’s aim to raise the role of women in social and economic development across the Middle East. She’s also the chairperson of Edbaa Bank, the first microfinance bank in Bahrain to support low-income families in the country.

Almoayyed is a member of the International Peace Institute Middle East, an international think tank dedicated to managing risk and building resilience to promote peace, security and sustainable development.

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Origin: Morocco Residence: Morocco Sector: Finance 2021 rank: 78

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NEW

Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Diversified

Juma Al Majid Founder, Juma Al Majid Group

Having founded the Juma Al Majid Group over seven decades ago, it has now grown into a conglomerate with interests across real estate, travel and tourism, and investments, among several more. One of the country’s most senior and respected business figures, Al Majid has previously been the vice chairman of the UAE Central Bank, chairman of Dubai Economic Council and the vice chairman of Emirates Bank International. This year, HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, appointed Al Majid as the honorary chairman of Dubai Chambers.

Othman Benjelloun Chairman and CEO, Bank of Africa

Othman Benjelloun, the chairman and CEO of Bank of Africa, is one of the most influential figures in North Africa’s financial ecosystem. Benjelloun launched the lender, previously called BMCE Bank, following his purchase of the insurance company in the 1980s. Today, the bank has operations in 32 countries, including 20 in Africa and more than 1,800 points of sale. In 2021, Bank of Africa’s net operating income was EUR604m compared to EUR573.6m in 2020.

53

SPECIAL REPORT

89

Origin: KSA-Ethiopia Residence: KSA Sector: Diversified 2021 rank: 88

Mohammed Al Amoudi Owner, MIDROC

Mohammed Al Amoudi owns industrial giant MIDROC Ethiopia Group, which has 80 companies organised under four groups. His estimated net worth is close to $8bn.

Apart from investing in agriculture, cement and mining, Al Amoudi also owns Preem, Sweden’s largest fuel company.

In 2021, Preem announced it was accelerating its measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The company stated that by 2035, it will have a climate-neutral business with net-zero emissions throughout its value chain.

90

91

92

Huda Kattan

Khalid Al Ameri and Salama Mohamed

Dr Farida Al Hosani

Origin: Iraq/ US Residence: UAE Sector: Culture and Society 2021 rank: 95

Founder, Huda Beauty

From starting Huda Beauty in 2013 because she couldn’t find the right pair of eyelashes to being at the helm of a billion-dollar global beauty empire, this self-made and savvy entrepreneur has gone from strength to strength.

Kattan has more than 50 million followers on Instagram. Her fans and followers love everything about her – from her beauty tips, eyeshadow pallets and foundations to lip glosses and skincare products.

The skincare and makeup maven, who stepped down as the company’s CEO in 2020, has two more successful brands: Wishful, a skincare line, and the GloWish range of skin tints and powders. She and her sister, Mona Kattan, have their own perfume line called Kayali.

54

Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Culture and Society 2021 rank: 91

Social media influencers

The young power couple has won hearts and followers on social media for their humour and positive outlook, sharing their views on everything from marriage and entrepreneurship to Emirati culture and raising a child of determination. Khalid Al Ameri, who has around two million followers on Instagram and over six million followers on Facebook, is an alumnus of the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He gave up a corporate career to produce videos and write for local newspapers, with the aim to highlight social issues. His wife Salama Mohamed, who has 1.3 million followers on Instagram, has shared the ‘blessing’ of living with vitiligo, raising awareness of the condition. In 2021, she launched her sustainable skincare brand, Peacefull.

NEW

Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Science and Technology

Executive director - Communicable Diseases, Abu Dhabi Public Health Center

During the pandemic, Dr Farida Al Hosani, one of the region’s leading experts on communicable diseases, was pushed into the public eye, finding herself at the front and centre of the UAE’s response to Covid-19. She handled the pressure with strength, poise and professionalism, as the official spokesperson for the UAE’s health sector.

Dr Hosani has worked and participated in creating the policies and standards related to infectious diseases and public health in the UAE. In March, she became the first Emirati woman to join the World Health Organization’s Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework Advisory Group.

SPECIAL REPORT

95

Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Culture and Society 2021 rank: 96

Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi Founder, Barjeel Art Foundation

93

NEW

Origin: UAE

Residence: UAE

Sector: Diplomacy

Lana Nusseibeh UAE Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations

Ambassador Lana Zaki Nusseibeh has served as the UAE’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) since September 2013. In addition to her existing role, in December 2021, a federal decree established her as the Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation for Political Affairs.

Ambassador Nusseibeh, who studied at Cambridge and School of Oriental and Asian Studies, has carried out her duties of public service with diligence. She is recognised for her commitment to peaceful dialogue and building strong ties with the international diplomatic community. In 2017, she was awarded the UAE Prime Minister’s Government Excellence Award. She also led the UAE’s efforts, working closely with UN Women, to launch the Arab Women Military and Peacekeeping Programme in the UAE in 2019.

94

Origin: Morocco Residence: Morocco Sector: Finance 2021 rank: 90

Nezha Hayat Chairperson and CEO, Moroccan Capital Market Authority

Nezha Hayat has been a trailblazer throughout her career, which began in Spain. From 1985 to 1988, she worked in the international division of Banco Atlantico, responsible for global risks and restructured debt. In 1999, she was elected president of the Association of Stockbrokers in Morocco, serving two terms.

She also worked at Société Générale Morocco group where she became the first woman to join the management board of a bank in the country in 2007. In 2016, she became the chair and CEO of the Moroccan Capital Market Authority, which is responsible for the country’s non-banking capital markets, including the stock exchange and brokerage firms. In 2020, she was elected as the president of the Africa/Middle East Regional Committee of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions for a two-year term. She is a founding member and president of Club des Femmes Administrateurs d’Entreprises, a non-profit that promotes good governance and gender diversity on the boards of companies.

Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi wears many caps: he is an adjunct professor at Columbia University, columnist for The Financial Time s, The Guardian and HuffPost, art collector and resident expert on Emirati culture.

Al Qassemi is also the founder of Sharjah-based Barjeel Art Foundation, an independent initiative that contributes to the intellectual development of the art scene in the Arab region by building an impressive and easily accessible art collection in the UAE. Al Qassemi has been instrumental in leading the conversation about politics and art, and their influence on social media platforms like Twitter, where he has nearly half a million followers.

96

Origin: Egypt Residence: Egypt Sector: Sports 2021 rank: 94

Nour El Sherbini Squash player

Twenty-six-year-old Nour El Sherbini has ruled the world of women’s squash, topping the rankings for four years between 2016 and 2022. In March, she was forced to retire due to an injury during the final match of the CIB Black Ball Women’s Open held in Cairo, losing to fellow Egyptian Nouran Gohar. A fierce competitor and world-class player, Sherbini will definitely leave no stone unturned to reclaim her dominion over the game.

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SPECIAL REPORT

97

Origin: Morocco Residence: Morocco Sector: Retail / Real estate 2021 rank: 97

Salwa Idrissi Akhannouch Founder and CEO, Aksal Group

Salwa Idrissi Akhannouch is the founder and CEO of Moroccobased retail conglomerate Groupe Aksal, which owns a major share of Morocco Mall, Africa’s second-largest shopping mall. The group has the sole franchise rights for over 40 leading luxury and high street brands in Morocco. In 2017, she launched her cosmetics and beauty brand Yan&One. In 2011, Akhannouch also created the Aksal Training Academy for careers in retail, and the Aksal Social Initiative to support social, cultural, educational, and health projects. In 2021, the group announced that it would launch Wa-Sal, a new e-commerce marketplace to serve the region’s growing need for an all-inclusive platform with a bouquet of services, including retail and lifestyle.

99

Origin: UAE Residence: UAE Sector: Sports 2021 rank: 99

Amna Al Qubaisi Racing driver

Daughter of racer Khaled Al Qubaisi, 21-year-old Amna Al Qubaisi is the first Emirati to take part in a Formula E test session after the Ad Diriyah ePrix in Saudi Arabia. Al Qubaisi, who started karting at age 14, is the first woman to win the GCC Drivers Academy competition in 2017. She also won the 2018 Italian Formula 4 (F4) Championship with Prema Powerteam, and the FIA F4 race and The Dubai O-Plate in 2019. Her sister Hamda Al Qubaisi is also a chip off the old block. In 2021, Hamda raced for Prema Powerteam/Abu Dhabi Racing.

100 NEW

Origin: Egypt Residence: Egypt Sector: Culture and Society

Amr Diab Singer

98

Origin: Egypt/ US Residence: US Sector: Culture and Society Rank 2021: 86

Rami Malek Actor

Rami Malek had an interesting year in 2021, with the September release of No Time to Die. The movie saw him going up against James Bond, as the scarred villain Lyustier Safin. Malek patiently waited for two-and-a-half hours a day, as makeup artists recreated the scarring that was just as intimidating as his character in the film. Malek’s dedication and acting chops are remarkable, as is obvious in the way he slides in and out of character in all his films, be it playing Freddie Mercury in 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody to a rookie cop in 2021’s The Little Things. The fact that he was one of the presenters at the Oscars in March represents his growing influence as a Hollywood star.

56

Amr Diab has dominated the pop scene in the Arab world since the 1980s. In 2019, Diab became the first Arab music artist to be featured on a billboard in New York City’s iconic Times Square, as part of a partnership with Spotify. His image was also featured on the Burj Khalifa in March when Arab music streaming platform, Anghami, launched its new brand identity, announcing it had signed a multi-year deal with the Arab pop star to be the only platform to stream his entire catalogue and future releases under his record label Ney. According to the music platform, Diab is its best-selling artist, with close to one billion streams as of February.

SPECIAL REPORT

Faces to watch We look at three enterprising Arab business leaders who are making their presence felt across sectors such as technology, food and beverages and consultancy services

Mohammed Al-Rashidi

Basma Ashry

Founder and executive chairman, One Global Group Sector: Fintech

General manager, Business Incorporation Zone Sector: Business consultancy services

A

l-Rashidi is the founder of Kuwaitbased One Global group, which was set up in 2004. His focus on creating disruptive tech has resulted in multiple ventures that serve diverse industries.

The company has a presence in more than 20 countries.

Al-Rashidi, who is passionate about digital transformation, has a fintech-related patent registered in the US and other countries.

Al-Rashidi has won numerous accolades, including the Digital Transformation Leader of the Year at Fintech Galaxy’s 2019 FinX Awards and the Outstanding Leadership Award 2022 at the Money 2.0 Conference.

A

shry started her journey in telecommunications and then moved to the banking industry before joining Business Incorporation Zone (BIZ) in 2020. Armed with the experience of more than a decade in the corporate world, she has helped entrepreneurs, including female-led startups, set up and launch their businesses in the region. Ashry believes that building a ‘culture’ is more important than strategy when it involves setting up a business. She has followed that approach as CEO to develop a ‘connected culture’, to enable and integrate collaboration within her team.

BIZ has helped over 25,000 entrepreneurs in the region.

Jassim Mohammed Alyassi Founder, Al Saraya Al Hamra Sector: Food and beverages

A

l Saraya Group was launched in 2012 when Alyassi decided to transform his passion for food and beverages into a multi-cuisine food chain. The company’s ‘Chiki’ fried chicken burger brand’s success marked a turning point for the business.

Today, Alyassi’s company – under the brand name ASAH – offers 14 food brands at 11 different locations all over UAE. It’s also expanding its presence in Dubai and two other locations.

Alyassi also plans to expand its operations globally. He believes that combining innovative offerings with an outstanding level of service will be the driving force behind the group’s sustainable growth.

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SPECIAL REPORT

Gulf Business Arab Power List 2022 Position. Name (Company) 2021 position

01. Yasir Al-Rumayyan (Aramco/PIF) 1 02. Dr Sultan Al Jaber (ADNOC) 2 03. HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum (Emirates Group/ Emirates NBD) 3 04. Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi (QatarEnergy/ Industries Qatar) 5 05. Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak (Mubadala Investment Company) 6 06. Amin Nasser (Aramco) 7 07. Carlos Slim Helú (America Movil) 4 08. Mohamed Alabbar (Emaar/noon.com) 11 09. Sarah bint Yousif Al Amiri (UAE Space Agency) 8 10. HRH Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (Kingdom Holding Company) 10 11. Mohamed Al Hammadi (Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation) 9 12. Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem (DP World/ Virgin Hyperloop) 12

32. Elie Habib and Eddy Maroun (Anghami) NEW

68. Suhail Salim Bahwan (Suhail Bahwan Group) NEW

33. Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani (Qatar Museums) 34

69. Ghaith Al Ghaith (flydubai) 75

34. Fahad Al Mubarak (Saudi Central Bank) 35 35. Helal Al Marri (Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism) NEW

70. Shaikh Thani Bin Abdullah Al-Thani (Ezdan Holding) 69 71. Mishal Kanoo (Kanoo Group) 68 72. Issam Kazim (Dubai Tourism) 84

36. Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel (Abdul Latif Jameel) 37

73. Tarek Sultan (Agility) 71

37. Khalaf Al Habtoor (Al Habtoor Group) 33

74. Mazin Rashid Lamki (Energy Development Oman) NEW

38. Mohammed Alshaya (Alshaya Group) 36 39. Nayla Hayek (Swatch Group/ Harry Winston) 49 40. Sheikh Sulaiman bin Abdulaziz Al Rajhi (Al Rajhi Bank) 38 41. Mohamed Ali Al Shorafa Al Hammadi (Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development) NEW 42. Olayan Mohammed Alwetaid (stc) 46

75. Fadi Ghandour (Wamda/Aramex) 79 76. Khaled Mohammed Balama (CBUAE) NEW 77. DJ Khaled (Musician) 67 78. Dr. Amina Al Rostamani (AW Rostamani Group) 74 79. Mohammad Abu Ghazaleh (Fresh Del Monte) 80

13. Yousef Abdullah Al Benyan (SABIC) 15

43. Mohamed Mansour (Mansour Group) 39

14. Hassan Al Thawadi (FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022) 13

44. Bader Nasser Al-Kharafi (Zain Group) 43 45. Murshed Al Redaini (Yas Holding) 77

15. Reem Al Hashimy (Expo 2020 Dubai) 14

46. Faisal Al Bannai (Edge Group) 48

16. Mansoor Ebrahim Al-Mahmoud (Qatar Investment Authority) 17

48. Khalid Al Rumaihi (Mumtalakat) 44

82. Hussain Sajwani (Damac Properties) 82

49. Karim Awad (EFG Hermes Holding) NEW

83. Nora AlMatrooshi (Astronaut) NEW

50. Mohammed bin Mahfoodh Alardhi (InvestCorp) 50

84. Munib Al Masri (Edgo Group) 83

17. Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair (Mashreq) 18 18. Abdulla Mubarak Al-Khalifa (Qatar National Bank) 19 19. Hana Al Rostamani (First Abu Dhabi Bank) 21

47. Hatem Dowidar (e&) 51

51. Nassef Sawiris (OCI/ Aston Villa FC) 47 52. Jassim Alseddiqi (Shuaa Capital) 61

80. Shaikha Al Bahar (National Bank of Kuwait) 89 81. Ronaldo Mouchawar (Souq.com/Amazon MENA) 73

85. Ons Jabeur (Tennis player) 87 86. Juma Al Majid (Juma Al Majid Group) NEW

20. Mohammed Ibrahim Al Shaibani (Investment Corporation of Dubai) 20

53. Naguib Sawiris (Orascom Investment Holding) 53

87. Mona Almoayyed (Y.K. Almoayyed & Sons/ Edbaa Bank) 85

21. Lubna Suliman Olayan (Saudi British Bank) 16

54. Captain Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi (Abu Dhabi Ports) NEW

22. Sarah Al Suhaimi (Saudi Tadawul Group) 28

55. Akbar Al Baker (Qatar Airways) 55

89. Mohammed Al Amoudi (MIDROC) 88

23. Essa Kazim (DIFC) 22

57. Adel Ali (Air Arabia) 59

24. Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak (DCT Abu Dhabi/ Aldar Properties) 27

58. Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo (Ooredoo) 58

25. Fahd Hamidaddin (Saudi Tourism Authority) NEW

56 Hamad Buamim (Dubai Chambers) 56

59. Mohammad A Baker (GMG) NEW 60. Kutayba Yusuf Alghanim (Alghanim Industries) 41

88. Othman Benjelloun (Bank of Africa) 78 90. Huda Kattan (Huda Beauty) 95 91. Khalid Al Ameri and Salama Mohamed (Social media influencers) 91 92. Dr Farida Al Hosani (Abu Dhabi Public Health Center) NEW 93. Lana Nusseibeh (Diplomat) NEW

26. HH Prince Naif bin Sultan bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Kabeer (Almarai) 40

61. Elie Saab (Fashion designer ) 60

27. Mohammad Saud Al-Osaimi (Boursa Kuwait) 42

62. Mona Ataya (Mumzworld) NEW 63. Ala’a Eraiqat (ADCB) 66

28. Saeed bin Mohammed Al Ghamdi (Saudi National Bank) 23

64. Abdulla Jassem Kalban (Emirates Global Aluminium) 65

29. Dr Raja Easa Al Gurg (Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group) 30

65. Hesham Al Qassim (wasl Asset Management ) 63

97. Salwa Idrissi Akhannouch (Aksal Group) 97

30. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool FC) 24

66. Sheikh Abdullah bin Bayyah (UAE Fatwa Council) 54

99. Amna Al Qubaisi (Motor racing driver) 99

31. Salem Humaid AlMarri (Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre) NEW

67. Badr Jafar (Crescent Enterprises) 64

94. Nezha Hayat (Moroccan Capital Market Authority) 90 95. Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi (Barjeel Art Foundation) 96 96. Nour El Sherbini (Squash player) 94 98. Rami Malek (Actor) 86 100. Amr Diab (Singer) NEW

Faces to watch • Mohammed Al-Rashidi (One Global)

58

• Basma Ashry (Business Incorporation Zone)

• Jasim Mohammed Alyassi (Al Saraya Al Hamra)

FEATURES / EXPO 2020 DUBAI

POSITIONED AS THE ‘WORLD’S GREATEST SHOW’, EXPO 2020 DUBAI HAS DRAWN TO A CLOSE. WHAT IMPACT DID IT HAVE AND WHAT LEGACY HAS IT LEFT IN ITS WAKE?

NOW AND NEXT WORDS: ZAINAB MANSOOR

gulfbusiness.com

April April2022 2021

59

FEATURES / EXPO 2020 DUBAI

“I

magination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world” - Albert Einstein famously said. It could be deliberated that this was arguably the premise on which the ‘world’s greatest show’, Expo 2020 Dubai, was envisioned.

Imagination leads to creativity which breeds innovation. The sprawling six-month exhibition held in Dubai from October 2021 until the end of last month was a breeding ground for the confluence of ideas and resources. From the Al Wasl dome – equipped with the world’s largest 360-degree projection screen – and 3D-printed food to robots extending assistance and mesmerising light shows, Expo 2020 Dubai stood out as a microcosm of an innovation-led, technology-centric future.

Meanwhile, the exhibition also served as a platform for ingenuity and collaboration to carve out a sustainable future and tackle pressing issues. From Brazil’s biodiversity, Netherlands’ integrated climate system and Singapore’s rainforest to Japan’s immersive realm and the Sustainability pavilion – Terra’s – thought-provoking enquiries, the event attempted to answer questions on how mankind envisions the future.

Expo 2020 led by example – the 4,912 solar panels on Terra’s 130-metre-wide canopy and 18 energy trees could create 4GWh of alternative energy annually, enough electricity to charge over 900,000 mobile phones.

60

April 2021

FERTILE GROUND Expo 2020 Dubai was one of several firsts. It was the first world expo to be held across the Middle East, Africa and South Asia region. It was also the first world expo where each participating nation, 192 in total, had its own pavilion.

Spread across three thematic districts based on the subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability, the exhibition recorded 22.93 million visits as of March 29 – and thereby fulfilled its commitment to attract between 22.9 million

and 25.4 million visits, a target range set out in the registration dossier officially ratified by the Bureau International des Expositions member states in 2015.

Besides being a melting pot for innovations, ambitions and ideas, Expo 2020 Dubai also ignited economic opportunities and alliances. Malaysia’s participating companies secured over $8.38bn in potential returns on trade and investments with the global business community in the first three months of the exhibition. During the Philippines Country Business Briefing held alongside the Southeast Asian country’s National Day at the expo, the Philippines welcomed letters of intent from gulfbusiness.com

FEATURES / EXPO 2020 DUBAI

GCC companies expected to bring in $600m worth of investments and generate 4,000 job opportunities across the country. Australia’s New South Wales and the UAE meanwhile also cooperated on agri-food innovation and manufacturing at the event. Additionally, UK companies associated with Expo 2020 Dubai garnered £188m in export wins up until March 23.

One step down, several companies signed agreements and entered into alliances with their regional and global counterparts at the mega event. India, for example, is looking at wider collaboration with GCC countries in the steel sector, in the wake of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement signed between the UAE and India recently.

Pakistan’s Fatima Group inked over $1bn worth of MoUs with global agriculture firms at the exhibition. Additionally, Dutch-based Demcon Optiqua and PUB, Singapore’s National Water Agency,

£188m

in export wins UK COMPANIES ASSOCIATED WITH EXPO 2020 DUBAI GARNERED (UP UNTIL MARCH 23)

collaborated for real-time drinking water monitoring technology.

“Partnering with Expo 2020 Dubai provided us with exhilarating new possibilities as the world came together to explore, collaborate and innovate. It gave us an opportunity to share our vision, build a bridge to the future and transport millions of visitors to a reality that is far closer than we imagine. It gave us a chance to showcase the innovations

THE 4,912 SOLAR PANELS ON TERRA’S 130-METRE-WIDE CANOPY AND 18 ENERGY TREES COULD CREATE 4GWH OF ALTERNATIVE ENERGY ANNUALLY, ENOUGH ELECTRICITY TO CHARGE

900,000+ mobile phones gulfbusiness.com

defining tomorrow’s digital economy – and the sustainable growth it can unlock for future generations,” notes Girish Nanda, country manager - UAE and Pakistan, Mastercard, the expo’s official payment technology partner. “We did this through our Mastercard Cube at Expo 2020 Dubai, which helped connect guests to their passions through several immersive multi-sensory experiences.”

Onur Elgun, VP of Strategy, at talabat, the official food delivery partner for the event, adds: “Expo 2020 has created a substantial impact for us. For talabat, we have forged new partnerships and strengthened existing ones. Some of our new partnerships are with Terminus Group, the official premier partner to Expo 2020 Dubai, and the company behind the now famous orange robot mascot, Opti and our own tala-bots.

This allowed us to explore the future of food delivery starting with the Expo site which was a great success. Another example is with Grubtech for the 3D smart lockers and DG World using their AI tech for the robotic arms that served hundreds of thousands of customers with coffee and ice cream since Expo opened its doors. Finally, it allowed our team to explore new opportunities, some of which are under discussion, as we look for ways to improve our operations and introduce new and innovative tech-ways of doing business.”

ENDURING LEGACY From pledges to partnerships, Expo 2020 Dubai’s legacy of impact and purpose is expected to come in several forms. Of the one million visitors hosted by Terra up April 2021

61

FEATURES / EXPO 2020 DUBAI

until February 26, 95 per cent pledged to bring about a sustainable change, ranging from meat-free days, to swapping cars for public transport. Young thinkers also stood to draw inspiration from technologies and intent at display, having made up a sizeable portion of the overall visits. Since the start of the event, children under the age of 18 visited more than 2.8 million times.

“The legacy of Expo 2020 Dubai will continue through the partnerships made, the collaborations undertaken, and the technologies revealed, in line with the overall theme of the global event, which was to connect minds and create the future,” adds Mastercard’s Nanda. “Expo 2020 Dubai gave us a platform to join forces with other industry giants to roll out new technology and further fuel the business through key partnerships. Partnerships can bring real change and have far-reaching impact for consumers, businesses, and society as a whole.”

That Expo 2020 has helped convene the world to build a better tomorrow is

AS MUCH AS

80%

OF THE BUILD INFRASTRUCTURE

WILL BE REPURPOSED INTO AN INTEGRATED MIXED-USE COMMUNITY FOR PEOPLE TO WORK, LIVE AND EXPLORE

62

April 2021

FRENCH ASTRONAUT THOMAS PESQUET TOOK A PHOTO OF THE EXPO 2020 DUBAI SITE FROM THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION (ISS), DURING HIS 200-DAY MISSION

‘SCALE2DUBAI’ THE DISTRICT’S GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAMME WILL WELCOME ITS FIRST COHORT OF

85 STARTUPS AND SMALL BUSINESSES

BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR

now beyond doubt. What it does next is equally important as it transforms the sprawling area into a forward-looking mixed-use district. Expo 2020 Dubai will transition into District 2020 – a smart and sustainable city within a city. Following the closure of the expo event, as much as 80 per cent of the build infrastructure will be repurposed into an integrated mixed-use community for people to work, live and explore. However, District 2020 will also be home to attractions retained from the exhibition, which include Terra and Alif – Expo 2020 Dubai’s Sustainability and Mobility pavilions, Al Wasl Plaza, as well as Rove Hotel. The district, which will develop over phases, will host 145,000 people at full capacity.

Prioritising sustainability and keeping people at the centre of its design, the district has a dedicated Dubai Metro stop and will host three 132 KV substations, while solar panels are integrated across the site. For people looking to call District 2020 home, the 15-minute city,

in which everything will be accessible within walking or cycling distance, will make for an ideal residential locality, with neighbourhoods linked by pedestrian walkways and autonomous vehicle routes to other locations such as offices, schools, and parks.

More than 800 residential units will be handed over, starting from January 2023.

Meanwhile, District 2020 also aims to play a significant role in enabling regional and global startups to scale up within the emirate. ‘Scale2Dubai’, the district’s global entrepreneurship programme will welcome its first cohort of 85 startups and small businesses before the end of the year, selected from 628 shortlisted applicants. “This is an exciting milestone that reiterates District 2020’s commitment to continuing Expo 2020’s legacy of supporting entrepreneurs and contributing to Dubai’s status as an innovation-driven global startup capital,” notes Tala Al Ansari, director, Innovation Ecosystem and Scale2Dubai.

“We plan to host a new cohort every year at District 2020 and look forward to our second cohort moving in by April 2023.”

Expo 2020 Dubai has beckoned the world to envision a better tomorrow and is expected to carve out an impactful legacy, that will likely leave an enduring imprint on people and their lives. gulfbusiness.com

APR

Lifestyle

22

Painting memories Sacha Jafri’s latest project reimagines stunning sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List p.68

“The Dubai International Boat Show is today recognised as one of the three most influential yacht shows in the world” —

Mohammed Hussein Alshaali, chairman of Gulf Craft

gulfbusiness.com

The Rock

Christie’s will auction this 228 carat diamond next month, which was mined over 20 years ago and is expected to fetch between $20m-$30m

April 2022

63

Lifestyle / Maritime

Gale force

The Dubai International Boat Show which took place last month highlighted the resilience of an industry that fought its way through a difficult two-year period to come out stronger than ever on the other side

BY VARUN GODINHO

T

o understand the sheer standing of the Dubai International Boat Show (DIBS) on a global stage, you need only have had to take a short stroll along the Superyacht Avenue at the 28th edition of the show. Held at Dubai Harbour last month, within a few paces you’d walk past creations from some of the world’s largest yacht builders including Sanlorenzo, Ferretti, Gulf Craft, Azimut, Princess Yachts, Lürssen, Oceanco and Benetti, among many others.

The five-day show organised by the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) from March 9-13, had a new base at Dubai Harbour this year — a significant upgrade considering that the location has 700 berths and, more importantly, can host vessels up to 160 metres in length.

According to data shared by DIBS, the MENA region is home to 12.6 per cent of the global superyachts, the world’s secondhighest fleet-to-billionaire ratio. “DIBS is an 64

A pril 2022

important gateway to a region that not only has a population with significant purchasing power and appetite for large yachts, but is also seeing some of the most ambitious and exciting coastal development projects in the world. Visitors from countries like Saudi Arabia and the Maldives are an important part of the DIBS visitor profile for Triton,” says Craig Barnett, director of sales and marketing Triton Submarines.

At the show, it launched a new collaboration with Shadowcat for a compact launch and recovery vessel packaged with a Triton 3300/3 MKII submersible.

Amplifying Barnett’s thoughts about the show is Mohammed Hussein Alshaali, chairman of Gulf Craft, UAE’s homegrown yacht manufacturer. The show witnessed the firm kicking off its 40th-anniversary celebrations that saw the launch of the Nomad 70 SUV and the Silvercat 40cc.

It also announced the Majesty 111 concept, while its Majesty 120 made its show debut too. Gulf Craft was among the largest

Mohammed Hussein Alshaali, chairman of Gulf Craft

exhibitors at the show with 14 vessels on display from its Majesty Yachts, Nomad, Oryx Sports Cruiser, and Silvercraft brands.

“The Dubai International Boat Show is today recognised as one of the three most influential yacht shows in the world,” says Alshaali. “It is our ‘home show’ which we have been a long-standing supporter of since its very first edition in 1992. It is an important event, not only for us as a brand but also for the global yachting industry as a whole. It puts a spotlight on the UAE showcasing not only what the country offers in terms of marine lifestyle, but also the government’s efforts to position Dubai as a global yachting tourism destination.”

Significantly, Dubai’s maritime sector is reported to account for Dhs26.9bn of the emirate’s GDP. With a total of 34 launches and exhibitors from 54 countries at DIBS 2022, it featured gulfbusiness.com

Lifestyle / Maritime

shortage certainly did have an impact on our production timelines as we import a lot of raw material from across the globe, manufacture our boats, and then export the finished product to the world.”

Triton’s Barnett adds that geopolitiThe flying boat concept called cal machinations only further added to X-Pearl uses a hybrid hydrogenthe industry’s woes. “After the inevitable electric propulsion system Covid-related slump the large-yacht sector bounced back with record figures in 2022.

PHOTO CREDIT: INCAT CROWTHER DIBS, with pertinent topics such Unfortunately, the current crisis in Ukraine as the empowerment of women in could prove to have a cooling effect for the yachting industry, the role of two reasons: from a confidence perspeccryptocurrency in the industry and tive amongst UHNWIs on the near future also the threat of cyberattacks on of the geopolitical landscape, plus overall superyachts. inflation and oil prices pushing up costs A big focus though, and one that (already higher due to Covid) amongst venresonated through the show, was dors in our supply chain,” he adds. the topic of sustainability. A flying Speaking just ahead of the show, Trixie boat called X-Pearl that uses a LohMirmand, executive vice president, hybrid hydrogen-electric propulsion Events Management at DWTC, noted that Triton Submarines launched a system, designed by French firm the industry has somehow found a way new collaboration with Shadowcat SeaBubbles, was unveiled during the to push through its obvious obstacles. event. SeaBubbles signed an MoU at “The challenges of the last two years have over 800 global brands. The appeal of the DIBS with Al Masaood Power Division to sparked a desire for a more outdoor, spatial show lay not only in its location, but in the manufacture these zero-emission vessels lifestyle, which in turn promise new growth calibre of the audience that it drew. “The that can seat up to 12 passengers and can opportunities for the industry. The leisure Middle East is one of the most important serve as water taxis. Also, Sunreef Yachts marine sector has continued to thrive in global markets due not only to the area’s showcased its electric propulsion technolthis period, while building on its ability solid economic growth but also to the straogy via its Sunreef80 Eco vessel, whereas to attract a wider and more diverse buyer tegic value of shipyards aiming to make Faro Boats’ 5 Solar Set was positioned as base,” notes LohMirmand. an impact on the international nautithe world’s first maritime set to integrate a Despite the headwinds, the industry is cal stage,” says a spokesperson for Italian 100 per cent sustainable electric boat and reporting record figures. Triton said that it yacht-manufacturing company, Azimut. a solar-charging dock. Dutch shipbuilder has posted its best sales year ever in 2021, Azimut showed up with three of its major Feadship meanwhile used the show to highand Alshaali says that for Gulf Craft too, boats: Grande 27Meters, Grande 32Meters light its 268-metre concept, Pure, which last year was “a record-breaking year” in and Azimut 78. “This importance is will have a clean propulsion system. terms of sales. “The US market, which we reflected in sales, with Azimut seeing a Despite the overall upbeat sentiment at entered three years ago, and registered growth of 47 per cent in three years in the the show, the challenges that the maritime strong performance in 2021, will be a key Middle East, which now accounts for 25 per and yacht building industry faces were focus with the Majesty and Oryx brands. cent of the company’s market.” not overlooked. A consensus among sevAlong with the US, we are also setting eral of the participants were supply chain our sights on further growth in 2022 with A MARINE LIFESTYLE challenges, exacerbated by the Covid-19 increased presence and expanded sales Beyond the yachts themselves, there pandemic. “The pandemic undoubtedly channels in Saudi Arabia and Australia,” were other major developments that affected the entire global supply chain,” confirms Alshaali. came through the show. Among these says Gulf Craft’s Alshaali. “For us, the Regionally, the countries within the were four UAE residents and Middle East are expected to be increasmembers of The Arabian Ocean ingly lucrative for global industry Rowing Team who announced players. “The Middle East represents plans to cross the Atlantic Ocean an important growth for Azimut, with — a 5,000km journey from La enormous potential for further develGomera to the English Harbour in opment with a specific focus on Saudi Antigua — unassisted in a 45-60 Arabia which is seen as a market with day journey that they will underexcellent growth prospect and opportake this December. tunities for a possible expansion,” Also, the day before the show observes Azimut’s spokesperson. began, the Middle East Yachting The tailwinds are definitely in the Gulf Craft Nomad 70 SUV Conference was held as a prelude to right direction for the industry. gulfbusiness.com

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In the fast lane

Rado CEO Adrian Bosshard presides over one of the most recognisable Swiss watch brands, and is expanding its regional footprint by recently opening a new boutique in Dubai

BY VARUN GODINHO

T

he Adrian Bosshard of the Nineties did a very different thing for a living than the Swiss national who grew up in Biel does today. Back then, he was a MotoGP World Championship rider having participated in races around the globe. It’s a world away from where he’s eventually got to – that of the CEO of Rado, part of the Swatch Group.

Bosshard left the racing world and joined the Swatch Group in 1996, going on to become the long-time CEO of Certina as well as Union Glashütte, before taking on the top job at Rado in July 2020. It’s a brand that resonates at a personal level for the former racer. “On March 21, 1991, my wife presented me with my first expensive

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Lifestyle / Horology

Adrian Bosshard, CEO, Rado

“In May or June this year, we will launch a new Captain Cook High-Tech ceramic, but which will be a certified diving watch and will have a closed dial” watch for our wedding – a Rado Integral timepiece which I still wear to this day. [At the time], I never dreamt that one day I would be the CEO of this brand.”

Bosshard may have got the top job at Rado in the thick midst of the pandemic, but he isn’t exaggerating when he says that sales of the brand have shot up last year.

While the Swatch Group doesn’t reveal a break-up of the performance of its individual brands, the group as a whole swung from a CHF53m loss in 2020, to a thumping CHF774m net profit in 2021. Its sales overall climbed around 30 per cent to CHF7.31bn last year.

“The challenge for our brand is to produce enough watches to meet the demand.

Currently, it is a big challenge for us to ramp up our production. We are in the process of increasing the capacity of our production, but this cannot be done within six months.

We need more time,” says Bosshard.

A recent report by the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FH) stated that in 2021 Swiss watch export figures reached an all-time high of CHF22.3bn. Bosshard explains that as far as Rado is concerned, gulfbusiness.com

its sales are not majorly dominated by any single market. “We do a little bit more than one-third of our business in Asia, including Greater China. We do around one quarter in Europe and Russia, and a little over 10 per cent in the US and Latin America. We are doing around 28 per cent of our business in the Middle East, including India, where we have a very heavy market share,” notes Bosshard.

We met in March at the opening of the latest Rado boutique in Dubai’s bustling Al Fahidi Street located in Meena Bazaar. It is Rado’s sixth boutique in the UAE, and its fourth in Dubai, opened alongside Rivoli Group, Rado’s exclusive distributors in the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. “At Rado, we are specialists in terms of watchmaking and global marketing. Rivoli is a specialist in local retail and marketing within this region. With a very competent staff, they are able to transfer our excellency in watchmaking to the end consumers.”

THE WAY FORWARD

What has kept Rado firmly in the spotlight is the use of innovative materials in watchmaking, a practice that goes back several decades. Back in 1962, its DiaStar 1 used new hard metals in its construction that went on to be positioned by Rado as the “world’s first scratchproof watch.” In 1986, it shot back into the spotlight with the Rado Integral which used a scratchresistant high-tech ceramic, typically used in the construction of aircraft.

Last year, Rado debuted the Captain Cook High-tech Ceramic that featured a calibre 3R734 automatic skeletonised movement. “We’ve had great success with this product line,” says Bosshard. “It is inspired by the 1962 Captain Cook vintage piece, but is one in which we have put in all

our technical expertise available as of last year in terms of materials and movement.

Since the launch of this product last year, it has been sold out and we never have any stock of it.”

He reveals that a successor to last year’s piece will debut later this year and will reinforce the timepiece’s positioning as a proper diving watch. “In May or June this year, we will launch a new Captain Cook High-Tech ceramic, but which will be a certified diving watch and will have a closed dial.”

Bosshard goes on to note the other timepieces too which will be added to the collection this year. “We launched the Florence Classic, a very elegant watch, at the beginning of the year. We will also have a very colourful collection of the True Thinline with a model for spring, summer, autumn and winter in four different colours.”

As for the medium that Rado employs to get its watches to the end consumers, Bosshard would rather focus on the quality of that distribution channel, rather than the channel itself. “For me, I don’t care if a customer is buying in a mono-brand boutique, in a department store or via our e-commerce channels. It’s important to me that the customer has a quality experience, and in the end, it’s up to him to make the decision.” With that in mind though, Bosshard is growing the e-commerce offerings of the brand, though isn’t unduly concerned that some markets rank above the others in terms of their e-commerce share.

“We have our highest e-commerce share in the US where it accounts for more than 25 per cent [of our sales]. We have very important countries like Switzerland or Austria where we’re doing e-commerce of only 2-3 per cent because the countries are small, and we have Rado stores in all the major cities there and customers prefer to enter a Rado store.”

Bosshard who has been in the business of watchmaking for over two-and-a-half decades, now presides over a brand that is regularly regarded as among the 20 most widely selling Swiss watch brands in the world.

With his industry track record, he isn’t about to let the brand skid off the track anytime soon.

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Lifestyle / Art

A bolder vision Artist Sacha Jafri discusses the breadth of his projects this year, from a piece that will be placed for eternity on the Moon, to an exhibition that pays tribute to this planet’s UNESCO World Heritage sites, and also an NFT-linked project that celebrates the legacy of Expo 2020 Dubai

BY VARUN GODINHO

O

n March 23, 2021, Dubaibased artist Sacha Jafri sold the world’s largest canvas painting – The Journey of Humanity – for a jaw-slacking $62m. On March 23, 2022, he took to the helipad at the Burj Al Arab Jumeirah with another seminal project.

Jafri painted 30 UNESCO World Heritage sites and displayed them in a 12m by 12m steel labyrinth structure called The

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Art Maze in an immersive gallery experience designed in collaboration with Marcus Schaefer.

As with most of his major projects, Jafri pulled off nothing short of a superhuman effort to finish the project. While he worked on the project for six weeks, on the day leading to the launch itself, he painted for 28 hours straight – without food, water or sleep – in a trance-like state to complete it in time.

There are a total of 1,154 UNESCO World Heritage sites, and Jafri’s been going to several of them since the age of four with his mother. “I’ve probably been to about 250 of them. Some of these are buildings that we’ve built – Acropolis, the Colosseum, Stonehenge, Taj Mahal, etc, and others are natural sites, desert seascapes, mountains, beautiful vistas – I love the Land of Olives and Vines in Palestine, [for example],” says Jafri. The 30 paintings include the Notre-Dame in Paris, Lumbini in Nepal, Mount Kenya National Park, Saint-Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, and the Memphis and its Necropolis in Egypt. In addition to the 30 sites that he opened the exhibition with, a 31st painting was a tribute to the Burj Al Arab itself.

Jafri will create a total of 50 paintings to mark the 50th founding anniversary of the UNESCO World Heritage List classification. When asked to pick which of the 250 sites that he’s been to resonates the most powerfully with him, Jafri notes, “NotreDame has always been a special place to me. That’s when I went with my mum and gulfbusiness.com

Lifestyle / Art

Artist Sacha Jafri

“I’ve probably been to about 250 [UNESCO World Heritage sites]. I think my most special memory would be St Peter’s [in the Vatican], and then Rome itself ” dad to Paris for the first time and I really appreciated something. But I think my most special memory would be St Peter’s in Rome, the Vatican palace, and then Rome itself. And that’s probably my greatest memory as a child – appreciating art for the first time in Rome, when I saw the work of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci – and that inspired me for my journey.”

THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF ART

Jafri, who earned the Guinness World Record for the world’s largest painting, is an artist whose work is collected by the likes of Sir Paul McCartney, Lewis Hamilton, Huda Kattan and Leonardo DiCaprio, among others, besides ruling royal families from across the world. He’s now stepping it up even further with an original work titled, We Rise Together with the Light of the Moon, which will become the first official artwork to be placed on the Moon’s surface later this year, as part of the NASA CLPS initiative.

“It’ll stay there for eternity. I’ve been working [on the project] solidly for a year. gulfbusiness.com

NASA has been working on it for 20 years to make sure they land on the moon this year because it’s their 50th anniversary since they last landed on the moon, which was in 1972. It’s quite interesting that two projects are celebrating their 50th anniversary – one of the 1972 Moon landing and the other of UNESCO’s beginning of the World Heritage Site conservation project,” says Jafri, noting the common thread between two of his big projects this year.

Collaborators on the moon project include Selenian, Astrobotic as well as

Spacebit, which used an aerospace-grade aluminium gold plate as the canvas for Jafri’s artwork to enable it to withstand temperatures of between -173°C to +123°C. Jafri explains that his participation in the moon project isn’t intended to be a vainglorious achievement. But as a leading philanthropist, he will be creating a series of NFTs from it to further his work as a humanitarian. “There will be a charitable NFT series [from this project], which I’m hoping will raise a huge amount of money for the four main concerns of our world: education, health, sustainability, and equality of all. Any charity you think of, or any cause, fits into one of those four pillars,” says Jafri.

The artist is no stranger to NFTs. Last year, his NFT artwork titled, On the Wings of an Angel, sold for almost $1m in less than a minute at amFAR’s annual Cannes gala.

“I’ve created a very special NFT project, that is my Angels project. I’ve created 100 Angels, linked to 100 charities around the world, and we hope to raise a huge amount of money for those charities,” explains Jafri.

While he’s pushing forward with the use of NFT-linked work, Jafri cautions against the dark side of the NFT world too. “In three years, 98 per cent of all NFTs will be worth zero. What people aren’t realising is that with about 80 per cent of all NFT projects, people are losing money. You don’t hear about that – you only hear those big April 2022

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numbers because it’s well marketed and promoted, and because it needs investors.

It’s a pyramid scheme. But when that all collapses, which it will, then a real foundation will be built and a real market will be there,” says Jafri while comparing the stage at where the NFTs are at the moment, to where the Internet was in the early Nineties, having then gone through the Dot-com 70

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bubble era, before correcting itself to become a much understood and well-leveraged product.

“What is interesting with NFTs is that it creates a title deed which validates and authenticates the work in a digital space and is tapped to the blockchain. My job really is to make sure that whatever I create within that space gives value to the

collector and the investor, and real value that lasts and not just meant to make a quick buck by flipping it,” observes Jafri.

It’s the NFT world that Jafri is also turning to with his next project titled, Global Pillars, which is intended to serve as a legacy project for the six-month-long Expo 2020 Dubai mega event which concluded at the end of last month. “I wanted to create a project that would give a legacy to the Expo and what Her Excellency Reem Al Hashimy has achieved. I dipped into the 10 pillars of the Expo and visited every pavilion about 10 times. I have created 10 paintings representing each of the 10 pillars – that’s 100 paintings and then an NFT project from that. With only 100 paintings, only 100 people can buy them.

But the advantage of NFTs is that if you create 100 NFTs of each of those, you got 10,000 of them. Suddenly 10,000 people can buy them, own something and be a part of that project. It can raise money to help charitable causes. So that project – Global Pillars – in partnership with Crypto Oasis will be an NFT project which will hopefully create a legacy for Expo for the next 100 years.”

Technology is integral to Jafri’s work, and The Art Maze experience is available to view through a virtual- and augmentedreality experience. The exhibition will travel to 12 cities across six continents – and possibly 18 – over the next two years.

A big-ticket showing is expected when the travelling exhibition reaches the UNESCO headquarters in Paris where it will be on display from September 12-18.

“The originals will go on sale for around $2m-$3m,” says Jafri. “But importantly, there are also artist’s proofs and prints.

And there’ll be a lot made so that everyone can own something from this project.

I didn’t want it to be elitist – that was really what was important to me because I want to reconnect the world and you can’t do that if you’re elitist.” gulfbusiness.com

LIFESTYLE / TECHNOLOGY

HANDS-ON REVIEW

Reno7 Pro 5G THE RENO7 5G IS CAPABLE OF CAPTURING DSLR-LIKE PORTRAITS THROUGH FEATURES SUCH AS PORTRAIT MODE AND BOKEH FLARE PORTRAIT VIDEO

G

lobal technology brand OPPO, recently launched the all-new Reno7 Series in the GCC region. The new models include – Reno7 Pro 5G, Reno7 5G and Reno7 Z 5G. OPPO unveiled a light show on Ain Dubai, the world’s largest and tallest observation wheel, to celebrate the launch.

The presentation illuminated the Dubai Marina skyline while highlighting the series’ features, including the design, orbit breathing light, fast-charging and camera capabilities.

Like most of its predecessors in the Reno series, the camera remains the star attraction of the Reno7 Pro 5G, too. But this time around, it promises to offer a much more rounded smartphone experience instead of relying only on the camera.

Design and display

OPPO says that the Reno7 Pro 5G is designed to bring unlimited possibilities through a completely upgraded portrait photo and video experience, exceptional power and performance, and the convenient and inclusive ColorOS 12.

Slim and lightweight, the phone looks stunning with a matte finish shimmery back panel. The smartphone is 7.45mm and 180gms which makes it very easy to hold. The Reno7 Pro 5G comes with a 6.5inch full HD + AMOLED display along with a 90Hz refresh rate.

Performance, storage and battery

Powered by MediaTek Dimensity, OPPO claims that the Reno7 Pro 5G delivers super fast 5G performance. The Reno7 Pro 5G is among the first series of smartphones to include the new ColorOS 12 out of the box. Built around an inclusive design concept, the ColorOS 12 can significantly improve productivity and privacy.

As regards the storage, the smartphone comes with a large 12GB RAM + 256GB ROM configuration together with OPPO’s RAM expansion technology.

As for the battery life, it provides 65W SuperVOOC, where you can charge the phone’s 4500mAh battery to 100 per cent in as little as 31 minutes and just a five-minute charge is enough to give four hours of movie playbacks, meaning worries about battery life on a 5G phone are a thing of the past.

Camera capabilities

OPPO is known for offering good camera features. And this time the company claims the phone to be a ‘portrait expert’. True to its words, the newly launched phone boasts the ultimate Portrait Camera System, with two imaging sensors — the IMX709 and the IMX766 — laying the foundations of this completely upgraded portrait imaging experience. With the updated Bokeh Flare Portrait Video and AI Highlight Video features, together with an all-new Portrait Mode, users can easily capture professionallooking portraits, both in video and photo.

The phone has a triple rear camera with a 50MP main camera along with a 8MP ultrawide angle and 2MP macro camera. The front camera supports 32MP. With Bokeh Flare Portrait for photo and video available on both the front and back cameras of Reno7 Pro 5G, it’s now super easy to record videos and photos with dream-like bokeh lights as your glittering backdrop.

OPPO has also introduced the Omoji features which is a digital avatar of yourself which can be personalised.

Immersive gaming experience

To create an even more immersive gaming experience on Reno7 Pro 5G, a top-of- the-line X-Axis Linear Motor has been added to the phone. The X-Axis Liner Motor delivers varying levels of vibration feedback. You can immerse yourself into a crisp, immersive gaming experience that’s like no other.

With the new features and unlimited possibilities offered, we believe OPPO Reno7 Pro 5G is an ideal device for people looking for great performance, photography and gaming. It is now available in two colours - Startrails Blue and Starlight Black across UAE for Dhs2,799.

gulfbusiness.com

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The SME Story A dedicated hub for the regional startup and SME ecosystem

INTERVIEW

Leveraging experience We meet three entrepreneurs, who’ve used their extensive corporate and technical know-how to create a sustainable ecosystem for foodpreneurs, an enterprise-grade expense management platform and halal buy-now-pay-later solutions my first experience as an entrepreneur.

We sold the company at the end of 2006 and then I stayed with the acquiring company until 2009, which is when I decided to go back into the food and beverage industry. I chose this sector because it was my initial career of choice; I also like the scalability of the business.

What is the central idea behind Locale and what’s its USP?

Ian Ohan, founder and CEO, Locale.ae

You started in the corporate world, but then decided to become an entrepreneur. What prompted the move?

I think I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spark in me, however I had the opportunity to work with two partners who were more experienced in business, which gave me the confidence to exit the security of the corporate world. That was 72

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Locale is focused on good food, good people and good ideas. It is a financially sustainable ecosystem that allows foodpreneurs to thrive and reconnect with the communities in which they operate.

Locale seeks to make money on food - our technology and delivery is not operated as a profit centre. For foodpreneurs this means a true, shoulder-to-shoulder partnership with Krush Brands, the full stack food technology, multi-kitchen and last mile delivery company, we power. This partnership includes corporate support and the use of all our proprietary assets, including our proprietary food technology, the Locale marketplace, our multikitchens, our corporate team’s support as well as our professional and proprietary delivery fleet. For customers, this means a highly curated group of around 20 high

quality brands in one place - no advertising, no rating etc., just great food.

Give us a business overview of your operations.

Locale currently operates in the UAE, but has ambitious regional and international expansion plans. Until recently we’ve been bootstrapping the growth and development of the company, received our first strategic investor in November last year, the month in which we also launched locale.ae, our own curated marketplace where customers can order from multiple brands in a single order.

We currently have 300 employees, including our operational team, corporate team and our technology development team.

gulfbusiness.com

The SME Story

What have been your key learnings since starting the company?

My most important advice is to be profitable. Wether you are self or externally funded, startups must focus on profitability. Relying on external funding for survival is not a great place to be and may encourage entrepreneurs to focus on the wrong metrics. I believe the days of vanity or growth metrics only are numbered. Investors want and should want

profitable investments. The biggest mistake, I made early on was to not track or forecast cashflow. Being profitable is not enough - I learned the hard way to operate on a strict, forward-looking and rolling 365-day cashflow forecast.

What are your upcoming expansion plans for the business?

It is time to grow and scale our ecosystem, both as a whole and as well its

How did the idea for Qashio arise?

Armin Moradi, co-founder and CEO, Qashio

What is the core concept of Qashio?

Qashio is an enterprise-grade expense management platform and financial control centre that equips finance, human resources and other departments with automated and transparent expense reporting, better visibility, control of cash flows and an empowered workforce.

It helps businesses create softwareenabled corporate cards for employees as well as automate accounts payables, allowing them to control petty cash, and manage finances with more control on efficiencies and processes.

With real-time tracking for every business expense, Qashio’s reporting provides better visibility on each spend, allowing finance leaders to make informed cash flow decisions. gulfbusiness.com

I have 12 years of experience that spans various industries, including fintech and enterprise software, e-commerce and retail, IT consulting and foodtech.

At Oracle, I transformed various business processes, particularly financial operations and productivity, which enabled me to build the ERP software distributor Lytecone in 2017. After this, I took on the role of managing director for the UAE and Saudi Arabia at Carriage, the food delivery application, which was sold for $150m to Delivery Hero.

As commercial and finance director at Oman’s Royal Avenue Investments, I gained insight into inefficiencies plaguing regional enterprises, particularly those that can be solved through technology.

I enjoy growing the commercial scope of companies, with a focus on revenue generation, financial health and sales, which is where the idea and passion for Qashio arise from. My goal is to disrupt archaic financial processes by using my skills in fintech and digital transformation.

Give us a business overview of your operations and funding.

As the co-founder and CEO, I’m responsible for commercial growth and scaling up operations. Qashio’s co-founder is Jonathan Lau, who I met while working at Carriage. We established the company in 2021 in Dubai and currently have 10 employees. Our focus is markets in Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

Our pre-seed funding round was led by global VC firm MSA Novo (over $1.5bn assets under management) and supported by Rally Cap Ventures, Palm

component parts. We have been doing partnership deals with very cool foodpreneur partners that will be joining the Locale ecosystem. We will also soon be announcing strategic partnerships that leverage Locale’s food technology, proprietary brands and operational capabilities on a regional and international basis. You will also see some of our early brands, scaling independently of Locale under franchise agreement.

Drive Capital, Plug and Play Ventures, as well as regional strategic angels, entrepreneurs and family offices. Qashio raised a total of $2.5m.

What are some of the biggest hurdles that expense management platforms face and how is Qashio tackling them?

The B2B fintech space is young within the MENA region. This creates a challenge not only in navigating around regulations, but also in finding experienced local talent.

We decided to actively engage with the local fintech ecosystem early on while we spoke with global giants through our existing network. This has enabled us to accurately execute our strategy while also tapping into a global pool of experienced talent. Being headquartered in Dubai helps as many skilled expat workers are motivated to relocate here.

What are your key takeaways from running Qashio?

Planning and strategising for perfection will never deliver results. Making decisions and executing them while being disciplined is more impactful.

The moment I recognised the power of making a decision and then having the discipline to get it done – results began to manifest faster.

What are your upcoming expansion plans for the business?

Qashio is going to expand geographically with offices first in Saudi Arabia and Egypt and then further expand into the wider MENAP (Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan) region in the foreseeable future.

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The SME Story

Mark Zubov, founder and CFO, Iman

What is the core concept of your company?

Our mission is to democratise access to fair and transparent halal financial products. We do that by offering a halal book-now-pay-later (BNPL) solution to retailers, allowing them to grow their sales. Shoppers then can buy anything they want and pay for their purchase over time in simple halal monthly installments.

Installment sales are funded by investors that are able to generate attractive halal returns through our Invest product. This way, we are able to offer financial products that are both more accessible to investors seeking sustainable halal yield and more affordable for the people that need funding.

Furthermore, we noticed how poor the user experience was that commercial banks and other lenders were offering in the market. As we both had prior experience working with fintech lenders in developed and emerging markets and understood the consumer lending business quite well, we decided to build upon that knowledge to create a halal BNPL, first focused on Uzbekistan, and with the ambitious vision to expand into the Middle East and North Africa, and Asia.

Give us a business overview of your operations.

On the BNPL side, we currently operate in Uzbekistan – which we launched back in June 2021. We have connected to more than 110 merchants with over 300 point of sale outlets, both online and offline.

On the investment side, we have 1,600 investors from over 50 countries that have invested over $1.5m through Iman.

We have over 30 employees on our team.

With regards to fundraising, we have bootstrapped the business early on and recently closed our $1m seed round with the participation of Battery Road Digital Holdings, Tesla Capital, UZCARD

How did the idea for the company come about?

My partner Rustom Rahmatov, and I first met when we were working for a Central Asia-focused investment firm. When looking at investment opportunities in the consumer finance space, we noticed how low the credit penetration rate was in Uzbekistan – only 6 per cent of the population ever borrowed from banks or invested in deposits. One of the main reasons behind that was the lack of Islamic financial products in a market where 90 per cent of the population are Muslim. Rustom Rahmatov and Mark Zubov 74

April 2022

Ventures and MyAsiaVC among others.

We are now about to start raising a $1m bridge round to improve our product, grow our customer base and launch operations in Pakistan.

What is the size and potential of the Islamic fintech market within the region?

According to growth strategy research and advisory firm, Dinar Standard, the Islamic fintech market size for Organisation of Islamic Cooperation is estimated to be worth $49bn. While that constitutes only 0.7 per cent of global fintech transactions, the market is projected to grow at 21 per cent CAGR to $128bn by 2025, compared to a CAGR of 15 per cent for the conventional fintech sector. The rise of Islamic fintech is, first of all, driven by the increasing digitisation in high-growth Muslim markets, such as Pakistan and Nigeria, with a young and tech-savvy population. Secondly, with the increasing demand for ESG-compliant investing across the world, Islamic fintech is starting to attract not only Muslims, but also people who are interested in the ethical aspects of halal finance. Third, the rise of blockchain, and particularly decentralised finance (DeFi) should help with bringing financial services to unbanked Muslims as well as building greater trust and transparency in Islamic finance.

What are your upcoming expansion plans for the business?

We are looking to launch our BNPL product in Pakistan in the second and third quarter of 2022, with plans to aggressively expand throughout MENA later this year.

To do that, we are already speaking to potential strategic partners and investors who could help launch in the GCC. Finally, to scale our investment product throughout the world, we are building a DeFi protocol that will make it easier for us to attract investors globally seeking sustainable halal yield. gulfbusiness.com

Exclusive paintings, sculptures, photography and timepieces from award-winning international artists.

Painting by Faisal Abdulqader

Photograph by Yousif Alharmoodi

Sculpture by Armin Shahhosseini