Bapco Leadership - Senior Women Profiles

Afaf Zainalabedin Acting Deputy Chief Executive – Corporate Support Chief Financial Officer

Afaf Zainalabedin has had a long career in corporate finance within the Kingdom of Bahrain prior to joining Bapco.

Originally a graduate in Accounting from the University of Bahrain, Afaf was the first Bahraini woman to attain Chartered Accountant Status from the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants, England and Wales. Afaf subsequently joined Ernst & Young where she spent her formative years. Afaf progressed rapidly, obtaining regular promotions until she reached Manager level at their Bahrain office. Afaf comments that the international travel and exposure to different industries was a rewarding facet of her audit work. During her career at Ernst & Young, Afaf was responsible for creating two standards relating to Islamic Banking, also representing Ernst & Young and the Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions at various seminars.

Afaf then moved to Arcapita Bank B.S.C (Closed), initially as a Principal responsible for handling the accounts of offshore investment structures, and then Financial Controller, responsible for oversight of financial records and reporting to the Central Bank of Bahrain. Afaf completed her career at Arcapita as Head of Internal Audit, a Director-level position with responsibility for financial audit of different legal entities as well as Arcapita’s Head Office.

After leaving Arcapita, Afaf’s career move into the oil and gas sector occurred when she joined nogaholding, the Oil and Gas Holding Company of the Kingdom of Bahrain. Afaf is proud of being the first woman to achieve the role of General Manager Finance and Administration in the oil and gas sector in the Kingdom of Bahrain. During this time Afaf was actively involved in the financial aspects of various investment projects and represented nogaholding on financial subcommittees.

During the same period Bapco recognised that it was entering a period of transformation within the industry, and therefore set out to make several senior appointments to lead the transformative processes. Afaf joined Bapco In January 2021, holding the position of Chief Financial Officer for the company. The appointment includes responsibility for Bapco’s Finance, IT and Procurement divisions, as well as a requirement to head the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) transformation programme. Afaf reports to the Executive Management and the Board on the financial results of Bapco’s operations. Afaf additionally acts as a Board member to the BAC JET Fuel Company W.L.L, a joint venture between nogaholding and Bahrain Airport Company.

Afaf’s recent appointment as Acting Deputy Chief Executive - Corporate Support was the first time that this position was considered for a female. The appointment was celebrated by the Dr. Abdulrahman Jawahery, the Bapco CEO in an open letter to the President of the Supreme Council for Women (SCW), where Dr Jawahery commented on the potential of Bahraini women to achieve the most senior positions. Dr Jawahery further stressed that Bapco believes in equal opportunities and appoints the right candidate irrespective of gender.

Outside of her work at Bapco, Afaf likes to contribute to the community through charity work with special needs children. In her spare time Afaf enjoys art, classical music, baking and outdoor sports.

Afaf commented that the sense of belonging and loyalty to Bapco are very striking amongst her colleagues. However there is also recognition that Bapco is changing to meet future needs of the Kingdom and that this is a very exciting time to be working at Bapco.