Forbes picks top 200 most powerful Arab women

In a glittering ceremony replete with movers and shakers, Forbes Middle East on Wednesday unveiled its pick for the top 200 most powerful Arab women.

Split into three categories, Arab women who have made headway in the fields of executive management, family business and government took to the stage to receive awards from the United Arab Emirates’ Minister for Culture, Youth and Community Development Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak al-Nahyan.

“This celebration sheds light on the vital role of Arab women and their solid achievements in boosting the community and development of their nations,” he said in the keynote address.

The top prize, the 2014 Arab Women Leaders Award, went to the UAE’s Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak.

Family business leaders dominated the top 200 line-up, with 85 women featuring in that category, and a particularly strong showing from the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Egyptian women demonstrated their executive management prowess, comprising 25% of the 56 entries in the category.

“It’s very exciting and it’s an honor, and definitely more of a challenge now as we have more of a responsibility to work harder toward making us Arab women leaders,” Dr Mervat Tashkandi, who made the list as the advisor to the Saudi minister of labor, told Al Arabiya News.

Attendee Lena Tisserand told Al Arabiya News: “It was an amazing event… being surrounded by all these wonderful women. It made me feel so empowered that we find so many intelligent women in this part of the world.”

Fifty-five women were awarded, including the UAE’s Raja Easa Saleh al-Gurg, managing director of the Easa Saleh al-Gurg Group LLC; Bahrain’s Minister of Social Development Dr Fatima Mohamed al-Balooshi; and Fadwa Yacoub al-Homaizi, chairwoman of Kuwait’s Kout Food Group.