The Forbes magazine on Thursday announced its list of the most powerful CEOs in the Middle East for 2023.
It stated that the year’s most powerful CEOs in the region gave rapt attention to sustainability, consolidation, and growth, stimulated the economy, and created large corporations through the consolidation of state-owned enterprises.
The Forbes list comprised 100 business leaders from 22 different nationalities, and Egypt came in second place with 19 leaders in the classification, behind the UAE, which leads with 23 CEOs, and ahead of Saudi Arabia in third place with 18 CEOs.
A positive sign for localization is that a plethora of large companies are currently led by local leaders.
The top three categories of enterprises in 2023 were banking, with 17 entries, real estate and construction with 14, while telecommunications with nine, according to the report.
Numerous global events and conferences fueled corporate profits, such as the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 28) in Dubai.
The Egyptian CEOs included according to their ranking on the Forbes list:
10- Hatem Dowidar, CEO of e&, formerly known as the Etisalat Group
15- Osama Rabie, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Managing Director of the Suez Canal Authority
18- Yasser Zaghoul, CEO of the National Marine Dredging Group NMDC
20- Ahmed Jalal Ismail, CEO of Majid Al Futtaim Holding
25- Hisham Okasha, Executive Chairman of the National Bank of Egypt
40- Mohamed Al-Etreby, Executive Chairman of the Bank of Egypt
44- Hussein Abaza, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of the Commercial International Bank CIB
46- Othman Ibrahim, CEO of Rawabi Holding Group
47- Mohamed Nasr El-Din, Managing Director and CEO of Telecom Egypt
49 Osama Bishai, CEO of Orascom Construction
51- Sherif Bishara, CEO of the Mohammed and Obaid Al Mulla Group and the American Hospital Dubai
54- Karim Awad, CEO of EFG Holding Group
57- Ahmed Abdel Aal, CEO of Mashreq Group
58- Basil Jamal, CEO of Qatar Islamic Bank
68- Saeed Zaatar, Managing Director and CEO of Contact Financial Holding Group for Financial Services
37- Hisham Talaat Mostafa, CEO and Managing Director of Talaat Mostafa Holding Construction Group
83- Tariq al-Sayed, Managing Director and CEO of Elyan Tourism Investment Company for Travel and Tourism
88- Omar al-Hamamsy, CEO of Orascom Development Group Egypt
89- Khaled Abbas, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Managing Director of the Administrative Capital for Urban Development Company
