5 Kuwaitis among Forbes list of 100 most powerful Mideast CEOs

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KUWAIT CITY, Jan 3: Forbes Middle East has announced its annual list of 100 most powerful chief executive officers (CEOs) in the Middle East for the year 2023 (third edition), reports Al-Anba daily.

The list includes five CEOs from Kuwait — Vice Chairman and Group CEO of the National Bank of Kuwait Issam Al-Saqr, Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation Sheikh Nawaf Al-Saud, Vice Chairman and CEO of Zain Group Badr Nasser Al-Kharafi, CEO of Kuwait Projects Holding Group (KIPCO) Sheikha Adana Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad and CEO of Boursa Kuwait Mohammed Al-Osaimi,.

Forbes said that the leaders on the list were able to achieve combined revenues exceeding one $1 trillion in 2022, while the combined market value of the companies they manage amounted to more than $5 trillion.

Forbes based its selection on the achievements and performance of CEOs last year; as well as the innovations and initiatives they implemented, their influence on the region, the countries in which they work, the markets they oversee and the size of the companies they head.

1- Issam Al-Saqr

Kuwaiti Vice Chairman and Group CEO of the National Bank of Kuwait Issam Al-Saqr topped the Kuwait list, while he ranked fifth on the Forbes list.  He joined the National Bank of Kuwait Group in 1978 and assumed his current position as CEO of the group in 2014.

The bank’s assets amounted to $119.2 billion at the end of the third quarter of 2023. Al-Saqr also chairs the Board of Directors of several companies affiliated with the National Bank of Kuwait Group, such as NBK International and he is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Wealth Management Company.

2- Sheikh Nawaf Al-Saud

In second place in Kuwait and sixth on the Forbes list, Vice Chairman and CEO of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation Sheikh Nawaf Al-Saud joined the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation in 1999 and assumed his current position in March 2022.

The companies affiliated with Kuwait Petroleum Corporation include Kuwait Oil Company, Kuwait National Petroleum Company, and Petrochemical Industry Company. Al-Saud previously served as President and CEO of Key Holdings (Europe), CEO of Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (KUFPEC) and head of the corporation’s office in Washington.

3- Badr Al-Kharafi

Vice Chairman and CEO of Zain Group Badr Nasser Al-Kharafi ranked third in Kuwait and 33rd on the Forbes list. He joined the Board of Directors of Zain Group in 2011, was appointed Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors in 2014, and then became CEO of the group in 2017. .

Al-Kharafi supervises about 7,400 employees, and Zain Group operates in seven countries in the Middle East and Africa, and its assets amount to about $16.5 billion. Al-Kharafi also holds the position of Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Zain Saudi Arabia, the Gulf Cables and Electrical Industries Group Company based in Kuwait and Mitsubishi Motors in Egypt.

4- Sheikha Adana Al-Nasser

In fourth place in Kuwait, and 60th on the Forbes list is Sheikha Adana Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad, CEO of Kuwait Projects Group (KIPCO).  She assumed her current position in January 2022. KIPCO owns investment projects in the Middle East and North Africa region in the financial services, media, real estate and industry sectors.

She previously served as CEO of Al-Futouh Holding Company, the founder and chair of the Board of Trustees of the American University of Kuwait, chair of the Board of Directors of the United Education Company, and a member of the boards of Gulf Insurance Group, Kamco Invest and OSN.

5- Muhammad Al-Osaimi

CEO of Boursa Kuwait, Mohammed Al-Osaimi, ranked fifth in Kuwait and 96th on the Forbes list.  He was appointed CEO of Boursa Kuwait in 2019, after joining the Board of Directors in 2015.

During the first nine months of 2023, Boursa Kuwait recorded a net profit of $56.5 million, as well as operating revenues of $73 million. In 2022, it witnessed an increase in total foreign trading activity by 29 percent, as the total value of trades that reached international investors amounted to $2 billion.

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