Egypt ranks second on 2023 Forbes List of 100 Most Powerful Women in ME

15 / 02 / 2023

• news
• The New Republic

Egypt came in the second position after the UAE on Forbes’ 2023 list of the 100 Most Powerful Businesswomen in the Middle East as Egypt scored 12 entries following the UAE which was named at the top of the list with 15 entries.

Saudi Arabia came in the third position with 11 entries, followed by Kuwait with eight entries, and six from each of Lebanon, Qatar and Oman.

This year’s list of the region’s most powerful businesswomen features 100 entries, with 104 women from 27 different sectors and 27 nationalities.

The banking and financial services sector dominates the list with 23 entries, followed by 11 who are leading diversified businesses, eight from the investments sector, six from the retail sector, and five from healthcare.

Women in the Middle East and North Africa today lead some of the largest companies in the region, with some also making their mark internationally.

While preparing the list, Forbes takes into consideration the impact that the leader has had on the region and the markets that she serves; the achievements and performance of the leader in the last year; the number and extensiveness of the sustainability and CSR initiatives led by the leader; the size of the business in terms of revenues, assets, AUM, market capitalization, and the number of employees; and the number of years of industry experience that the leader has and the time they have served in their current role.

The list included executive deputy chairperson of the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) Dalia El Baz who ranked the 13th.

Pakinam Kafafi, the CEO of Taqa Arabia, occupied the 21st position on the list, followed by Rawya Mansour in the 27th position.

Mansour proved herself as one of Egypt’s leading businesswomen through her drive, including the establishment of Organic Agriculture for Social International Solidarity (OASIS) in Monaco in 2012.

Vice President of Cisco Middle East & Africa Reem Asaad came in the 39th position on the list, followed by Hend El Sherbini, the CEO of Integrated Diagnostics Holdings (IDH), in the 42^nd position.

Farida and Yasmine Khamis, the daughters of the famous Egyptian carpets tycoon, ranked the 43rd , followed by Mona Zulficar, a member of Egypt’s National Council of Human Rights, occupied the 48th position on the list.

Elham Mahfouz, a member of the supervisory board of the American University of Kuwait, came in the 56^th position on the list, followed by Hilda Louca, the founder of MITCHA platform to support Egyptian designers, who ranked the 62^nd.

Omnia Kelig, a partner and director for Haykala Investment Management and a co-head of investment banking at Barclays Bank in Egypt, ranked the 84th on the list

Abir Leheta, chairman of Barwil Egytrans and ScanArabia, came in the 87th position on the list.

Abeer Helmy Saleh – who was appointed as a Board Member & Managing Director of Misr Life Insurance, Takaful, which was established as a joint venture between Misr Insurance Holding Company, the National Bank of Egypt, and Banque Misr, with a capital of over $5 million – came on the 99th position on the list.