7 CEOs from Kuwait among “Forbes” for strongest in Middle East 2022

The “Forbes Middle East” list of “The Most Powerful CEOs in the Middle East 2022” included 7 names of CEOs in Kuwait.

Bader Al-Kharafi, Vice Chairman and CEO of Zain Group, topped the names from Kuwait, where he came in 35th place on the list, followed by Adana Al-Sabah, CEO of Kuwait Projects Group Holding (KIPCO), and then Vice Chairman and CEO of the National Bank of Kuwait Group. Issam Al-Saqer, 59, followed by CEO, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors at “Agility” Tariq Sultan, 67, and Chief Executive Officer of Commercial Bank of Kuwait Ilham Mahfouz in 70th place, and CEO of Boursa Kuwait Company, Muhammad Al-Osaimi 96, and finally CEO of “VI Markets”» Talal Al-Ajmi 98.

This year’s list of the most powerful CEOs in the Middle East included 100 business leaders from 26 different nationalities, led by the Emiratis with 19 CEOs, followed by the Egyptians with 16 leaders, and the Saudis with 15 business leaders.

CEOs in the banking and financial services sector topped the list with 27 CEOs, followed by leaders in the communications sector with eight heads, and then seven leaders in each of the energy and logistics sectors.

The companies on the list are valued at more than $5 trillion, and revenue was more than $1 trillion last year.

CEOs were classified according to several factors, including the CEO and the company’s impact on society, the country and the markets they supervise, the CEO’s experience in his current position, in addition to his general experience, the company’s size in terms of revenue, assets, and market value, and the CEO’s achievements and performance in the past year. The innovations and initiatives implemented by the CEO.

Forbes Middle East stated that the CEO is often responsible for the success or failure of the company he leads, regardless of the economic environment, market conditions and other factors, and this has become clear in the Middle East, especially after the improvement in the application of governance principles over the past years. And the tendency of many companies to separate ownership and management.

She pointed out that this trend has increased strongly on the part of state-owned companies, as sectors such as defence and utilities are currently being integrated and included in the financial markets, which has made CEOs primarily focus on long-term returns through innovations, use of technology and the application of environmental, social and governance practices companies.

The magazine indicated that when it released its first list of the most powerful CEOs in 2021, the prevailing matter among CEOs in the Middle East was largely based on the safety and protection of business, while the landscape changed this year, with companies achieving record profits and implementing new investments and the activity of initial public offerings, in conjunction With huge deals made.

She stated that so far in 2022, Amin Nasser led Saudi Aramco to become the most valuable company in the world by market value again, surpassing the American company Apple. At the same time, Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber led ADNOC to offer 3 of its subsidiaries on the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange recently, which are: “ADNOC Drilling”, “Vertiglobe”, and “Borouge”, while the initial public offering of Borouge, through which it raised two billion Dollar is the largest public offering ever witnessed by the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange.