According to the annual rating by "Forbes Middle East", the most influential business leaders continue to provide significant impact across various sectors, leading both local and international companies in the region. The organization noted that this year, more than ever, 46 business leaders are represented in the UAE, highlighting their important role in the regional business landscape. Following the UAE, Egypt comes next with 18 representatives, and Saudi Arabia has nine.
In the national ranking, Egyptian leaders prevail with 18, followed by representatives from the UAE with 11 and Kuwait with nine. For the third consecutive year, the list is led by the CEO of Abu Dhabi's First Bank, Hannah Al-Rustamani, followed by the Deputy CEO of the Kuwait National Bank, Sheikh Khalid Al-Bahar, and in third place is the co-founder and CEO of Holding "Purehealth" Shaista Asif.
The positions of the first seven have remained unchanged since 2024; however, for the first time this year, the top-10 includes the CEO of "Adnoc Marine" Taiba Al-Hashed, the chairperson and CEO of "Aster DM Healthcare Group - GCC" Alisha Mubin, and the CEO of "Dubai Aerospace Engineering Projects Corporation" Suzan Al-Anani. It is worth noting that there are 27 new leaders in the current ranking.
The banking and financial sector continues to dominate among the represented sectors in the list with 25 leaders, followed by the healthcare sector and technology with nine representatives each, while the risk capital sector has five. More than 40% of the top-10 are representatives from the banking and financial industry.
