Forbes Middle East - September 2022 - English by Forbes Middle East

Staybusinesswithconnectedourlatestnews. SEPTEMBER 2022 ISSUE 120 5 COUNTRIES GAINING MILLIONAIRES TOP 5 MOST USED SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMSFOLLOWING THE GENERATIONAL WEALTH OF THE RICH WORLD’S TOP 5 ULTRA-RICH FAMILIES TOP 30 MANAGEMENTASSETCOMPANIES YASMINE AND FARIDA KHAMIS Oriental Weavers UAE AED 15 SAUDI ARABIA SAR 15 BAHRAIN BHD 1.5 KUWAIT KWD 1.25 OMAN OMR 1.5 QATAR QAR 15 OTHERS $4120ISSUE2022SEPTEMBER THE MIDDLE EAST’S MOST SUCCESSFUL LEGACY BUSINESSES ARE MOVING INTO NEW-AGE INDUSTRIES AND TECHNOLOGIES UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF THE SECOND AND THIRD GENERATIONS. TOP 100 ARAB BUSINESSESFAMILY THE MIDDLE EAST’S “THE VISION IS TO CONTINUE HIS LEGACY, TO MODERNIZE, AND TO CONTINUE GROWING WITHOUT GIVING UP ON HIS DREAMS.”

The world’s wealthiest families have amassed fortunes either from inheriting businesses, or from building multibillion-dollar empires from the ground up for next-in-line successors. Here are the world’s richest billionaire families according to Forbes data, with net worths as of August 10, 2022.

14 I Where Are Family Offices Investing Globally?

Soaring inflation, central bank liquidity, and high interest rates have heightened the need for family offices globally to re-evaluate where their assets can yield more return sources, according to new findings revealed by Swiss banking giant UBS.

16 I In Numbers: Following The Generational Wealth Of The Rich Wealth enhancement, preservation, and succession are crucial parts of family planning for wealthy individuals and their families. The degree to which wealth holdings are self-made or shaped by inheritance can also substantially impact the next generation’s outlook and priorities.

Let others worry about what it all means. FIVETRAN is proving there’s a fortune to be made just by piping data from place to place.

By Kenrick Cai

By Julian CONSUMERNabilTECH I

By Rawan ECONOMYHassan

Having been with his family business for over 40 years, Hussain Al Nowais, Chairman of AlNowais Investments, knows how to leverage opportunities. Right now, his focus is on Africa and green energy.

By Jason Lasrado 80 I Thoughts On Tolerance 36 30

By Jamila Gandhi 36 I Powering Up

12 I 5 Countries Gaining Millionaires

SEPTEMBER 2022FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM 1 CONTENTS 6 I Sidelines Forward Thinking By Claudine Coletti LEADERBOARDS BILLIONAIRES 8 I

World’s Top 5 Ultra-Rich Families

TOP 100 ARAB FAMILY BUSINESSES

Top 5 Most Used Social Media Platforms In 2022

By Cherry Aisne Trinidad MONEY

30 I Futureproofing Fuel Majid Jafar, CEO of Crescent Petroleum and Vice-Chairman of the Crescent Group, has a center-stage view of a global energy crisis. With an eye on the bigger picture, his more than 50-year-old U.A.E.-based family business is investing heavily in oil and gas to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels.

The number of global social media users grew by 227 million over the past year to reach 4.7 billion by July 2022, according to DataReportal’s latest Global Statshot Report. Here are the top five most used social media platforms in 2022 so far.

By Chris Helman 20 I Cloud Pipe Dream

By Jamila Gandhi CONTRARIAN 18 I Money Heap Garbage was the ultimate commodity business until a young McKinsey consultant saw how REPUBLIC SERVICES could transform itself into a profit machine by pricing trash at a premium. Now he’s CEO and Bill Gates is cashing fat dividend checks.

Here are the five listed companies investing most in buying bitcoin, according to Statista, based on financial statements as of April 1, 2022.

By Cherry Aisne Trinidad MONEY I 5 Companies Banking On Bitcoin

By Hagar INVESTMENTSOmran

SEPTEMBER 2022FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM 2 CONTENTS TOP 100 ARAB FAMILY BUSINESSES THE MIDDLE EAST’S THE MIDDLE EAST’S TOP 30 COMPANIESMANAGEMENTASSET2022 44 68

SEPTEMBER 2022FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM 3

SEPTEMBER 2022FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM 4 September 2022 Issue 120 CONTENTS • INSIDE •

Egypt’s Oriental Weavers was taken over by the second generation of the Khamis family, spearheaded by sisters Yasmine and Farida, in 2020. They’re striving to build on the legacy of their father, Mohamed Farid Khamis, while continuing to be a global player in the rug and carpet business.

By Samuel Wendel Trendsetters22 COVER STORY SOURCEFROMIMAGE

SEPTEMBER 2022FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM 5 | info@wetex.ae

SIDELINES

In the Middle East, family businesses are an integral part of the ecosystem. According to PwC, they contributed 60% to the region’s GDP and 80% to its workforce in 2019. Of course, that was before the pandemic hit. By 2021, 56% of family businesses in the Middle East were reporting that the pandemic had negatively impacted sales, compared to 46% globally. But while the volatility of the past two years has had an impact on the bottom line, it has also resulted in a new sense of direction and purpose. PwC reported last year that 58% of the family businesses they surveyed were planning to enter new markets over the following two years. This focus on expansion can be attributed to natural growth and evolution towards digital and sustainable sectors according to market trends. But it could also be attributed to a fresh mindset as new generations take over and make their mark on modernizing business. Of the 100 companies on our list of the Middle East’s Top Arab Family Businesses for this year, only 26 still have their original founders at the helm as chairpersons. This isn’t surprising considering how old many of these businesses are. While 66 were founded between 1950 and 2000, 21 were established pre-1950, and seven were set up in the 1800s. With their sights now on the future, a 2021 Deloitte study found that 27% of family businesses in the Middle East reported that digitizing business was a vital part of their strategy in the near term— making it one of their top priorities, second only to reducing costs, which was highlighted by 30% of the businesses. However, when taking a longer-term view for the next 10-20 years, safeguarding the family first and foremost is still top of mind. The top three priorities named were a continuation of the family legacy and tradition (65%), preserving family capital (32%), and protecting family reputation (27%). At the other end of the scale, of minimal importance is going public, with 51% of family businesses stating that IPOs and share sales are the least of their priorities. Despite family businesses seemingly unenthusiastic about going public, there is still plenty of activity happening on the region’s stock markets. This month we also release our second annual ranking of the Middle East’s Top 30 Asset Management Companies—and they’ve had a pretty good year. Although 2022 has dealt out some unexpected bumps in the road, the Middle East’s stock exchanges were worth a total of $4.5 trillion as of July—a 40% increase compared to the $3.2 trillion they were worth in December 2020. This has led to the top 30 asset management companies seeing a jump in the value of their own portfolios—they had a total of $316 billion in assets under management in 2021, compared to $265 billion in 2020. All in all, this month’s issue provides an interesting overview of some of the wealthiest, well-renowned, and most resilient businesses in the Middle East. I hope you find them inspiring.

SEPTEMBER 2022FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM 6 EASTMIDDLEFORBES

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Ultra-Rich Families

TRINIDADAISNECHERRYBY

4. BettencourtFrancoise Meyers & Netfamilyworth: $74 billion Citizenship: France The world’s richest woman, Bettencourt Meyers and her family, owe much of their fortune to their inheritance of L’Oreal Groupe, the French cosmetics and beauty company her chemist grandfather Eugène Schueller founded in 1909. The L’Oreal heiress is currently vice-chairwoman of the board and has been a director since 1997. Her two sons Jean-Victor and Nicolas also serve on the board. As of December 2021, the BettencourtMeyers family held 33.3% of L’Oreal stock. The L’Oreal group of companies has 35 global brands, employs 85,400 people worldwide, and operates in over 150 countries.

5. Julia Koch & Netfamilyworth: $56.5 billion

million.BernardArnault

Billionaires

LEADERBOARD

Citizenship: France Europe’s richest man Arnault oversees LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. The group’s fashion and leather goods business, which carries high-end brands like Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Fendi, and Celine, Loro Piana and Loewe made up 49.4% of its $37.7 billion in revenues in the first half of 2022. It acquired Tiffany & Co. for $15.8 billion in January 2021, adding it to its portfolio of over 75 brands. In July 2022, Arnault announced the restructuring of the family holding company Agache to a limited joint-stock partnership designed to equally hand the group’s control to his five children: Delphine, Antoine, Alexandre, Frédéric and Jean. Collectively, Arnault and his family owns 47.99% of LVMH group’s share capital, with 63.7% of voting rights as of June 2022.

1. Bernard Arnault & Netfamilyworth: $170.7 billion

3. Carlos Slim Helu & Netfamilyworth: $82.3 billion Citizenship: Mexico Telecom magnate Slim is Mexico’s wealthiest person. Together with his family, he controls América Móvil, which provides telecommunications services in 24 countries across Latin America, the U.S., the Caribbean, and Europe. As of March 2022, the Slim family owned 53% of the company’s AA shares and 15.9% of its L shares via a family trust. Members of the family hold direct shares of América Móvil, but none of them individually own more than 5%, except the 82-year-old billionaire who has a 9.1% stake of the company’s AA shares and 7.7% of L shares under his name. More than 8% of Slim’s wealth also comes from his family’s 79% stake in Grupo Carso, one of Latin America’s largest conglomerates.

2. Gautam Adani & Netfamilyworth: $129.1 billion

World’s Top 5

Citizenship: U.S. Koch is the widow of late billionaire David Koch, from whom she and her three children inherited a 42% stake in Koch Industries, which was second-largestAmerica’sprivately held company in 2021, according to Forbes. Koch sits on the board of Koch Industries, which has businesses in chemicals, refining, paper products and software, and a workforce of 120,000 people in more than 70 countries. It is controlled by David’s brother Charles, the company’s longserving billionaire chairman and CEO since 1967. Koch manages her late husband’s foundation, which has so far given away $200

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Citizenship: India Adani officially became Asia’s richest person in February 2022 and the world’s fourth wealthiest person in July, according to Forbes. He chairs the Adani Group, which comprises seven public companies, collectively valued at $223.5 billion as of August 10, 2022, spanning energy, logistics, mining, gas, defense, and airports. In May 2022, the group announced its $10.5 billion acquisition of Swiss giant Holcim’s cement business in India. A partnership with TotalEnergies followed in June to create the world’s largest green hydrogen ecosystem, where Adani plans to invest $50 billion by 2032.

Money

1. MicroStrategy Bitcoins: 129,218 Enterprise-software maker, MicroStrategy, is the largest corporate investor of bitcoin, with 129,218 bitcoins as of March 31, 2022. In Q2 2022, MicroStrategy bought 481 bitcoins for $10 million at an average purchase price of $20,790 per bitcoin. By June 30, 2022, MicroStrategy had invested over $4 billion into bitcoin, since first buying the cryptocurrency in Q3 2020. Bitcoin price hit an alltime-high of $68,721 in November 2021. However, a drop this year reduced the value of MicroStrategy’s digital asset holdings to $2 billion in Q2 2022, down from $2.9 billion in Q1 of the same year. This led MicroStrategy to report a $917.8 million impairment charge in the April-June quarter. In August 2022, MicroStrategy’s co-founder, Michael Saylor, gave up his CEO title, saying he’ll focus more on a bitcoin acquisition strategy after the company posted a loss of over $1 billion due to the second-quarter plunge in the price of the cryptocurrency.

5 BankingCompaniesOnBitcoin MicroStrategy 129,218Bitcoins Tesla 43,200 DigitalMarathonHoldings 9,373 Block 8,027 Bitfarms 5,243 NABIL,JULIANBY SHUTTERSTOCK.COMPHOTOS/BILLION

Las Vegas-based bitcoin miner Marathon Digital Holdings is directly involved in the crypto business. Marathon saw its holdings increase throughout this year. As of January 2022, the company held approximately 8,133 bitcoins with a fair market value of roughly $375.8 million. These included the 4,813 bitcoins it purchased in January 2021 for an average price of $31,168 each. In April, the company increased its bitcoin holdings to 9,373 bitcoins. As of June 30, 2022, its total bitcoin holdings grew to 10,055, which are now held directly after the company unwound its investment in NYDIG Digital Assets Fund III.

2. Tesla Bitcoins: 43,200 Tesla revealed in February 2021 that it had bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin. The electric carmaker also announced that it might continue investing in cryptocurrency more broadly and begin accepting bitcoin as a form of payment for its products. A shareholder update showed that sales of bitcoin made a $101 million “positive impact” on Tesla’s profitability during Q1 2021. The fair market value of its bitcoin holdings stood at $2.48 billion in Q1 2021 and closed the year at about $2 billion, but the company neither said at what price it offloaded the bitcoins or provided the size of its impairment. As of the end of Q2 2022, Tesla converted approximately 75% of its bitcoin purchases into fiat currency, adding $936 million in cash to its balance sheet. Billionaire Elon Musk explained, “the reason we sold a bunch of our bitcoin holdings was that we were uncertain as to when the covid lockdowns in China would alleviate so it was important for us to maximize our cash position.”

4. Block Bitcoins: 8,027 Jack Dorsey’s digital payments company Block, formerly known as Square, started buying bitcoin in October 2020, when it published its bitcoin investment whitepaper. The company said back then that it viewed bitcoin as an “instrument of global economic empowerment.” In Q4 2020, Block invested $50 million in buying 4,709 bitcoins. It purchased another 3,318 bitcoins at an aggregate price of $170 million in Q1 2021, taking its total holdings to 8,027. As of June 30, 2022, the fair value of its investments in bitcoin stood at $160 million based on observable market prices. The company reported a $36 million bitcoin impairment loss in Q2 2022, citing “broader uncertainty around crypto assets.”

In 2021, Block announced its intention to enter the bitcoin mining business. with Dorsey tweeting in October 2021 that the goal to make this field less complex and more accessible.

Here are the five listed companies investing most in buying bitcoin, according to Statista, based on financial statements as of April 1, 2022.

The company held $218 million worth of net digital assets as of June 30, 2022.

SEPTEMBER 2022FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM 9 LEADERBOARD

3. Marathon Digital Holdings Bitcoins: 9,373

5. Bitfarms Bitcoins: 5,243 Bitfarms had 5,243 bitcoin as of March 31, 2022, representing a value of about $244 million. This included 1,000 bitcoins that the Toronto-based firm had bought for $43.2 million in the first week of January 2022, which was the first time it had ever bought bitcoin, with its previous holdings coming only from mining. In June 2022, the company removed its daily bitcoin production from its balance sheet, cutting its holdings by 47%. The company sold a total of 3,000 bitcoins for approximately $62 million to boost its liquidity, strengthen its balance sheet, and pay off loans, bringing its total to 3,349. It used some of those proceeds to cut its bitcoin-backed credit facility with digital asset bank Galaxy Digital by 42%, down to $38 million. In July, Bitfarms dumped another 1,623 bitcoins onto the market.

The company, founded in 2017, reported 500 new bitcoins mined during July 2022, up 28% from July 2021 and 19% from June 2022. It had 2,021 bitcoins in custody as of July 31, 2022, representing a total value of approximately $48 million.

the top

WeChat5

Instagram4 Facebook

4.7

4.7 b global social

WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for $19 billion. The number of WhatsApp users globally increased by 22% from the beginning of 2020 to the beginning of 2022. The platform had two billion active users as of July 2022. In January 2018, WhatsApp released a standalone business app targeted at small businesses called “WhatsApp Business,” which was one of the 10 most-downloaded mobile apps in the world in Q2 2022. The business app generated estimated revenues of $300 million in 2021, according to Statista.

SEPTEMBER 2022FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM 10 LEADERBOARD HASSAN,RAWANBY SHUTTERSTOCK.COMRAWPIXEL.COM/

Meta’s Family of Apps (FOA) includes Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp. The FOA generated $55.6 billion in revenues for Meta in H1 2022, comprising 98% of the company’s total revenue. The latest figures suggest that users still spend more than two full days per month using Meta’s various platforms, according to DataReportal’s July report. In H1 2022, Facebook had 1.97 billion daily active users on average, an increase of 3% yearon-year, while its monthly active users reached 2.93 billion. In Q1 alone, the platform’s Android users spent an average of 19.4 hours per month on the app, according to data. ai, citing report.DataReportal’s YouTube2 Launched in 2005, and acquired by Google in 2006 for $1.65 billion in a stock deal, Alphabet’s primary video platform had 2.5 billion global active users as of July 2022. Aside from entertainment, three in 10 people said that YouTube is their primary source for news. YouTube’s android users spent an average of 23.2 hours per month on the app in Q1 2022. Globally, India had the largest YouTube audience as of April 2022, followed by the U.S., according to WhatsApp3

most used social media

Consumer

far. billion1.3 GlobalusersActive billion1.4 GlobalusersActive 2.5billion GlobalusersActive 2.9billion GlobalusersActive billion2 GlobalusersActive

InstagramaverageInstagram’sInstagramacquiredfor$1billionin2012.androidusersspentanof11.8hourspermonthusingtheappinQ12022.introducedashort-formvideoInstagramhad1.4billionactiveusersas

Statista.abouttimeincludeWeChat’sChinese-ownedfeaturesfooddelivery,management,andtransportation.WeChat’se-commercemerchandisevalueof$365billionin2019,andisexpectedtoreachalmost$1.9trillionbytheendof2023,accordingtoTheplatformhad1.3billionactiveusersas media users by July 2022 Tech Media Platforms In 2022

Facebook1

Top 5 Most Used Social

The number of global social media users grew by 227 million over the past year to reach billion by July 2022, according to DataReportal’s latest Global Statshot Report. Here are five platforms in 2022 so

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3. inflowsExpectedSingaporeNetHNWI2022: 2,800 Resident HNWIs 2022: Singapore247,300 remains an attractive destination for global millionaires, with an expected 2,800 moving to the country in 2022, an 87% jump from 2019’s 1,500. Total private wealth in Singapore amounted to $1.1 trillion in 2021. Singapore’s economy grew by 7.6% in 2021, but its GDP is expected to witness slower growth in 2022 than last year at 3.7%, according to the IMF, which estimates the country’s GDP per capita to have been $72,790 in 2021, a 19.8% increase compared to 2020.

4. ExpectedIsraelNet HNWI inflows 2022: 2,500 Resident HNWIs 2022: Israel107,000isprojected to become home to an additional 2,500 HNWIs this year. About 5,560 multimillionaires and 260 centimillionaires already live in Israel. Total private wealth in Israel was $878 billion in 2021. Israel is already one of the most common second passports among Russiannative billionaires. Three of the most high-profile sanctioned Russian oligarch billionaires are also Israeli citizens: Alfa Bank cofounders Mikhail Fridman and German Khan, and Roman Abramovich. Forbes’ World’s Billionaires List 2022 included 30 Israeli billionaires.

LEADERBOARD

Millionaires are on the move. According to a report by Henley & Partners, 88,000 millionaires are expected to relocate to new countries by the end of 2022. This is a 252% increase compared to 2021, but still 22,000 fewer than in 2019. Here’s a look at the top five countries gaining millionaires this year. 1. ExpectedU.A.E.Net HNWI inflows 2022: 4,000 Resident HNWIs 2022: The92,600U.A.E. is expected to attract 4,000 additional HNWIs—an increase of 208% compared to 2019’s 1,300. Total private wealth in the U.A.E. is estimated at $966 billion. This is partly thanks to wealthy Russians escaping from sanctions and flocking to the U.A.E., encouraged by the lifestyle, flexible visa program, and political neutrality. The U.A.E.’s richest person is a Russian-born expat— Telegram’s founder and owner, Pavel Durov with a net worth of $15.1 billion as of August 15. The International Monetary Fund expects the U.A.E.’s GDP per capita in current prices to rise 17.4% this year to $50,350, while real GDP is projected to grow by 4.2% in 2022 from 2.3% in 2021.

Economy 5 Countries Gaining Millionaires

2. inflowsExpectedAustraliaNetHNWI2022: 3,500 Resident HNWIs 2022: Over395,40080,000 millionaires have moved to Australia in the past two decades. In 2022, the net inflow is expected to be 3,500 HNWIs. Australia is already home to an estimated 12,940 multimillionaires, who have $10 million or more, and 477 centimillionaires, who have at least $100 million. Australia was the world’s seventh wealthiest country in 2021, with a total of $6.45 trillion in private wealth. Wealth per capita hit $250,980. Australia attracted $25 billion in foreign direct investment last year, a 47.1% increase compared to 2020, according to UNCTAD.

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5. inflowsExpectedSwitzerlandNetHNWI2022 : 2,200 Resident HNWIs 2022: Switzerland’s464,600 total private wealth hit $3.1 trillion in 2021, and wealth per capita was $360,260. The country is home to 24,430 multimillionaires, and 792 people

corporatecapitalofpoliticalincludingeconomiesworld’sSwitzerlandincludedWorld’scentimillionaires.areForbes’BillionairesList202241Swissbillionaires.isoneofthemostcompetitiveformanyreasons,itseconomicandstability,transparencyitslegalsystem,efficientmarkets,andlowtaxrates.

OMRAN,HAGARBY SHUTTERSTOCK.COMRAHMANIYAS/

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In the Middle East and Africa (MEA), family offices’ top three asset allocations were equities (26%), real estate (22%), and private equity (20%), all nearly falling at the same levels. While in the U.S., equities and private equities gained the most investments with 36% and 33%, respectively, followed by fixed income with 10%.UBS noted higher investments in the technology sector, with digital transformation—including ecommerce, data, AI, the cloud and blockchain—a popular theme among family offices. They are also more curious than committed in cryptocurrencies, investing in the crypto market more to learn about the new technology and its business applications rather than capitalize from it. Meanwhile, sustainable investments are stabilizing as family enterprises redefine their objectives amid increasingly rigorous regulations around businesses’ impact on the environment and society. There is a clear disparity between regions on this front, with the highest percentage of family offices investing sustainably found in MEA (70%) and the lowest being in the U.S.The(39%).biggest family offices are controlled by some of the world’s top billionaires. According to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute, the five largest family offices by assets are: Cascade Investment ($170 billion) of Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, Walton Enterprises LLC ($169.2 billion) of the Walton family, Bezos Expeditions ($107.8 billion) of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Mousse Partners ($89 billion) of Chanel billionaires Alain and Gerard Wertheimer, and Fedesa ($55 billion) of the family behind Italian confections business Ferrero. At seventh place is U.A.E.-based Dubai Holdings, the $35 billion personal investment portfolio of Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum and one of the only three family offices from the Middle East in the list of 95 offices.

43% assetAlternativeclasses 57% assetTraditionalclasses 32% Equities 15% Fixed income 10% Cash 21% Private equity 12% Real estate 4% Hedge funds 2% Private debt 1% Gold/precious metals <1% Infrastructure 1% Commodities 1% Arts and antiques

UBS’ Global Family Office Report 2022 surveyed 221 single family offices worldwide, with average assets under management of $2.2 billion. Cumulatively, these family enterprises oversee wealth totaling $493 billion. The report showed that in 2021, 57% of an average family office portfolio was funnelled into traditional asset classes: equities (32%), fixed income (15%), and cash (10%), while 43% was directed toward alternative asset classes, comprising private equity (21%), real estate (12%), hedge funds (4%), private debt (2%), gold/ precious metals, commodities, arts and antiques (1% each), and less than 1% for infrastructure.WhatUBSfound, however, was a strategic shift in how family offices are channeling their wealth. A growing trend in private market investments is more evident than ever, specifically towards private equity—the only asset class that gained steady allocations year after year.

Where Are Family Offices Investing Globally?

Why? About 74% of the respondents who are likely to allocate more investments in this alternative asset over three to five years believe it will overtake public markets in the future. This was particularly true in India, where 83% of family offices surveyed by consulting firm EY in December 2021 said they have allocations for private markets over 10% of their assets and 40% of them have doubled down on their private market investments over the past five years. In the near term, alternative asset classes will continue to grow to a 49.96% share between 2020 and 2026 and the overall family office market by revenue is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 6.01% from 2021 to 2026, according to Arizton’s Family Office Outlook report.

TRINIDADAISNECHERRYBY Investments

EuropeAfricaAsia

SEPTEMBER 2022FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM 16 LEADERBOARD GANDHIJAMILABY Money In Numbers: Following The Generational Wealth Of The Rich

Data by forecastsWealth-X that $18.3 trillion of collective wealth will transferredbeto the next generation by those with $5 million or more—known as very high net worth (VHNW) individuals—in net worth by 2030. The estimate stands nearly seven times the market capitalization of Apple, the world’s most valuable company at $2.65 trillion, as of August 10, 2022. This wealth transfer breaks down to an average of $27 million transferred by almost betweenarepassingrevealedindividuals680,000globally.Theresearchthatthoseonwealth90%men,mosttheagesof 70 and 80. At least twothirds of these donors have generated their own fortunes without the help of inheritance. Sports and philanthropy are these self-made donors’ most popular interests. From global tax reforms to the vast availability of impact investment vehicles, global toverycomparison,mosteducationtheupwardwealthyactivityphilanthropicamongthehasseenantrendoverpastdecade,withbeingthepopularcause.Inthere’sastrongcommitmenttheenvironmentand conservation among the younger wealthy generation, but this is estimated to take time to emerge in wealth transfer

$30M By UHNWs with

By UHNWs with $100M+

Latin America and the NorthMiddleCaribbeanEastAmericaPacific $5M$30M-$100M

2022. In second place, Europe’s wealthy will pass on $3.6 trillion by 2030, accounting for 15% of all wealth transfers. LVMH’s Bernard Arnault is the world’s richest family, with a $170.7 billion fortune as of August 10, 2022. The Frenchman has five children, four of whom work in corners of the LVMH Third-rankedempire.Asia is expected to transfer $2.5 trillion of wealth. Although Asia has a higher amount of VHNW and ultra-high net worth individuals—those(UHNW)with over $30 million in net worth—than Europe, the average age of wealthy people in many Asian countries is significantly younger than in most other regions. As such, it may take several decades before a primary stake of these wealth holdings will be transferred. For context, China produced 62 new billionaires over the past year, including two from Hong Kong, the most of anyThecountry.Middle East follows fourth, with 3.3% in the next largest share of wealth transfers. The data forecasts nearly 19,100 individuals will transfer an average of $604 billion in fortune byAt2030.the very top of the wealth pyramid, around 1,200 billionaires are predicted to redistribute their wealth by 2030. Despite only accounting for 0.2% of the total number of wealth transfers, their movement will result in 20% of the collective net worth being passed on. Wealth enhancement, preservation, and succession are crucial parts of family planning for wealthy individuals and their families. The degree to which wealth holdings are self-made or shaped by inheritance can also substantially impact the next generation’s outlook and priorities.

Total Wealth To Be Passed On To The Next Generation By 2030 By VHNWs with

estimatesaccordingcollectivebillionairesinforthat$10.6transferredcumulativeforestimatedNorthGeographically,planning.Americaistoaccount60%ofthewealthby2030attrillion.ItistheU.S.leadsasthehomethemostbillionairestheworld,with735wortha$4.7trilliontoForbesasofMarch11,

$509B$859B$1.6T$298B$647B$96B$48B$78B$2.2T$107B$65B$345B$164B$105B$335B$4.2T$2.3T$4.04T$92B$63B$117B

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CONTRARIAN • STRATEGIES

Photograph by Ethan Pines for Forbes Money Heap

Plastic Profusion

SEPTEMBER 2022FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM 18 By Chris Helman

Now he’s CEO and Bill Gates is cashing fat dividend checks.

Republic trucks some 28 tons a day of buffet and other food leftovers from hotels and casinos to a farm adjacent to the Apex landfill, where it’s boiled into a yellow-brown stew slurped up by 3,500 hogs. Other organic material rots over time and gives off methane—euphemistically

CEO Jon Vander Ark, shown at a Republic recycling sorting facility in Arizona, plans to build forrecycledU.S.centers”“polymeraroundthethatcanproduceplasticfitfoodpackaging.

“We prefer to call it a franchise,” says CEO Jon Vander Ark, 47, who kicks back 5% of contract revenue (which runs about $250 million a year) to Las Vegas County in return for exclusivity.

Garbage was the ultimate commodity business until a young McKinsey consultant saw how REPUBLIC SERVICES could transform itself into a profit machine by pricing trash at a premium.

In the Sheep mountains just north of Las Vegas, the Apex landfill receives 8,000 tons of trash per day, delivered by 280 trucks that roll off the interstate before laboring up a winding dirt road to what’s called the working face—an active zone of 3 acres where supersize bulldozers with spiked metal wheels crush and compact the trash. The heap is already 500 feet deep at spots, but there’s enough room left to keep burying Sin City’s garbage for centuries. Its owner, trash giant Republic Services, has a 15-year monopoly contract to collect trash and recyclables from the entire Las Vegas region.

“I’m a cynic about hiring consultants from McKinsey,” says Michael Hoffman, managing director at Baltimore’s Stifel Investments, who has followed the garbage business since 2008. “But Jon brought something that they wouldn’t have figured out. Industrial waste has never priced assets as scarce. Never maximized routes.” Early on, the young consultant convinced then CEO Don Slager that Republic wasn’t charging independent trash haulers high enough “tipping fees” to dump their loads at Republicowned landfills. The marginal cost of adding another few tons of trash to a landfill appeared deceptively low because it didn’t include the high expenses of opening new landfills. In essence, Republic was selling its future profits tooVandercheaply.Ark argued that Republic should dramatically increase its fees. Operators that couldn’t afford it would go elsewhere. Those that could pay were self-identifying as profitable enough to become Republic acquisition targets. It wasn’t until 2019, Hoffman says, that Houston-based archrival Waste Management (2021 sales: $18 billion) caught up with Republic’s aggressive landfill pricing. Both Waste Management and Republic (Nos. 1 and 2 in trash) are the spawn of billionaire Wayne Huizenga, who died in 2018. He got his start hanging on the back of a trash truck, then acquired hundreds of competitors before taking Waste Management public in 1971. He left that company in 1984 and repeated his roll-up play with Blockbuster Video and AutoNation. Republic was spun out of AutoNation in 1999. When Vander Ark arrived on the scene a decade later, Republic still hadn’t moved past its roll-up roots. It operated under dozens of names (everything from Duncan Disposal to Trash Taxi) and hadn’t standardized truck maintenance or fleet operations. “You don’t need to fix a truck 165 different ways; there ought to be one way to do it. Uptime equals profitability. You need to have a fleet that rolls,” says Vander Ark, who will even fly mechanics cross-country to keep trucks moving. Vander Ark’s approach to growth—and profit—is illustrated by Republic’s justcompleted $2.2 billion acquisition of U.S. Ecology, which has a market-leading 36% share in hazardous waste disposal, with five landfills that entomb chemical, medical and low-level nuclear waste. He didn’t hesitate to pay a 70% premium to the pre-deal stock price for a company with lower operating margins than Republic’s. That’s because with hazardous waste volumes growing faster than those of normal trash, and opening new hazardous waste facilities nearly impossible, he will have the power to raise prices and expand margins. Despite such investments, Republic pays steady dividends; its largest shareholder, Cascade Investments (Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates’ personal holding company), receives more than $200 million a year in dividends from its 34% stake. Hoffman figures it’s a good diversifier for Gates. “Remember, we’re talking about garbage,” he says. “It’s capital-intensive and it’s not compounding at 20% per year like software, but for the big players it’s become an extraordinarily repeatable and inflationresistant business.”

Wagering on society to keep churning out trash seems a safe bet—and unless we revert to tossing our refuse into the streets, garbage trucks have a secure future. Heil Environmental Industries has been one of the world’s largest makers of specialized sanitation vehicles since 1901. Workers at its factory in Fort Payne, Alabama, weld several tons of steel and machinery atop truck chassis and roll out the customized pieces of heavy-duty compacting and carting equipment to trash haulers around the world. If you want a piece of Heil, you’ll have to buy shares of Dover Corp., the commercialboughtmini-conglomerateIllinois-basedthatintothegarbagetruckbusinessin1993.It’salsoabigplayerinpumps,winches,hoists,refrigeratorsandequipmentforautomotiverepair.Revenuethisyearisexpectedtogrow8.3%to$8.6billion,withearningsup11%.Pricedat15timesearnings,Dovertradesata22%discounttoitsfive-yearaverageP/E,anditsdividendyieldis1.6%.

called “landfill gas”—which Republic captures and sells at a premium to industrial users.

—Andy Warhol

Ark’s secret? Fully embracing the concept that in his business, garbage is an asset and should be priced at a premium. “Trash is worth so much more than we ever thought,” he exults. Well, more than most people thought, anyway. Even back in 2009, when he began advising Republic as a young McKinsey consultant with a Harvard Law degree, Vander Ark saw the pricing power of trash. “The pandemic underscored that the only thing we control is price. We don’t control volume, and we don’t create demand.”

By John Dobosz

Forbes Dividend Investor

FORBESFORWELSHPATRICK

SEPTEMBER 2022FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM 19 STRATEGIESCONTRARIAN•

John Dobosz is editor of the and Reportnewsletters.investment FINAL THOUGHT “JUST BECAUSE PEOPLE THROW IT OUT AND DON’T HAVE ANY USE FOR IT DOESN’T MEAN IT’S GARBAGE.”

Forbes Premium Income

Meanwhile, a mining company pays Republic a royalty on the 150 trucks per day of pulverized mountain stone that it hauls out of the site to make room for more loads of garbage coming in. The removed rock gets mixed into concrete for Vegas sidewalks. Next up: a new regional “polymer center” to profit from food and beverage manufacturers’ willingness to pay more for high-quality recycled plastic than for virginRepublic,material.which is based in Phoenix, operates 198 landfills, 71 recycling centers and collection routes in 41 states. After a pandemic down year in 2020, volumes recovered in 2021, helping it notch a 17% increase in net income, to $1.3 billion, on $11.3 billion in sales. Its stock, trading around $131, is down only 10% from its 2021 high, compared to an 18% slide in the S&PVander500.

HOW TO PLAY IT

100CLOUD/INNOVATIONCONTRARIAN•

The two had a great idea: Help companies gather data from all sorts of disparate sources—Twitter mentions, credit card transactions—then charge them to funnel it to a big-data analytics firm like Snowflake or Databricks, which could, ideally, tell them what it all meant. Fraser and Brown had gone through Y Combinator together. They had raised about $160 million. They had spent countless hours sweating the technical details. But they still didn’t have a product designed for large companies. “For years it was always the big problem we needed to solve,” Fraser says. “We were looking at a multiyear journey.”

Cloud Pipe Dream

Long-Term Relationship

FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM 20 By Kenrick Cai Photograph by Jamel Toppin for Forbes

O CONTRARIAN • INNOVATION / CLOUD 100

Fivetran cofounders George Fraser (left ) and Taylor Brown’s families have been friends for four generations. “My great-grandparents gave his grandparents for their wedding this frog doorstop,” Brown says. “It’s a weird gift , but we now have it as our [company] mascot.”

On a brilliant summer day in August 2021, George Fraser was trying to relax at his family’s lakeside cabin deep in the woods of Wisconsin. Instead, the CEO and cofounder of Fivetran was worrying about his job and the company he had spent nine long years building with his childhood friend Taylor Brown, whose family also summered in the same patch of northern pines.

Let others worry about what it all means. FIVETRAN is proving there’s a fortune to be made just by piping data from place to place.

SEPTEMBER 2022FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM 21 100CLOUD/INNOVATIONCONTRARIAN•

John Buckingham is Principal and Portfolio Manager of the AFAM Division of Kovitz Investment Group and editor of The Speculator.Prudent

While Fivetran’s war chest—it still has about $200 million in cash on hand—may seem large enough for it to survive a venture capital winter, Fraser says he plans to raise another funding round within the next two years regardless of market conditions; after that, he plans to take Fivetran public. Failure is not an option—partly because of the small-town pressures of their tiny Wisconsin cabin community.

Martin Casado, a partner at VC firm Andreessen Horowitz, which was a lead investor on Fivetran’s last three funding rounds, touts its market lead in data pipelines as “unassailable.”

The top selling point? Ease of use. “It’s the most brain-dead simple thing on the planet to set up,” Muglia says. But that simplicity belies a great deal of complexity behind the scenes. Originally the product funneled data once a day, at midnight. Fraser made a daily ritual of staying up and monitoring the pipes. If anything broke—and early on, “things were breaking left and right”—he would spend the next few hours fixing it like a plumber. “It’s very rare that you have someone as smart as George working on a problem as mundane as this,” says Casado, the investor. (Among his other accomplishments, Fraser has a Ph.D. in neurobiology from the University of Pittsburgh.)

The company, which lands in 27th place on this year’s Cloud 100 ranking (the full list will be published tomorrow), forecasts $189 million in revenue this fiscal year (ends January), more than double last year’s figure. It now counts JetBlue, Forever 21 and chicken chain Nando’s among its customers. Forbes estimates the two cofounders each own a tenth of the company, putting their net worth at about $500 million apiece (we apply a 10% discount for private companies).

HOW TO PLAY IT By John Buckingham

One of Fivetran’s board members was Bob Muglia, who had been CEO of Snowflake. Muglia knew a thing or two about the stakes. He recalls that “Steve Ballmer beat the crap out of me” after he lost enterprise customers to Oracle while a president at Microsoft. (In 2011, Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s current CEO, replaced Muglia.) He spent five years building Snowflake but was shown the door just a year and a half before the company had one of the largest IPOs in Silicon Valley history. Now he was warning Fraser that time was running out. “I just railed on them,” Muglia says. “I said, ‘Damn, there’s no productSeatedhere.’”behind a desk that had belonged to his great-grandfather, who had been president of Chicago Title and Trust starting in the 1930s, Fraser stumbled upon a decidedly old-school solution to his problems. He would buy his way to viability. HVR, a competitor located in San Francisco, just across the bay from Fivetran’s Oakland headquarters, had been beating them to enterprise deals. He’d heard through the tech grapevine that it was available to buy for $700 million—but only if he could line up a bid before the end of the week. The deal would get them enterprise revenue and a product they could then work to perfect. The problem was that Fivetran, valued not much higher at $1.2 billion, did not have the cash. But Fraser did have a lot of fans in Silicon Valley— and a huge reserve of brute force persistence. “Most folks, after several years in the wrong direction, will completely shut down the company and go elsewhere,” says Y Combinator president Geoff Ralston, who endearingly counts Fivetran as one of the ultimate “cockroaches” out of more than 3,800 startups that have gone through Y Combinator. “What was different about these guys is they never believed they were at a dead end.” Fraser dialed up five blue-chip tech investment firms, including San Franciscobased Iconiq Capital and New York’s D1 Capital Partners, on a Saturday and told them he needed $565 million to bankroll the deal. Within 72 hours, all agreed to wire the money. “It was a bit of a rabbit out of a hat,” Fraser says. “The business leapt forward by a couple of years.” The transaction upped Fivetran’s value to $5.6 billion, but HVR’s roughly $30 million of revenue from large companies with big tech budgets was the real prize, giving Fivetran more solid footing than many of its peers. Many of these companies, including direct competitor Airbyte (valued last year at $1.5 billion despite earning less than $1 million in revenue), say they are now considering ways to conserve cash. “We don’t have that problem because our multiple is not that crazy and revenue has grown so much,” Fraser says.

“You hear about what everyone is up to, and there’s a whole rumor mill,” Fraser says. “The unexpected consequence of starting this company was that all these people knew about it. Now we really have to make this work, or we’ll never live it down.”

Despite its stock being off more than 20% in 2022, cloud investors should focus on Microsoft, one of the leaders in the space. Fiscal Q3 revenues for Microsoft Cloud, which includes Azure, Office 365 Commercial and parts of LinkedIn, jumped 32% to $23 billion, nearly half of total company revenue. With a gross margin of 70% on the Cloud biz, cash is raining from Microsoft’s skies. Even better, Redmond’s finest funneled $12 billion to shareholders via buybacks and dividends in the most recent quarter while maintaining a cashrich balance sheet. The pullback this year, we think, makes MSFT a reasonably priced stock with terrific growth potential.

—Oscar

FINAL THOUGHT “IT IS A VERY SAD THING THAT NOWADAYS THERE IS SO LITTLE USELESS INFORMATION.” WildeFORBESFORWELSHPATRICK

SEPTEMBER 2022FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM 22 BY SAMUEL WENDEL KHAMISFARIDAANDYASMINE • COVER STORY •

TRENDSETTERS

Yasmine Khamis, chair of Oriental Weavers, and Farida Khamis, deputy chair of finance at Oriental Weavers.

SOURCEFROMIMAGE

Yasmine Khamis

“Over the last 15 years, we’ve tried to change the rug from being a necessity in the room setting to being a fashion item,” says Yasmine Mohamed Farid Khamis, chair of the multinational rug and carpet manufacturer. That’s one reason why every minute, the company sells an average of 48 rugs and carpets—roughly 69,120 units every day. The result is strong revenues—roughly $600 million in 2021—and a 16% share of the world’s carpet market, according to the company. Founded by Egyptian businessman Mohamed Farid Khamis in 1979, Oriental Weavers is considered one of the largest machine-made rug and carpet manufacturers in the world, with factories in Egypt and the U.S. Today, as part of the Orientals Group, the company, which produces 114 million square meters of carpet annually, exports over 65% of its floor coverings, with the U.S. its largest market and IKEA its largest customer. As of August 2022, the publicly-traded company had a market cap of $240 million.Khamis oversaw this rug empire until his death in 2020, leaving his three children to help guide the family businesses. Yasmine, his eldest, was appointed chair of Oriental Weavers, the flagship company, in October 2020. Her sister Farida also sits on the board and serves as deputy chair of finance, while their brother Mohamed is a board member too. Additionally, Farida also chairs the family’s petrochemicals and education businesses. As this new generation shepherds this storied Egyptian firm, Oriental Weavers is building on its legacy to remain an industry leader and trendsetter.Akeyfocus today is modernizing the business and introducing fresh ideas. “We’re really working on shaping and changing the culture of Oriental Weavers,” says Yasmine. That includes bringing new talent into the workforce their father built—he was a proponent of cultivating lifelong employees that knew the business inside and out. “We have a lot of people who are extremely loyal,” says Yasmine. “They really are the founders.” But times are changing, and the company must contend with a competitive industry landscape, with plenty of exports coming from Turkey, India, and beyond. “The rug business has become a very competitive one,” notes Yasmine. “There’s a lot more supply than there is demand in the world.”That’s seeing Oriental Weavers concentrate on lean manufacturing and operational excellence, including a push to digitize its business. In 2021, the company implemented an enterprise resource planning system, and it’s now looking to introduce more digital tools in retail stores. It’s also worked with McKinsey consultants in recent months. This all comes as part of a new strategy for the coming three years, with a focus on profitable growth. Oriental Weavers has always enjoyed growth, but Yasmine notes that her father was hungry to increase market share; now, profitability is now the emphasis. Meanwhile, Farida

SOURCEFROMIMAGE

SEPTEMBER 2022FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM 24

KHAMISFARIDAANDYASMINE

Whether it’s in a home, office, or hotel, the rug underfoot can easily be an afterthought—something

Egypt’s Oriental Weavers has sought to correct.

“ First foremostandandthesimplestofall,istoreallykeephislegacy.”

SEPTEMBER 2022FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM 25 KHAMISFARIDAANDYASMINE reports the petrochemical business and education segment are undergoing similar updates. “The vision is to continue his legacy, to modernize, and to continue growing without giving up on his dreams,” sheSosays.far, Oriental Weavers has performed well under the second generation’s watch. The company’s 2021 revenues were up roughly 20% over the year prior, with net profits at about $62 million, a rise of 8.9%. “Last year was a phenomenal year in terms of retail, in terms of revenue, in terms of profitability,” says Yasmine. “We had some of the highest production efficiencies we’ve had in our history.” Despite supply chain challenges, the company enjoyed soaring demand. With the pandemic and remote work sequestering people at home, many in markets like the U.S. and Europe filled time with shopping. Accordingly, home furnishings were a hot item. To meet that demand, Oriental Weavers pushed to improve production capabilities so that capacity wasn’t wasted. Simultaneously, it continued developing its product portfolio, part of a strategy of constantly reinventing its wares to appeal to customers. On that note, as its rugs are machine-made, the company can offer more affordable pieces compared to handmade counterparts. The ultimate goal is getting customers to swap rugs every three to five years, with Yasmine comparing Oriental Weavers to a Zara or H&M. “Basically, our rugs are a fashion item,” she says. “It’s a fraction of the price, but no one can tell the difference.”Onelongtime client is Sobel, a rug distributor in northern Italy that sells to chains, shops, whole-sellers and beyond. “We need a wide variety of products for the different customer types, with a range of qualities and prices from cheap to medium level,” says Francesco Giordano, Sobel’s owner. That’s something Oriental Weavers provided, leading it to become a key supplier for the distributor. That said, demand has since normalized, with consumers shifting spending towards travel and entertainment in 2022, while more global turmoil has brought fresh challenges. That has the industry operating in “survival mode,” says Yasmine, which underscores the focus on changing products and making them more affordable to spur sales. The company also recently announced that it’s selling its Chinese unit. Despite a gloomier outlook, the company appears to be making the best of it. “Oriental Weavers’ performance for 2022 has been positive so far considering many challenging circumstances in the local and global market,” says Marina William, an equity research analyst with Egyptian investment bank Al Ahly Pharos. “We can see sales picking up strongly for the first half of the year on the back of both prices and volumes.” The export market has been particularly challenging, with inflation altering consumer spending behaviors, adds William, while noting that the company has managed to redirect volumes towards the local market, although this is also challenging due to the Egyptian pound’s devaluation. Still, the analyst expects Oriental Weavers to see some relief in the second half of the year, as global commodity prices cool down, All of the company’s rugs are machinemade, meaning they can offer more counterparts.topiecesaffordablecomparedhandmade SOURCEFROMIMAGE

Sadat’s open door policy. His business instincts served him well. “He was a very big risk taker; he truly was an entrepreneur by the word,” says Yasmine. Their father planned to export immediately and R&D was a big focus, with Khamis spending aggressively on new technologies and always striving to double production. He eyed vertical integration too, which saw the establishment of the petrochemicals business to produce polypropylene, as it was a critical raw material for both his company and for Egypt’s plastics industry. His risk-averse ways also resulted in a real estate and tourism arm. “He’d buy land in specific areas like the Red Sea, with no airports, to kind of tap into that demand,” recalls Farida. Meanwhile, for brand exposure, he pursued collaborations between Oriental Weavers and the likes of Bob Mackie, National Geographic, and Omar Sharif, among others.

SEPTEMBER 2022FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM 26 although further devaluation of Egypt’s currency could impact domestic sales. Against that backdrop, Oriental Weavers has a goal of growing 11% in the export market in 2022, while also planning to open new showrooms in Egypt. As for future outlook, the company has always found new ways to grow, says William, either by penetrating new markets or by expanding client bases in existing regions. “Their ability to keep up with the current market demands and dynamics will play a crucial role in their growth for 2023 and beyond, as their newly established online platform contributed to first-half sales by nearly 20%,” says William. On that topic, e-commerce is one of several industry trends Oriental Weavers must contend with. Another is sustainability, which Yasmine reports is becoming important in markets like the U.K. and Scandinavia. On that front, in 2021 Oriental Weavers launched a new product line made entirely from recycled, reused, and traceable materials, while in 2017 it secured a green economy financing facility from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to help switch to more energyefficient machines in its facilities. Ultimately, such developments are another sign of how Oriental Weavers is evolving. Looking back, the Khamis family trade could’ve easily been something else, thanks to the entrepreneurial drive of its patriarch. Mohamed Farid Khamis initially studied accounting and worked at the National Bank of Egypt. But he left the country in 1967 after opposing the government and landed in Kuwait. There he became a carpet salesman, building a successful business importing rugs into the Middle East. As a buyer, Khamis purchased products from factories around the world and resold them regionally, giving him global perspectives on the industry. He eventually hatched plans to open a factory, which he did after returning home in 1979, thanks to Egyptian President Anwar

In 1997, Khamis took Oriental Weavers public on the Egyptian stock exchange, further cementing him as a prominent local business mogul—a platform that he didn’t waste. Alongside serving in parliament, Khamis was passionate about giving back, resulting in an education foundation and the launch of the British University in Egypt in 1998, which today has over 11,000 students. As this played out, his children were

KHAMISFARIDAANDYASMINE

Oriental Weavers’ rugs and carpets are fashion items. The ultimate goal is getting customers to swap rugs every three to five years.

SOURCEFROMIMAGE

• Olayan Country:CompanyFinancing(OFC)

U.A.E. Establishment: 1960 Chairperson and Managing Director: Raja Easa Al Gurg

SEPTEMBER 2022FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM 27 growing up with the business. Yet, the sisters say their father never officially mandated they follow in his footsteps. He wasn’t the type to drag them to the office every day when they were young, although they did miss school every year to travel with him to a carpet industry exhibition. But, like many regional family firms, entering the company was a natural path. “It’s kind of always unspoken,” says Yasmine, who joined Oriental Weavers in 1999. She had studied integrated marketing communication at the American University in Cairo and later took a course at New York’s Pratt Institute exploring color theory and design. She also spent time in North Carolina, a hub for U.S. textiles, studying industry basics. She then entered the family business with a desk in her father’s office so she could listen and learn. “I just started meddling in product development, meddling in marketing, working on websites, visiting the factory, visiting retail outlets,” she recalls. From there she held numerous executive positions and served as a director at its subsidiaries. Meanwhile, Farida also attended the American University in Cairo, studying business administration. Sharing her father’s interest in finance and banking, she interned at Citibank in New York and also with Egyptian investment bank EFG Hermes before joining the firm in 2001. There she established an investor relations department and worked with the petrochemicals business from the beginning. Simultaneously, their brother Mohamed studied marketing at the British University in Egypt, held numerous company roles, and served as vice chair of the family’s real estate development arm. Then, in September 2020, Khamis passed away at the age of 80, marking the end of an era. But even as his children instill new perspectives, his memory looms large. “First and foremost and the simplest of all, is to really keep his legacy,” says Yasmine. “We feel that we owe him that.” Looking back, Farida recalls a line from her father’s speeches at university graduations: he’d single out his work supporting the next generation, saying that the “most important factory that I built is the one producing men and women for Egypt.” As his children guide Oriental Weavers into the future, that sentiment rings true. KHAMISFARIDAANDYASMINE connectedStay with our latest business news.

Saudi Arabia Establishment: 1947 Chair of the Executive Committee and Deputy Chair: Lubna S. Olayan • Easa Saleh Al Gurg GroupCountry:(ESAG)

• Mohsin Haider Darwish Country: Oman Establishment: 1987 Chairpersons: Areej Mohsin Darwish and Lujaina Mohsin Darwish

Yasmine and Farida are bucking a trend by leading their family business—the overwhelming majority of big Arab family groups have been handed down to male relatives. Of the Top 100 Arab Family Businesses 2022, only four are currently led by female successors. Oriental Weavers is one; here are the other three. Matriarchs

Alba has also inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries EMEA Ltd. to conduct a feasibility study on utilizing technology to capture CO₂ from flue gas, developed by MHI Group in collaboration with Kansai Electric Power Co. The aim is to reduce Alba’s plant emissions for decarbonization.

Alba has been pursuing a growth strategy which has seen it open a sales office in Singapore to strengthen its footprint in Asia and secure a 10-year offtake agreement with Australian mining and metals company, South32, for the supply of alumina.Inaddition to business growth, Alba has also been focusing on sustainability. With the approval of the board of directors, Alba CEO, Ali Al Baqali, rolled out an environment, social, and governance (ESG) roadmap in April 2022, which underlined the company’s strong commitment to Bahrain’s objective of achieving net zero emissions by 2060, as well as to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Alba’s ESG roadmap highlights six strategic priorities: (1) decarbonization, (2) green energy and aluminum, (3) circular economy and secondary aluminum, (4) employee welfare, (5) collaboration and partnership, and (6) transparency, communications, and due diligence. With the aim of delivering on its newly launched ESG roadmap, Alba’s initiatives thus far in 2022 are as follows: Decarbonization Alba has signed a full turnkey contract with Mitsubishi Power and SEPCOIII consortium to expand Power Station 5 at Alba. The contract involves the design, engineering, construction,procurement,andcommission of a 680.9 megawatt (MW) combined cycle gas turbine power block, which will meet the company’s future decarbonization needs.

Ali Al Baqali, CEO of Alba

PROMOTION The thoughts expressed in this advertorial are those of the client. From profits and production to wideranging ESG efforts, Bahrain’s Alba is earning recognition and wellearned results as it prepares for a future of sustainable growth.

The Element of Success

SEPTEMBER 2022FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM 28

Since it began operations back in 1971, Alba has become one of the world’s largest aluminium smelters with more than 50 years of excellence in operations, safety, environment, and socioeconomic development. Last year alone, the company smelted more than 1.561 million metric tons (MT).

Starting off 2022 on a high note, Alba marked its golden jubilee by setting a new benchmark in its safety performance. On April 30, 2022, it topped 25 million safe working hours without lost time injury (LTI), and as of August 9, this number has increased to 29 million hours. In recognition of the company’s stellar safety record, Alba has received the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) Gold Medal Award, for the ninth consecutive year. The smelter’s safety standards come alongside another achievement, with the company exceeding 25 million MT in overall production to date. Alba’s financial performance has been notable too, with the company recording unmatched numbers, including $874.3 million in profit – a 127% year-on-year increase. Meanwhile, value added products (VAP) sales topped 70% in Q2 2022 for the first time in the Alba’s history, and the company’s Al Hassalah program achieved savings of $90.35 million, including $10 million incompanyworkingsavingsone-offfromcapital.Withthestandinggoodfinancialstead,

Additionally, it was recognized as the top company in Bahrain on the environmental, social, and governance ratings list by ESG Invest, the investment research arm of ‘Sustainability Excellence’.

PROMOTION

Last year alone, the company smelted more than 1.561 million metric tons. Value added product sales topped 70% in Q2 2022 for the first time in Alba’s history.

SEPTEMBER 2022FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM 29

Rounding out a busy and successful year, Alba plans to complete the financial closure of Power Station 5 Block 4, award its solar farm project, and progress with a pre-feasibility study for the company’s Line 7 smelter.

The agreement will set the platform for a feasibility study on utilizing current and future developments relating to surplus hydrogen that Bapco will make available to Alba.

Furthermore, to support the decarbonization drive in the Kingdom of Bahrain, Alba has announced financial backing of BD 134,000 ($355,448) for the National Initiative for Agricultural Development (NIAD) and the Supreme Council for the Environment’s efforts in the Ras Sanad Mangrove Nursery Project. ESG Alba and Bapco have joined forces to share knowledge and collaborate on implementing ESG initiatives of common interest through an MoU.

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The thoughts expressed in this advertorial are those of the client.

It will also involve the formation of a joint taskforce to implement the agreed objectives between the two companies.Thisyear, Alba also became the first company in Bahrain to refinance its existing syndicated loan of approximately $1.25 billion, tied to sustainability targets.

Looking ahead Now, as it looks to the last quarter of 2022, Alba remains committed to building sustainable returns, while also delivering further results to its shareholders. Among the company’s ambitious plans is the delivery on the newly launched ESG roadmap by embedding ESG into operations and processes and engaging with various stakeholders and partners on potential ESG initiatives to increase sustainability across the value chain. In terms of production and business growth, Alba aims to exceed the 2022 production target of 1,560,000 MT and deliver on the Al Hassalah savings target of $100 million by the end of the year. It also intends to continue screening for potential upstream opportunities to secure 1/3 of alumina requirements, and to capitalize on the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative and EcoVadis certifications in order to penetrate new markets and increase VAP beyond 70% of sales.

www.albasmelter.com

SEPTEMBER 2022FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM 30 BY JAMILA GANDHI JAFARMAJID • TOP 100 ARAB FAMILY BUSINESSES •

FUTUREPROOFINGFUEL

Majid Jafar, CEO of Crescent Petroleum and Vice-Chairman of the Crescent Group, has a center-stage view of a global energy crisis. With an eye on the bigger picture, his more than 50-year-old U.A.E.-based family business is investing heavily in oil and gas to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels.

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Majid Jafar, CEO of Crescent Petroleum and Vice-Chairman of the Crescent Group

SEPTEMBER 2022FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM 32 JAFARMAJID

While the transition will ultimately lead to less reliance on fossil fuels, it still presents big prospects for companies like Crescent Petroleum. Established in 1971, recent years have witnessed significant growth for the storied business. Crescent Petroleum says it has increased its oil and gas production by 50% over the past five years, producing over 700 million barrels of oil equivalent and making investments in oil and gas worth over $10 billion since its inception. Jafar highlights that oil and gas are still needed to produce high-demand products, from face masks and hand sanitizers to smartphones and vaccines. “Even electric cars still rely greatly upon oil products for their manufacturing,” he explains. “The world will still be relying on both oil and gas for decades to come, but we must both produce and consume it in cleaner ways.” Higher energy prices have boosted the outlook for further investment in the sector. Crescent Petroleum is currently implementing a $630 million expansion project to increase natural gas production by an additional 55% by 2023. Further expansion plans would raise production to a billion cubic feet per day, implying a doubling in scale within the next three to fourTheyears.company has been shifting focus to natural gas for many years—natural gas now makes up 85% of the firm’s total production, and gas flaring and leakages have reduced by nearly 80% to just 0.12% of production currently. Carbon intensity has also been reduced to less than one-third of the industry average, and remaining emissions have been offset by supporting renewable wind power projects in China and Mongolia, supporting cleaner electricity that would normally be generated by burning coal. Crescent Petroleum achieved carbon neutrality across its operations in October 2021. The company claims the gas it produces avoids more CO2 emissions annually than all Tesla cars on the planet. “Though we started as an oil company, early on we appreciated the importance of natural gas for electricity and industry,” adds Jafar. “As the world pursues decarbonization, cleaner processes and carbon capture technologies will play a vital role and cast a light on the

SOURCEFROMIMAGE

“ We don’t think in terms of months or termswequarters;thinkinofyearsandevendecades.”

As the price of oil continues to fluctuate in the face of global market challenges, policymakers worldwide are taking the brunt of a dual crisis born of energy security and a creeping climate catastrophe.

Majid Jafar

Majid Jafar, CEO of Crescent Petroleum and Vice-Chairman of the Crescent Group, has been with his family business for 18 years and has seen this price cycle before. He believes that at least five major oil price cycles over the past five decades have led to volatile spikes of between $20 and $100 per barrel over the last two years. In his mind, for a more stable future, energy security and energy transition should be considered in parallel. “These are challenging times for the whole world. Energy is the lifeblood of the global economy, and it must be available and affordable as well as environmentally sustainable,” says Jafar. “We need to see more rational, long-term thinking and planning, with energy and large-scale strategic and science-based investments.”

He’s not alone in his analysis. With global energy demand expected to grow 30-50% by 2050, according to UBS data, experts say that more needs to be done to decarbonize the world economy successfully. “The energy crisis presents a threat to global economic growth,” says Michael Bolliger, Chief Investment Officer at Global Emerging Markets, UBS Global Wealth Management. “But although near-term visibility is low, we’re convinced that the crisis will accelerate the energy transition, providing opportunities and risks for the Middle East.”

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needs of developing countries in Asia and Africa, where 800 million people still do not have electricity and three billion lack clean fuel for cooking.”

Hamid Jafar, Founder and Chairman of the Crescent Group of companies, who grew the oil and gas business across Iraq, Egypt, and the U.A.E. and pursued opportunities in other sectors. “Our headquarters in Sharjah in the UAE has given us the stability to prosper and grow in an often turbulent region,” says Jafar.

The oil and gas conglomerate has been steadily increasing its investments throughout the Middle East since Jafar joined the company in 2004. The CEO also serves as Board Managing Director of Abu Dhabilisted Dana Gas, which was established in 2005. In 2007, Crescent Petroleum and Dana Gas were awarded exclusive rights to develop natural gas and condensate from the Khor Mor and Chemchemal Gas Fields in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) to fuel electric power generation plants in Erbil and Chemchemal. In January 2022, Crescent Petroleum and its partners in the Pearl Petroleum consortium—the U.A.E.’s Dana Gas, Germany’s RWEST, Hungary’s MOL, and Austria’s OMV—reported a 50% increase in gas production from the Khor Mor field since 2018. The impact of this goes well beyond revenue. In 2017, PwC estimated that Crescent Petroleum’s Kurdistan gas project’s expanded operations would contribute between $28.6 billion and $41.6 billion to the KRI economy by 2027 and create 7,500 permanent jobs. The project could also save an estimated $33.2 billion by replacing diesel with gas, saving 77 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.“Ourregion is already a leader when it comes to energy,” says Jafar. “The role of the Middle East has become more important for energy; it’s where new technologies like hydrogen are being proven up big commitments by the likes of the U.A.E. and Saudi Arabia.” Securing its importance on a global stage, the Middle East is featuring heavily in upcoming energy discussions. Egypt is set to host COP27 in November 2022, and the U.A.E. will host COP28 in 2023. Both host countries have ambitious energy diversification strategies. Egypt is aiming for 42% of its electricity to be produced from renewable energy sources by 2035, up from a projected 20% by the end of 2022. The U.A.E. has also set a target to produce half of its total energy from renewable and nuclear sources by 2050. The 50-year-old Gulf nation is already one of the lowest-cost solar energy producers globally and is building the world’s largest solar plant in Abu Dhabi. As one of the country’s oldest and largest privatelyowned oil and gas companies, Crescent Petroleum’s history closely mirrors that of the U.A.E. In 1969, the signing of an oil concession agreement with the Government of Sharjah, followed by the discovery of oil, led to the formation of Crescent Petroleum in 1971—the year the U.A.E. was established. Successful operations have continued for over 50 years, led by Majid’s father

Today, the Crescent Group has interests in logistics, power, aviation, healthcare, real estate, private equity, and venture capital. Exposed to the world of energy from a young age, Jafar frequently visited the family’s oil and gas platforms before he was even enrolled in school. “I grew up coming to and experiencing the business at work, but also experiencing the family nature of the business,” he recalls. “My father, the chairman, was very wise and encouraged us to pursue other careers like law and medicine. By not pushing us into a certain direction, I naturally gravitated to the energy sector in our family business.”ACambridge alumna, Jafar graduated with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering. After working multiple summer jobs for Shell International under a grant program, he was recruited for a full-time role when he graduated. He spent the next three years with the company, traveling across Europe and Africa. He joined Crescent Petroleum in 2004 after completing his MBA at Harvard Business School. An advocate of responsible energy and sustainable development, Jafar also serves on the Energy Business Council of the International Energy Agency, the Advisory Board of the Responsible Energy Forum, the Stewardship Board of the Global System on Energy at the World Economic Forum, and the Board of Trustees of the Arab Forum for Environment and Development. He was also named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. “It’s a combination of science,

SEPTEMBER 2022FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM 33 JAFARMAJID

• Mikhail Fridman billion$11.8 Russia Mikhail Fridman, cofounder of Alfa Bank, Russia's largest non-state bank, was hit with sanctions after Russia invaded Ukraine.

“It is both a pleasure and a privilege to be able to work with family members—my father and my brother Badr and also my sister Razan who serves on our Board. It leads to deeper relationships which are professional as well as personal.”Asasecond-generation leader, Jafar credits his present-day successes to a family constitution, which protects a sprawling family business by defining a family’s values and ethics and codifying rules for its business entity. “We separate the family’s identity from the business and don’t add the family’s name to any of the companies’ names and also maintain a separate family office,” explains Jafar. According to Deloitte, only 14% of family businesses with a constitution are concerned with enshrining it in law. “Transparency and open conversations are key to the sustainability of a family business in the hands of the next generation family entrepreneurs,” said Walid Chiniara, Deloitte Middle East, in a statement. “Striking a balance between these relationships is a matter of alignment. Family members need to openly share their expectations to find common ground for their vision of the family business in the future,” agrees Rania Labaki, Director at EDHEC Family Business Research Centre and Associate Professor of Finance and Family Business at the EDHEC Business School. Drawing on his own experience, Jafar advocates for early governance and succession planning discussions with clearly defined roles written into the family constitution. For him, this means treating your family as family and your business as a business. “As my business school professor used to say—family ties are defined by love and respect, whereas in business, professionalism and accountability should govern,” he explains.

JAFARMAJID

Billionaire worthNet Country

As the CEO continues to be bullish on moving energy into the next era despite testing circumstances, he’s keeping one eye on his investments while keeping his family’s principles at their core. “We don’t think in terms of months or quarters; we think in terms of years and even decades,” adds Jafar.

• Fan Hongwei & family billion$18.2 China Fan Hongwei chairs Hengli Petrochemical, a chemical fiber supplier.

“That means seeing through the challenging times to get to the good times and making bets that may take years to pay off while preserving corporate culture and staying true to your family values.” connectedStay with our latest business news.

• Harold Hamm & family billion$17.2 U.S. Country: Fracking pioneer Harold Hamm founded and chairs Continental Resources, one of the nation's biggest independent oil companies.

• Leonid Mikhelson billion$14 Russia Leonid Mikhelson is the founder and chairman of natural gas producer Novatek.

SEPTEMBER 2022FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM 34 risk capital, management, and ingenuity to address a fundamental human need that I find most attractive in this line of work,” he reveals.

• Pei Zhenhua billion$12.5 China Pei Zhenhua's fortune arises from his holdings in Contemporary Amperex, a battery products supplier.

Here are the world’s top five richest people in the energy sector, according to Forbes’ World’s Billionaires ranking 2022. World’s Energy Billionaires

This year, WETEX and DSS will focus on several issues related to energy, including sustainability, disruptive technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, smart cities and grids, the future of energy in the world, environment protection, waste management, green buildings, protecting natural resources, and stimulating innovation in energy. DEWA will hold seminars, panel discussions, workshops, and awareness sessions for visitors and delegates from participating schools and universities, in collaboration with experts and specialists from the biggest leading international companies.

The exhibition is a forum for experts and specialists from around the world to discuss solutions for countering challenges in the clean, renewable energy sectors as well as water, oil, gas, green economy, smart grids, and sustainability, among other sectors. The WETEX and DSS exhibition consolidates Dubai’s position as a role model for providing the latest technologies for water, energy, and the environment. It also promotes the U.A.E.’s position as a global hub for clean energy and a green economy.Allthis supports Dubai’s efforts to achieve the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 and the Dubai Net Zero Carbon Emissions Strategy 2050 to provide 100% of Dubai’s total power capacity from clean energy sources by 2050.

Under the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy, DEWA is organising WETEX and the Dubai Solar Show (DSS) for 2022. Both events will be held from 27-29 September at the Dubai World TradeWETEXCentre.has become one of the largest and most important specialized annual events for regional and global organizations in the energy, water, environment, oil, gas, and green development sectors. The exhibition is an opportunity to reach thousands of exhibitors from around the world to make deals, build partnerships, and view the latest technologies and innovations.Thisyearis the 24th edition, and it is especially important as the U.A.E. prepares to host COP28 in 2023. The exhibition plays a crucial role in increasing the private sector’s contribution to the clean and renewable energy sectors. Who partners with the exhibition and what value do they bring?

How does WETEX support nationwide efforts in the transition to a green economy?

Scan this QR code to open the website www.dewa.gov.ae H.E. Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) PJSC , explains the greater purpose behind this year’s WETEX exhibition and the impact it hopes to have. H.E. Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO - DEWA

The WETEX and DSS exhibition partners with major local, regional, and international companies in the energy and water sectors. It also partners with media outlets, NGOs, and startup accelerators. All these are vital stakeholders for the success of the exhibition and contribute to making it a global platform for all energy related projects, technologies, innovations, and ambitious plans from the U.A.E. to the world.

Showcasing Energy Solutions

What will WETEX deliver and why is this year’s event special?

The thoughts expressed in this advertorial are those of the client.

SEPTEMBER 2022FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM 35

What topics are at the top of the agenda?

PROMOTION

Having been with his family business for over 40 years, Hussain Al Nowais, Chairman of AlNowais Investments, knows how to leverage opportunities. Right now, his focus is on Africa and green energy.

SEPTEMBER 2022FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM 36 BY JASON LASRADO NOWAISALHUSSAIN • TOP 100 ARAB FAMILY BUSINESSES •

POWERING UP

Hussain Al Nowais, Chairman of the AlNowais Investment Company SOURCEFROMIMAGE

It’s 6:30 pm on a Saturday evening, and Hussain Al Nowais, Chairman of AlNowais Investments, is waiting to head off for a well-earned annual vacation.

However, until the last moment, the chairman is hard at work. He’s only just ended another meeting when we connect. It’s been a particularly busy time. The chairman’s schedule is always tight, but when we speak to him, his family group had just two weeks previously made a major announcement. On July 26, 2022, AMEA Power—a subsidiary of AlNowais Investments —in partnership with GreenPower Morocco 1, began construction on a solar power project in Morocco. Once complete, the power plant is expected to produce up to 66,149MWh of power per year, which could supply clean and affordable power to more than 19,200 households, saving more than 39,888 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually. This is part of a much larger focus on Africa, with AlNowais Investments saying that it currently has around 3,000MV of projects underway on theHavingcontinent.been established in 1979, AlNowais Investments today owns, controls, and manages businesses that operate across a variety of sectors, including engineering and construction, oilfield services, healthcare, communication, real estate, hospitality, and infrastructure. According to the company, it recorded revenues of around $1 billion in 2021. The group employs over 6,000 people, with operations spread across over 15 countries in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Among its biggest subsidiaries are the Danway Group, Emircom, Pharmatrade, and Rotana. But it’s AMEA Power that has taken most of Al Nowais’s attention lately. Established in 2014, AMEA Power owns and operates renewable generation assets backed by utility and corporate power purchase agreements, with a primary focus on the Middle East and Africa. It is currently investing $1 billion into two projects in Egypt with a total capacity of 1000MV: a 500-MW solar plant in Kom Ombo and a wind park of 500MW in Ras Gharib on the Red Sea coast. The two parks are expected to be complete by 2025.

“ We shifted focus to clean energy knowing the direction in which the world was going, so we started the solar business.power”

SEPTEMBER 2022FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM 38

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While AMEA Power today largely focuses on solar and wind energy, it began with the intention of opening a power plant using clean coal in Egypt. While that project did not come through, the demand for renewable energy was clear. “We shifted focus to clean energy knowing the direction in which the world was going, so we started the solar power business,” reveals Al Nowais. The chairman quickly pivoted the business to focus on SubSaharan Africa. Its first project was a solar power plant in Togo that was built at the height of the pandemic in 2020. In the midst of lockdowns, travel restrictions, and constrained supply chains, AMEA Power delivered the project ahead of time. “We did it in 14-15 months. A remarkable time for delivery that created momentum for us and a good image for the company,” adds AlThatNowais.project helped to open doors elsewhere. Today, AMEA Power is building solar and wind power projects in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Gabon, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Chad, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Mali, Morocco, Tunisia, and Egypt. It has also completed one solar power and one wind power project in Jordan. In May 2022, it reached financial close for a 26.6MV solar plant in Burkina Faso. And in April, it signed an

Hussain Al Nowais

NOWAISALHUSSAIN

The International Energy Agency (IEA) agrees with him. According to the IEA, Africa has the world’s lowest levels of per capita use of modern energy, but as its population grows, demand for modern energy is expected to expand by a third between 2020 and 2030. However, Africa is perceived as risky by investors. “People are concerned about Africa, but we believe where there is risk, there is potential,” says Al Nowais. “Africa’s power needs are big. Compare the average per capita consumption of power between Africa and countries like the U.A.E.”Inits Africa Energy Review 2021, PwC reveals that Africa is home to 17% of the world’s population but accounts for only 4% of its global power supply investment. It is estimated that only 58% of the continent’s population has access to electricity, and two-thirds of Africa’s existing grids are considered unreliable. Excluding South Africa, nearly a billion people across 48 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa share roughly the same generation capacity as Germany and its population of 83 million. “More than 600 million Africans have no access to electricity, while Africa has the highest solar potential and lowest levelizized cost of energy,” says Yaseen Abdel Ghaffar, Founder and Managing Director of sustainable utility platform SolarizeAccordingEgypt.to the IEA, achieving Africa’s energy and climate goals will mean more than doubling energy investment in the continent within this decade. This would require over $190 billion every year from 2026 to 2030, with two-thirds of that going into clean energy. “Renewable energy has a huge role in transforming African people’s lives by using off-grid and microgrid solutions to power every African home,” agrees Mostafa Ashraf, Founder and CEO of green tech startup Taqatak. However, finding investors to finance projects that come with high capital investment and long gestation periods can be a challenge. Few family businesses from the GCC have ventured beyond North Africa. “How do you mitigate risks, how do you structure your projects, and how you deal with the people is where the difference is,” says Al Nowais. “I think we have succeeded in mitigating that risk in project execution today.” It helps that the chairman is well-versed in forming international partnerships. Having studied in the U.S., Al Nowais joined his family business in the late 1970s, when it was founded by his father. “Like any other family group in the gulf, we started in traditional industries like food, consumer goods, and construction,” he recalls. “It was a booming industry because the country was undergoing a construction revolution.” The group started primarily trading or distributing goods and services for international companies, with particularly strong ties to British companies. When ADNOC started growing exponentially in the early 80s, AlNowais Investments dived into the oil and gas business, supplying equipment, material, and services. By the mid-eighties, Al Nowais had begun looking for new markets and partners. He started by forming partnerships with Japanese companies in the 1990s, importing cables and components and selling them to businesses in the U.A.E. Then, he began diversifying across industries like healthcare and pharmaceuticals. The company was soon working with Korean businesses in the construction industry. Initially, the group served as distributors

SEPTEMBER 2022FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM 39 NOWAISALHUSSAIN

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MoU to produce 390,000 tonnes of green ammonia per annum in Egypt and was awarded two solar power projects with a total capacity of 72MW. As the company continues to busily sign, develop, and finance projects across Africa, Al Nowais insists that the intention is to bring clean energy to the people who need it the most. “They need power to grow, they need power to have industries, they need power to have housing, they need power to have schools,” he explains.

Clean Energy Billionaires

NOWAISALHUSSAIN connectedStay with our latest business news. These five billionaires have made considerable fortunes investing in renewable energy tech. Net worths are as of August 2022.

SEPTEMBER 2022FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM

• Li Zhenguo billion$11 Solar wafers and modules Li Zhenguo is the CEO of LONGi Green Energy, which was founded in 2000, one of China’s largest manufacturers of solar wafers. or principals for international brands. Over time, Al Nowais gained knowledge, contacts, and an understanding of various industries. Today, the family group’s core businesses are diversified in terms of industry, geography, and revenues. As it doubles down in Africa, the investment company is not alone. Many international organizations have now realized the importance of implementing green energy projects and are looking to fund viable projects from reputed companies. “We work with people like IFC of the World Bank, the Dutch Government’s FMO, the Africa Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD),” says Al Nowais. The ADFD alone has supported 432 projects in 50 countries in the Middle East and Africa, investing $17.6 billion. Al Nowais is now investing in water security, setting up green desalination plants powered by green energy where the supply of water is more reliable. And looking ahead, he sees great opportunities in green hydrogen, looking for acquisition opportunities that can add value to the group and spur growth. “Green hydrogen is going to be the future based on what we read and other interactions,” he reveals.

• Huang Shilin billion$19.2 Lithium-ionbatteries Shilin is a former vice chairman of Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), one of China’s largest battery suppliers for the electric vehicle industry. Shilin resigned from the board in August 2022.

40 Billionaire worthNet Sourcewealthof

• Robin Zeng billion$42.6 Lithium-ionbatteries Zeng is the founder and chairman of Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), one of the world’s largest suppliers of batteries for electric vehicles.

AMEA Power is currently in various stages of developing green hydrogen projects in Egypt, Morocco, and Ethiopia. This is about more than increasing revenues; helping support communities in Africa is of significant importance.

• Elon Musk $262.8billion Tesla, SpaceX Musk has co-founded six companies, including electric car maker Tesla, rocket producer SpaceX and tunneling startup Boring Company, which aims to defeat traffic.

• Pei Zhenhua billion$12 Lithium-ionbatteries Pei Zhenhua’s fortune primarily relies on his holdings in Contemporary Amperex, a battery products supplier company.

Community initiatives around AMEA Power’s first solar power plant in Togo positively impacted more than 100,000 people. The company built a clinic, constructed three primary schools, renovated three others, and provided them with free electricity. The plant also offers an internship program for engineering students from various technical institutions.“Thethings that I am so proud of are that we build community partnerships, we pay big attention to corporate social responsibility,” says Al Nowais. “And that has helped us to grow rapidly.”

one.postpay.io

results demonstrate over 35% uplift in conversation for retailers that have offered One. For ecommerce players, the beauty of One is that it does not impact any existing structural technology and leverages all their existing resources. One plugs into all existing platforms or connects via APIs and requires minimal integration effort.

The thoughts expressed in this advertorial are those of the client.

SEPTEMBER 2022FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM 41 NOWAISALHUSSAIN

Dani Molina and I founded Postpay in mid-2019, with the intention of localizing the new buy now, pay later (BNPL) model in the Middle East. There are several key factors to our success so far, including a fast-growing addressable market and an exceptional team with experience in BNPL and payment processing who share a passion to innovate and unlock true value in the market. Our success is also down to our investors and strategic partners, including but not limited to global BNPL giant, Afterpay, and the Commercial Bank of Dubai.

Tariq Sheikh, Founder of Postpay, unveils the GCC’s first express checkout and explains their ambition to redefine how people checkout online.

There is a lot of competition in the BNPL space today. What helps you stand out? Competition is an endorsement of a lucrative industry, hence there is no surprise that there is competition in BNPL in the Middle East. There are several factors that help Postpay stand out. We have focused on positive unit economics since day one, we possess deep product expertise, we have a diversified ecosystem of products, and we are a fully-fledged payment service provider (PSP), which is what enabled us to launch the first express checkout in the region.

On the other hand, customers are frustrated by long checkout processes that require them to repeatedly enter their information. One solves this with an express checkout solution that bypasses tedious steps and allows customers to checkout instantly, in one single payment or in installments with Postpay. As a result, One times faster than any other regional live,Alreadyexperience.checkoutearly

Customers love using Postpay and constantly return to our partner retailers. From this perspective, nothing has changed – we continue to grow at phenomenal rates and see strong metrics. Postpay has always focused on building a solid foundation with healthy unit economics, without compromising growth. This has played in our favor as we have built a strong and sustainable business able to weather storms and continue to unlock true value in the market. Going forward you can expect Postpay to continue to deliver on our purpose, to disrupt traditional financial services by providing fair and products.accessible

One, the GCC’s first express checkout, is Postpay’s most recent launch. What exactly is it and how does it fit into your growth plans?

PROMOTION

What factors are behind Postpay’s success so far in the Middle East?

Postpay has partnered with thousands of ecommerce retailers and served over a million customers to date. Through this journey, we have seen the repetitive frustration among customers that checkout online. On one hand, ecommerce retailers strive to increase conversion yet are constantly limited to archaic checkout flows.

What’s next for Postpay?

Check Out Made Easy

Scan this QR code to open the website

Tariq Sheikh, Founder of Postpay

THE MIDDLE EAST’S

• Number of total employees.

A rab family businesses in the Middle East have so far this year seen many of the fields they are most active in—including retail, real estate, energy, and industrials—welcome a V-shaped recovery. And these businesses are themselves continuously evolving.

• The performance of their key businesses and the sectors in which they operate.

• Age and legacy of the company.

BUSINESSESFAMILY

• The size and value of the businesses they hold, including listed entities, real estate and hospitality assets, and revenues from other holdings.

• Business activity in the last year, including IPOs, new project launches, and new investments.

We collected information from stock exchanges, reports from consulting firms, and other primary sources. We ranked the family businesses based on:

To nominate yourself or someone else for our lists, email: info@forbesmiddleeast.com

Of this year’s top 100 family companies, 89% are diversified business conglomerates. Saudi companies dominate the list, with 37 entries, followed by the U.A.E with 25, and Kuwait with eight.

BUSINESSESFAMILYARAB100TOP

The way Arab family businesses are run and controlled used to be extremely concentrated, but that is changing. In many of the top 100, the third generation and beyond are joining the business. Many have begun focusing on succession planning and separating ownership and management. Some have even listed their flagship company or important subsidiaries—a trend that looks like it will continue to grow in future.

• How diversified the business is in terms of sectors and geographies.

TOP 100 ARAB

Methodology Only private businesses or holding companies that are jointly owned or run by Arab families were considered for the list.

While they still invest in their traditional businesses they are also moving towards new-age industries, investing in startups and, in some cases, founding their own new enterprises.

SEPTEMBER 2022FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM 42

SEPTEMBER 2022FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM 43 THE DOLDER GRAND · A BRAND OF DOLDER HOTEL AG KURHAUSSTRASSE 65 · 8032 ZURICH, SWITZERLAND · INFO@THEDOLDERGRAND.COM · THEDOLDERGRAND.COM · T +41 44 456 60 00

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4. Al Muhaidib Group (AMG)

Chairperson: Abdullah Al Futtaim Country: U.A.E. Established in: 1930 Sector: Diversified

1. Olayan Financing Company (OFC)

2. Mansour Group Chairperson: Mohamed Mansour

TOP 100 ARAB BUSINESSES MIDDLE

3. Al-Futtaim Group

Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 1943 Sector: Diversified

Founded by the late Abdulkadir Al Muhaidib, AMG is one of Saudi Arabia’s largest conglomerates. AMG’s businesses span 25 countries, with a focus on F&B, industrial and infrastructure, real estate, and financial investment. The group employs over 10,000 people. In January 2021, the Al Muhaidib Social Foundation—the charitable investment arm of Al Muhaidib Group—was awarded a King Abdulaziz Quality Award for the charitable sector.

FAMILY

EAST’S BUSINESSESFAMILYARAB100TOP

Country: Egypt Established in: 1952 Sector: Diversified The Mansour Group was founded by Loutfy Mansour. Today, its network covers 100 countries, and it employs over 60,000 people. With total revenues exceeding $7.5 billion, the group has operations in automotives, financial groupTwitter,Uber,ownsarm,theThroughoperationsCaterpillarofMantracamonginvestment,services,andfoodstuff,othersectors.ItsGroupisonetheworld’slargestdealers,within12countries.ManCapital,group’sinvestmenttheMansourfamilysharesinSpotify,Airbnb,Meta,andothers.TheisrunbyMohamed Mansour. The three Mansour brothers, Yasseen, Mohamed, and Youssef, are among the Arab world’s richest people, with a combined net worth of $5.1 billion as of August 2022.

Chair of the Executive Committee and Deputy Chair: Lubna S. Olayan

THE

Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 1947 Sector: Diversified OFC is the parent company of the Olayan Group, which was initially founded as the General Contracting Company by Suliman S. Olayan to provide transportation and related services to Bechtel on Aramco’s Trans-Arabian Pipeline (Tapline) project. The company’s investments in public companies make up the largest portion of the group’s portfolio. It owned 4.9% of Credit Suisse and 20.3% of the Saudi British Bank as of July 2022. The Olayan family also has investments in real estate worldwide, including the Knightsbridge Estate in London, the Etoile Estate in Paris, and the Hotel Ritz in Madrid, among others. In 2021, OFC joined the World Economic Forum’s coalition for stakeholder capitalism metrics.

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With operations in the automotive, finance, real estate, retail, and healthcare sectors, the Al-Futtaim Group has over 200 businesses across 20 countries. It employs 35,000 people. The group owns 100% of Orient Insurance, 52.8% of the Emirates Investment Bank, 26.3% of the Commercial Bank Of Dubai, and 7.2% of the Dubai Insurance Company. Abdulla Al-Futtaim and family had a net worth of $2.5 billion as of August 2022.

Group Chairman: Sulaiman Al Muhaidib

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Country: Qatar Established in: 1964 Sector: Diversified Al Faisal Holding was established as a small automotive parts trading company nearly 60 years ago. Today, it has 50 companies across culture and education, hospitality, real estate, construction and project management, trading, manufacturing, and financial investments. The company has 29 hotels across Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Algeria, Europe, and the U.S. In May 2022, it launched a new subsidiary offering production services, Metaserra, a joint venture with Turkey’s Doludizgin. Chairman Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani is also the founder and chairman of the Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani Museum, chairman of the Gulf Qatari Classic Cars Association, and a board member for the College of Business at DePaul University in Chicago.

5. Al-Ghurair Investment

Country: U.A.E. Established in: 1960 Sector: Diversified Al-Ghurair Investment has a diversified portfolio of businesses across 50 countries in the F&B, resources, properties, construction, energy, mobility, and venture sectors. It employs around 28,000 people. The company owns 31.1% of Mashreq Bank and 29.1% of the National Cement Company. During Expo 2020, the group’s retail arm managed La Tienda, the commercial space of the Spanish Pavilion, which attracted more than 580,000 visitors. Abdulla Al Ghurair & family had a net worth of $2.6 billion as of August 2022.

Chairman: Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani

8. Al Ghurair Group

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Chairman: Abdul Rahman Saif Al Ghurair

CEO: Alain Bejjani Country: U.A.E. Established in: 1992 Sector: Diversified Majid Al Futtaim Holding has operations in the retail, real estate, leisure and entertainment, and lifestyle sectors, among others. It owns and operates 423 carrefour outlets, 29 shopping malls, and 13 hotels across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. The group ended 2021 with total revenues of $8.8 billion and assets worth $16.5 billion. It secured a $1.5 billion

Chairman of the Executive Committee: Abdul Aziz Abdulla Al Ghurair

6. Majid Al Futtaim Holding

7. Abdul Latif Jameel Chairman and CEO: Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel

Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 1945 Sector: Diversified Abdul Latif Jameel began as a small trading business and Toyota distributor in Saudi Arabia. Today, the group spans 30 countries and employs more than 11,000 people. It operates in eight sectors: health, engineering and manufacturing, financial services, land and real estate, energy and environmental services, consumer products, advertising and media, and transportation. In July 2022, Abdul Latif Jameel Energy’s FRV and Harmony Energy announced the beginning of construction of a 198MWh battery energy storage system, one of the U.K.’s largest battery storage projects. The family business was also an early investor in Greaves Electric Mobility.

9. Al Faisal Holding

Sustainability-Linked Loan in 2021 to help become net positive in carbon and water by 2040. The company’s founder Majid Al Futtaim passed away in December 2021, leaving a net worth of $4.3 billion at the time. As of February 2022, a judicial committee had been appointed to oversee the late billionaire’s estate and inheritance issues.

Country: U.A.E. Established in: 1960 Sector: Diversified The Al Ghurair Group operates across diverse business sectors, including retail, manufacturing, and real estate. It owns Al Ghurair Real Estate, Arabian Can Industries, Arabian Flexible Packaging, Arabian Packaging, BurJuman Center, Gulf Extrusions, Reef Mall, REFCO Metals, and Taghleef Industries. It also owns 37.9% of the National Cement Company, which was worth $83 million as of August 2022.

Chairman: Abdullah Abdullatif Al Fozan

Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 1976 Sector: Diversified SEDCO Holding, which was founded by Salem Ahmed bin Mahfouz, has operations in withwhichSEDCOTheoversectors.estate,hospitality,healthcare,education,management,assetandrealamongotherItemploys3,500people.companyownsCapital,ended2021assetsundermanagement

valued at $5.9 billion. The family holding also owns 35% of the Nahdi Medical Company, the largest pharmacy chain in MENA, as well as 25.8% of Egypt-based Dar Al Fouad Hospital. In June 2022, SEDCO Academy partnered with e-learning platform Coursera to develop a customized e-learning platform for SEDCO employees with over 5,000 courses.

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PIH is a second-generation family conglomerate with activities in five includeItstenoperationspeople,thanemploysTheandentertainment,hospitality,includingandrealfoodagricultureandindustriescontracting,sectors:maingeneralservices,andindustries,estate,lifestyle,catering.companymore65,000withincountries.subsidiariesconstruction

Executive Chairman: Mohammed Alshaya

Group Chairman: Moutaz Al-Khayyat Country: Qatar Established in: 1983 Sector: Diversified

10. Rashed Abdul Rahman Al Rashed & Sons

The Rashed Abdul Rahman AlRashed & Sons Group employs more than 13,000 people and has 25 companies across seven sectors: building materials, cement and bulk materials, finishing materials, contracting, industrial products, automotive, and food products. The group also has investments in real estate. As of August 2022, it owns 9.8% of Banque Saudi Fransi, worth $1.6 billion, 9.97% in Arab National Bank, worth $1.2 billion, and 9.6% in Al Yamamah Steel Industries, worth $43 million.

11. Al Fozan Holding

Country: Kuwait Established in: 1890 Sector: Retail

13. Power International Holding (PIH)

The Alshaya Group owns and operates over 4,000 stores, cafes, restaurants, and leisure destinations, as well as over 100 ecommerce sites and apps across MENA, Turkey, and Europe. It employs over 50,000 people. In 2021, the group opened 350 new stores. It runs brands such as Starbucks, H&M, Mothercare, Debenhams, and American Eagle Outfitters. The family owns 34.1% of Mabanee, which was valued at $1.1 billion as of August 2022. In March 2022, the group signed an MoU with the UN’s Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) regarding sustainable development and initiatives.

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Chairman: Saleh Salem Bin Mahfouz

Chairman:GroupAbudlaziz Al Rashed Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 1950 Sector: Diversified

12. Alshaya Group

company UCC Holding, milk and dairy brand BALADNA, real estate firm ASSETS, lifestyle hospitality and entertainment company AURA Group, and Estithmar Holding.

The Al Fozan Holding Company operates across the Middle East through over 20 subsidiaries, affiliates, and joint ventures. Its investments span retail, real estate, trading, industrials, and other investments, including Ascend Healthcare Solutions and AUVA Projects & Supplies. Retal, a publicly-traded subsidiary of the group, has a $2.5 billion portfolio of completed, ongoing, and upcoming projects, with 6,000 completed units. In April 2022, Retal and the Eastern Province Municipality announced the launch of Green Al-Khobar and Al-Khobar Art initiatives in Saudi Arabia. Abdullah Abdullatif Al Fozan also Chairs the Board of Trustees for Al Fozan Social Foundation, the Athath Charity, and Bawan Company.

14. SEDCO Holding

Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 1959 Sector: Diversified

Chairman: Abdulrahman Hassan Sharbatly Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 1996 Sector: Diversified The Al Nahla Group is one of the oldest companies in Saudi Arabia. The company’s activities revolve around automotive, real estate and development, construction, trading, and investments. It has 12 sub-companies, including Al Nahla for Urban Development, SAMACO Automotives, Porsche Design, SAMACO Marine, Al Nahla Holdings, and Al Nahla Technology. The group also owns 8.7% of Riyad Bank. Chairman, Abdulrahman Sharbatly is also the founder of Al Sagr Cooperative Insurance Company, SACO Company, Jeddah Economic Company, and the Golden Pyramids Real Estate Group, among others.

18. Suhail Bahwan Group Chairman: Suhail Bahwan Country: Oman Established in: 1965 Sector: Diversified

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17. Alghanim Industries Executive Chairman: Kutayba Y. Alghanim Country: Kuwait Established in: 1932 Sector: Diversified

International Hospital in partnership with the Oman Brunei Investment Company and Idealmed GHS. Chairman Suhail Bahwan had a net worth of $2.1 billion as of August 2022.

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15. Saud Bahwan Group

The Saud Bahwan Group was originally established as Toyota’s distributor in Oman by brothers Saud and Suhail. They split in 2002, and Saud kept the dealership. Mohammed Bahwan became chairman after the death of his father Saud in 2008. The group’s portfolio covers automotive, construction and industrial equipment, municipal and civic services, travel and tourism, and manufacturing. In the automotive sector, it today represents international brands, including Toyota, Kia, Ford, and Lexus, in Oman.

Chairman: Mohammed Saud Bahwan Country: Oman Established in: 1965 Sector: Diversified

16. Al Nahla Group

Founded by Yusuf Alghanim in 1932, Alghanim Industries today employs over 14,000 people. The group’s portfolio of more than 30 businesses and 300 global brands is spread across automotive, engineering, F&B, industrials, distribution, finance, transport and logistics, and travel and tourism. Alghanim Industries also owns the consumer retailers Safat Home and X-cite electronics and sells GM and Ford cars in Kuwait. In November 2021, the company increased the manufacturing capacity of Kirby Building Systems in India from 200,000 metric tons to 300,000 metric tons per year.

The Suhail Bahwan Group is one of Oman’s conglomerates.largest It employs more than 7,000 people and has over 15 businesses and 100 global brands across sectors, including thetheOman.thealsologistics.healthcare,energyandtelecom,infrastructure,engineeringlifestyle,andITandchemicalsfertilizers,andpower,andThegroupholds14.7%ofNationalBankofInApril2021,groupannouncedopeningoftheOman

22. Morad BehbehaniYousufGroupPresident: Ali Morad Behbehani

Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 1975 Sector: Diversified Saudi FAS Holding is the holding company of the Al Hokair family. It is equally owned by brothers Fawaz, Salman, and Abdul Majeed. The family owns 68.5% of the Fawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair Company, which was valued at $378 million as of July 2022, and works with around 98 international brands through 1,876 stores. It also owns 66.2% of Arabian Centres, valued at $1.7 billion as of August 2022, which is the largest mall operator in Saudi Arabia, with 21 malls and 4,300 stores.

Formerly known as Mohammed Al Issa and Sons (MASC) Holding Company, Assila Investments has various investments in the Saudi Exchange. As of August 2022, the company owned 8% of Riyad Bank, worth $2.3 billion, 11.2% of Savola Group, worth $519 million, 16.7% of Taiba Investments, worth at $209 million, and 27.1% of Dur Hospitality, worth $166 million. Abdullah Mohammed Al-Issa is also the Chairman of Riyad Bank and a member of SABIC’s Board of Directors.

President: Khalid Al Zamil

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20. Ajlan & Bros.

Originally founded as the authorized distributor for Omega watches, the Morad Yousuf Behbehani Group today represents over 100 international brands in Kuwait, Samsonite,Volkswagen,includingPorsche,andCartier. The group owns eight multi-brand showrooms and 13 boutiques in Kuwait. As of August 2022, the family owns 5.5% of Gulf Bank, worth $193.4 million, 37.9% of Ahli Bank of Kuwait, worth $752.8 million, and 16.6% of the Al-Maidan Clinic for oral and Dental services Co, worth $78 million.

19. Saudi FAS Holding Company

21. Assila Investments

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Country: Kuwait Established in: 1935 Sector: Diversified

Founded as a trade and services company in Bahrain by Abdullah Hamad Al Zamil, Zamil Group today operates across building materials, manufacturing, offshore, petrochemicals, trade and services, real estate, and investment. It has a portfolio of 13 wholly-owned companies, 12 joint ventures, and two publicly-traded companies, including Sahara International Petrochemical Company (SIPCHEM). In 2002, the group’s subsidiary, Zamil Industrial Investment Company, which employs over 13,000 people across 55 countries, was listed on the Saudi Exchange.

Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 1979 Sector: Diversified Ajlan & Bros. was founded as a small textile shop in Al-Deira in 1979 by current chairman Ajlan Al Ajlan and his three brothers, Saad, Muhammad, and Fahad. It has since developed into a large company specializing in textiles, with investments in energy, water, technology, and hospitality. The group employs 15,000 people with operations spanning over 25 countries around the world. It has partnered with international brands, including Giorgio Rossi, Maserati, Iceberg, Lamborghini, Ferrari, and Bugatti. The group also invests in real estate across Saudi Arabia, Europe, the U.S., and China.

Chairman: Fawaz Al Hokair

Chairman: Ajlan Bin Abdulaziz Alajlan

23. Zamil Group

Chairman: Abdullah Mohammed Al-Issa Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 2010 Sector: Investments

Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 1920 Sector: Diversified

Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 1936 Sector: Diversified Juffali was founded by brothers Ebrahim, Ali, and Ahmed Abdullah Juffali, as an importer of various electromechanical products. Today the group employs more than 10,000 people and operates across mobility, technology, engineering, and services, with over 25 partners and 12 factories. Some of the group’s multinational partners include Bosch, Dow Chemicals, Ericsson, IBM, Fuso, Mercedes-Benz (Daimler AG), and Siemens. In 2019, Juffali partnered with WISeKey International and SAT to implement a strategy for the development of cybersecurity and IoT in Saudi Arabia. The company owns 11.1% of Wataniya Insurance Co. 25. Yousuf M.A. Naghi & Sons Group

26. Dallah Albaraka Holding

27. AW Rostamani Group Chairman and Group CEO: Khalid Al Rostamani

Chairman and CEO: Mohammed Yousuf Naghi

in 2021.The group has 200 million square meters of developed property.

Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 1969 Sector: Diversified

The AW Rostamani Group started as a small bookstore in 1954. Today, the group consists of 14 companies. It employs over 4,000 people. The group operates in automotive, real estate and construction, retail, logistics, IT, travel, and consultancy. In July 2022, it announced a one-year commitment to eliminate single-use plastic across all of the group’s premises through a collaboration with the enterprise.GoumbookThegroup owns 17.7% of Dubai Insurance Co, 10.1% of the National Bank of Umm Al Qaiwain, and 6.6% of the Commercial Bank of Dubai. 28. Al Mulla Group Chairman: Najeeb Al Mulla Country: Kuwait Established in: 1965 Sector: Diversified

24.Chairman:JuffaliKhaled Juffali

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The Yousuf M.A. Naghi & Sons Group has four companies: Mohamed Yousuf Naghi & Brothers Group, Cigalah Group, Arabian Food Supplies, and United Yousef M.Naghi Co. Each one is managed by one of the late founder’s four sons—Mohamed, Yaser, Saleh, and Ammar. The group has operations across the automotive, FMCG, electronics, retail, foodstuff, and transportation sectors, among others. In the automotive sector, it manages one of the largest bus and coach companies in the Middle East, with over 12,000 units. The group also owns 9% of ADX-listed Gulf Pharmaceutical Industries.

Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 1911 Sector: Diversified

Dallah Albaraka Holding invests in more than 100 companies in 43 countries across Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas and employs over 60,000 people. It operates across healthcare, real estate, andrecordedtheothermediatravelmotoringtelecommunication,technology,F&B,andtransportation,andhospitality,andproduction,amongsectors.Itssubsidiary,AlBarakaBankingGroup,assetsof$28.2billionanetincomeof$189million

Chairman: Abdullah Saleh Kamel

Founded by Abdulla Saleh Al Mulla, the Al Mulla Group today employs over 15,000 people, has affiliations with over 40 companies and subsidiaries, and represents over 200 brands. The group has operations in Kuwait, Iraq, Oman, the U.A.E., Qatar, India, and Egypt. The Al Mulla and Behbehani Motors Company is the authorized distributor for the Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Fiat Professional, Jeep, Ram and Mopar brands in Kuwait. The Al Mulla Group is also the sole dealer of Mercedes-Benz in Kuwait.

Country: U.A.E. Established in: 1954 Sector: Diversified

and real estate, among other sectors. In May 2022, Al Masaood Power launched a U.A.E.-built smart electric charging solution “SHAMS+” for EVs and hybrid marine vessels. In July 2022, the group signed a distribution agreement with Sunstream International for the GCC, and joined the U.A.E.’s “TA’ZIZ” project.

Chairman: Buti Obaid AlMulla Country: U.A.E. Established in: 1942 Sector: Diversified

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The Dhabi-basedAbu Al Masaood Group was established in 1970 when it services,businessindustrial,spangroup’speople.employing50sectors,operatesToday,WeirU.A.E.plantfirstconstructedMiddleDhabiturbinetheBrowncompanywithpartneredBritishJohntobringfirstgastoAbuandtheEastandthedesalinationinthewithWestgarth.thegroupin18withcompanies2,000Theactivitiesautomotive,marine,

32. The Zubair Corporation

Chairman: Rashad Mohammad Al Zubair

30. Al Masaood Group

Chairman: Masaood Ahmed Al Masaood Country: U.A.E. Established in: 1970 Sector: Diversified

31. Mohamed & Obaid Almulla Group

29. O Capital Group

The Mohamed & Obaid Almulla Group operates three divisions: healthcare and pharmaceuticals, hospitality, and real estate. Its healthcare activities center on American Hospital, Monrol U.A.E., Unimed, and Stay Well Pharmacies. Its hospitality portfolio includes Ishraq Hospitality and AlMulla Travel & Tourism. It has several real estate projects, including AlMulla Plaza. The American Hospital was the first in Dubai to offer robotic surgery services using the da Vinci Xi surgical system. Ishraq Hospitality opened the Holiday Inn Dubai Al-Maktoum Airport in October 2021.

Country: Morocco Established in: 2021 Sector: Diversified O Capital Group is the result of the absorption of FinanceCom by Holding Benjelloun Mezian in 2021. The group employs 20,000 people and has a presence in more than 20 African countries. The group is investing $500 million to build one of the tallest buildings in Africa in Rabat, Morocco. O Capital Group’s revenues hit $2.5 billion in 2021. It owns 36.3% of the Bank of Africa (BMCE) Group. One of BMCE’s notable projects, in partnership with state-owned China Communications Construction Co, is the development of the Tanger Tech Mohammed VI city near Tangier. Chairman Othman Benjelloun created the Benjelloun-Meziane Foundation with his wife, Leila Mezian, in 1967.

Country: Oman Established in: 1967 Sector: Diversified The Zubair Corporation started as a small shop trading various products in Muscat, founded by the current chairman’s father, Mohammad Al Zubair. The company focuses on the service, tourism, real estate, telecom, energy, and education industries, among others. The group operates six different subsidiaries in the construction and engineering sector and nine companies in logistics and energy, including Aramex Logistics LLC, Jaidah Energy LLC, and Zubair Oil & Gas Company LLC. Other projects include Bait Al Zubair, which showcases Oman’s heritage, and the ABQ Education Group, which operates three international schools in Oman.

Chairman: Othman Benjelloun

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Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 1956 Sector: DIversified Established by Saleh Al Othaim as a food trading company, today Othaim Holding spans commercial, real estate, industrial, and investment activities. Its publiclytraded subsidiary, Abdullah AlOthaim Markets, has more than 280 branches across Saudi Arabia and over 43 stores in Egypt. It employs over 16,500 people. The family’s share of the company was worth $1 billion as of August 2022. The group’s investments arm, the “Abdullah Al Othaim Investment Company,” has a portfolio of 38 entertainment centers, 37 fashion retail stores across, and 10 shopping malls in the GCC and North Africa.

Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 1979 Sector: Diversified Nesma Holding Group operates in 14 sectors through 30 companies across Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E., Egypt, and Croatia. It is active in construction, oil and gas, real estate, hospitality, port, marine and shipping services, aviation, logistics, and IT. Notable mega projects are Jabal Omar Development, Watani, the Red Sea Landscape Nursery, Dumat Al Jandal Onshore Wind Farm, and the South Jeddah Solar Power Project, which aims to power 50,000 homes and cut 750,000 tons of CO2 emissions.

33. Alfardan Group

Chairman: Faisal Alturki

37. BinDawood Group

Chairman: Juma AL Majid

Chairman: Abdulrazzaq BinDawood

36. Nesma Holding Company

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Country: U.A.E. Established in: 1950 Sector: Diversified The Juma Al Majid Holding Group operates across five sectors in the U.A.E. and GCC through 33 companies with 150 branches. The group’s portfolio spans automotive, trading, hospitality, FMCG, travel, retail, shipping, manufacturing, real estate, contracting, construction, distribution, and electronics. They are the dealers of Hyundai and Kia in the U.A.E. Founder and chairman, Juma Al Majid, is also the chairman of the Beit Al Khair Society.

35. Othaim Holding

Country: Qatar Established in: 1954 Sector: Diversified First established by Hussain Ibrahim Alfardan as Alfardan Jewellery Company, today the AlFardan Group’s portfolio includes jewelry, financial exchange, property development, automotive, hospitality, marine, and investment. The group also owns the St. Regis Doha Hotel, the Al Gassar Resort, Laguna Beach, Marsa Malaz Kempinski, and the Al Sadd Residence. It is a dealer of Aston Martin, Rolls-Royce, BMW, MINI, Land Rover, Jaguar, Ferrari, and Maserati. Alfardan Real Estate owns 6.1% in Dubai Investments, which was worth $162 million as of August 2022. Chairman Hussain Ibrahim Alfardan is also the founder and vice-chairman of the Qatar Commercial Bank and the first deputy to the chairman of the Qatari Businessmen Association.

Chairman: Abdullah Saleh Al Othaim

Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 1984 Sector: Retail familyGroupBinDawoodTheistheoffice of the whichandBinDawoodchainsmainArabia.insupermarketsandhypermarketswhichHolding,ofshareholdermajorityfounderfamilyfamily.BinDawoodTheistheandBinDawoodhas80SaudiItstworetailareDanube, together employ over 10,000 people. The group recorded revenues of $1.2 billion for 2021. In March 2022, Future Technology Retail (FTR), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the group, signed an agreement to acquire 62% of the International Applications Trading Company, with an immediate payment of $28.7 million and an additional payment in FY 2023. In July 2022, FTR acquired an 80.5% stake in the Ykone marketing agency.

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Chairman: Hussain Ibrahim Alfardan

34. Juma Al Majid Holding Group

Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 1988 Sector: Medical Services Abdul Jalil Batterjee established the first national pharmacies in Jeddah in the 1920s. Bait Al Batterjee was founded in 1988 by the Sobhi A. Batterjee and Khaled Batterjee. Today, they lead the group along with executive vice chairman and CEO Makarem Batterjee. The company employs 15,000 people. Among their entities are the Saudi German Hospital Group, Advanced theAnimalIndustries,PharmaceuticaltheInternationalCareCompany,andGlobalBusinessSchool.

38. Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group (ESAG)

Country: U.A.E. Established in: 1960 Sector: Diversified

41. Cevital Group

Country: U.A.E. Established in: 1971 Sector: Diversified Crescent Group operates a portfolio of more than 25 companies across nine sectors. It has a presence in over 22 countries through its two

Chairman: Talal Zahid Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 1943 Sector: Diversified

40. Bait Al Batterjee Holding CompanyChairman:Sobhi A. Batterjee

Chairperson and Managing Director: Raja Easa Al Gurg

42. Crescent Group Chairman: Hamid Jafar

First founded by Mohamed Mahmoud Zahid to represent General Motors in Saudi Arabia, today the Zahid Group has 23 companies, across 11 sectors spanning 12 countries. It represents over 50 international and homegrown brands, including Bauer and Daewoo Bus. It employs 5,000 people. In June 2022, the Zahid Group and the MTD Group joined forces to create MTD Arabia. In April 2022, one of Zahid Group’s subsidiaries, Altaaqa Alternative Solutions, announced an MoU with TotalEnergies to deliver integrated EV charging stations in Saudi Arabia.

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Country: Algeria Established in: 1971 Sector: Diversified

The Cevital Group was founded by billionaire Issad Rebrab, who resigned in June 2022 and handed it over to his son, Malik Rebrab. The group employs 18,000 people and has activities in food processing, mass distribution, electronics and domestic appliances, iron and steel, industrial construction, automobile, and media, among other sectors. Today, the group has 26 subsidiaries spread across three continents. Founder Issad Rebrab had a net worth of $5.1 billion as of August 2022, making him the second richest Arab in the world.

ESAG was founded by Easa Al Gurg in 1960. Today, it is headed by his daughter Raja Al Gurg. The group employs 3,000 people and has 27 companies across retail, consumer, construction, industrial, joint ventures, and real estate. It is partnered with over 370 global brands and has offices across the U.A.E., Oman, and Saudi Arabia. ESAG has joint ventures with Al Gurg Unilever, Siemens, Al Gurg Fosroc, Siemens Healthcare, and Siemens Mobility. Among its international brands are Osram, British American Tobacco, Dunlop, and 3M. Raja Al Gurg was awarded the Legion of Honor, Chevalier (Knight) by French President Emmanuel Macron in 2020.

Humania Capital is the group’s investment platform, which focuses on healthcare, education, and real estate.

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Crescent2022,theandprivatethePetroleumEnterprises.Petroleumsubsidiaries:wholly-ownedCrescentandCrescentCrescentisamonglargestandoldestupstreamoilgascompaniesinregion.InJanuaryDanaGasandPetroleumannounced that it had recorded a 50% growth in natural gas production from its “Khor Mor” field in Iraq. 39. Zahid Group

Chairman and CEO: Malik Rebrab

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45.Chairman:XenelMohamed Zainal Alireza

47. Hayel Saeed Anam Group (HSAChairmanGroup)andCEO: Abdul Jabbar Hayel Saeed

Chairman: Yahya Saeed Bin Ahmed Al Lootah

46. Aujan Group Holding (AGH)

The HSA Group engages in manufacturing, trading, banking and insurance, oil and gas, real estate development, general services, and agriculture, among other activities. It covers over 40 markets across the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and Africa, as well as exporting to more than 87 Companies. The group employs over 35,000 people. It manufactures products including Oxi, Luna, Crystal, Teashop, Avena, and Milgro. The group’s charitable initiatives include distributing emergency food baskets while supporting community development and the production of sustainable food in Yemen.

43. S.S. Lootah Group

Executive Chairman: Abdulla Aujan

Country: Yemen Established in: 1938 Sector: Diversified

44. Y.K. Almoayyed & Sons GroupChairman: Farouk Yousuf Almoayyed

Country: Bahrain Established in: 1940 Sector: Diversified In 1930, Yousuf Khalil Almoayyed opened his first shop in Manama, Bahrain, selling everyday essentials He founded Y.K. Almoayyed & Sons in 1940. Today, the group has a diversified portfolio across the automotive, heavy equipment, building materials, and electronics sectors, among others. It represents over 300 international brands, including Nissan, Ford, Infiniti, Lincoln, Renault, Toshiba, Glem Gas, and Sony. In June 2022, Continental appointed Y.K. Almoayyed & Sons as the official distributor for Continental tires in Bahrain.

Country: U.A.E. Established in: 1956 Sector: Diversified Founded by Saeed Bin Ahmed Al Lootah, S.S. Lootah Group today employs 10,000 people across construction, real estate, energy, F&B, financial services, applied research, ICT, education, and healthcare, among others. S.S. severaltheinternationalInternationalLootahisthearmofgroupandisbehindmulti-billiondollar projects across Asia, Africa, and Europe, with a focus on construction, industrial, telecommunications, energy, environmental research, and sustainable development.

Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 1905 Sector: Diversified AGH operates across the Middle East and Africa in numerous industries, including FMCG, hospitality, real estate, and packaging materials. The company invests and partners with global brands, including the Aujan Coca-Cola Beverages Company, and it is the authorized manufacturer and distributor of Rani and Barbican. AGH owns the Oberoi Hotel in Dubai and has joint ventures with the Minor Group, Radisson Blu, and the Avani Pemba Beach Hotel in Mozambique. In 2015, the company introduced its commercial and residential development entity Torres Rani in Maputo, Mozambique. As part of its packaging materials division, AGH is in partnership with NYSE-listed company BALL.

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Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 1973 Sector: Diversified Xenel was founded in 1973 by the sons of Sheikh Zainal Alizera, who was behind the House of Alizera, one of the oldest trading houses in the Middle East. Xenel has more than 12 companies and has completed projects in over 40 countries. It operates in energy, petrochemicals, construction, infrastructure development, healthcare, industrial services, IT, logistics, real estate, and global investing. The group founded the first cable company in the Middle East, the first bonded free-trade zone, and the first private downstream petrochemical plant in Saudi Arabia. It also established RSGT, the latest terminal at Jeddah Islamic Port, covering more than half a million square meters.

Chairman: Fahad Al-Obeikan

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48. AlNowais Investments

Founded as Al Habtoor Engineering by chairman Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor, the Al Habtoor Group today operates in the U.A.E. and international markets, including London, Vienna, Budapest, Beirut, and the U.S. It has businesses across the hospitality, automotive, real estate, education, insurance, and publishing sectors. The group’s hospitality division includes 14 hotels worldwide. Its automotive portfolio includes Mitsubishi, Fuso, Bugatti, and McLaren. Khalaf Al Habtoor owns 26% of the Dubai National Insurance and Reinsurance Company, where he is also the chairman. Al Habtoor Investments owns 28.3% of the company, which was valued at $62.8 million as of August 2022.

52. Obeikan Investment Group

Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 1982 Sector: Diversified

The Obeikan Investment Group began with a single commercial print shop. Today, it operates across five sectors: packaging, digital, diversified investments, education and knowledge, and bookstores. The group employs over 3,000 people across 23 companies and 20 factories and offices in 16 countries. In February 2022, the Obeikan Group partnered with the SAUR Group, a global provider of water and sanitation solutions, to develop a digital business for the water and utility market in Saudi Arabia. The Obeikan Glass Company, which is 43.8% owned by the group, recorded a 904% increase in net income for 2021. The company was listed on Saudi Stock Exchange Parallel Market in February 2022.

50. Mohammed Ibrahim Alsubeaei and Sons Investment Company (MASIC)

Chairman: Hussain AlNowais Country: U.A.E. Established in: 1979 Sector: Diversified The AlNowais Investments operates across the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and Africa. It has activities in several sectors, including engineering and construction, oil field services, healthcare, communication systems, chemical industries, real estate, hospitality, investment, and financial sectors. In July 2022, one of its subsidiaries, AMEA Power, signed an agreement with the Ministry of Energy, the Électricité De Djibouti, and the Sovereign Fund of Djibouti for a solar power project in Grand Bara. In April 2022, AMEA Power announced a plan to produce 390,000 tonnes of green ammonia per year in Ain Sokhna, Egypt, for export purposes, with investments valued at $3 billion.

49. Ali & Sons Holding Chairman: Ahmed Bin Ali Al Dhaheri

Country: U.A.E. Established in: 1979 Sector: Diversified Ali & Sons Holding was established by the chairman of the family council, Ali Bin Khalfan Al Dhaheri, as a service provider for the oil and gas industry. Today, the group has nine companies and carries international brands, including Audi, Porsche, and Volkswagen. The company has also established its own brands, Amwaj Jewellery and Eurostar. In April 2022, the company announced that it was partnering with Enerwhere to develop a solar hybrid microgrid plant for MaxRock Spectrum in Fujairah. Ali & Sons Holding owns 32.6% of Hily Holding (Foodco), which was worth $40.7 million as of August 2022.

Chairman: Ibrahim Alsubeaei Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 2010 Sector: Diversified MASIC was established by Mohammed Ibrahim Alsubeaei in 2010 to unify all the family business activities. Today, it engages in asset management, direct investments, and real estate. The company has investments in commercial banks, startups, securities, stock markets, and real estate projects in Saudi Arabia managed through subsidiaries such as Thakher Real Estate Development Company and Alargan Projects. MASIC owns 19.3% of Bank Albilad, which was worth $2.7 billion as of August 2022.

51. Al Habtoor Group Founder and Chairman: Khalaf Al Habtoor Country: U.A.E. Established in: 1970 Sector: Diversified

57. Khalifa Juma Al Nabooda Group

Country: Kuwait Established in: 1954 Sector: Diversified

The YBA Kanoo Group was established over 132 years ago when Haji Yusuf took over the family business. Today, the group has businesses in shipping, logistics, travel, industrial and energy, capital, and real estate. It employs over 2,800 people. The YBA Kanoo Group has over 30 joint ventures, 40 active investments, and whollyowned activities spread across 22 countries in the Gulf, including Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E., Oman, and Qatar, with expanded activities across Africa, Europe, and Asia. As of August 2022, the group owned 50.5% of the Bahrain Ship Repairing and Engineering Company, worth $26.5 million, and 28% of the Hayah Insurance Company, worth $11.4 million.

The Al Sayer family initially established a later,inAlfocus,familyinwas1930s.businessfoodstuffsintheWhenoildiscoveredKuwait,theshifteditsestablishingSayerHolding1954.AyearitbecameToyota’s second representative in the Arab world. Today, the group covers various sectors, including heavy equipment, transportation, industrial equipment, special vehicles and tools, financing, investment, real estate, insurance, and technology. The group owns over 10% of Warba Bank, which was valued at $159.2 million as of August 2022.

Chairman: Mohammad Abunayyan

Chairman: Khalid Mohamed Kanoo Country: Bahrain Established in: 1890 Sector: Diversified

56. Abunayyan Holding

The BoodaiCorp was first established as a trading company that supplied equipment to the oil industry in Kuwait. Today, the group employs 7,000 people and serves over 15 million customers. Its businesses span trading, media, public transport, commercial aviation, aviation services, logistics, engineering, and construction. The group has investments in Alrai Media Group, City Bus, the Atlas Commercial Company, Hilal Cement, and Jazeera Airways. BoodaiCorp also owns 54.4% of Jazeera Airways.

55. Yusuf Bin Ahmed Kanoo Group

Chairman: Faisal Bader Al-Sayer

Country: Kuwait Established in: 1954 Sector: Diversified

Country: U.A.E. Established in: 1963 Sector: Diversified

Having been first founded as a Dubai Printing Press, today the Khalifa Juma Al Nabooda Group operates across automotive, real estate, hospitality and food services, construction, civil and marine engineering, education, printing, equipment trading, facilities management, and consultancy. It employs over 10,000 people and owns stakes in over 35 different companies, including Seven whollyowned subsidiaries: Al Nabooda General Trading, the Al Nabooda General Enterprises Holding Company, Al Nabooda Automobiles, Eastern Gulf Company, Dubai Printing Press, Real Estate Services and Jos Hansen & Soehne (Gulf).

53. AlSayer Group Holding

Chairman: Khalifa Juma Al Nabooda

Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 1950 Sector: Diversified Abdullah R. Abunayyan introduced the first dieselpowered turbine pump to Saudi Arabian farmers in 1950, and Abunayyan Holding was officially founded in 1952. The company today employs 4,500 people and has 14 subsidiaries, including Abunayyan Trading, Saudi Abunayyan Meters, Citiscape, WETICO, and Toray Membrane Middle East LLC. It operates across eight sectors: oil, construction, gas, water, transport, industrial, power, and chemical. In 2020, Abunayyan Holding formed a joint venture with EATON to provide customized integrated power solutions in the Middle East. The family also owns 50% of Vision International Investment Co, which owns 22.7% in ACWA Power, worth $7.8 billion as of August 2022.

54.Chairman:BoodaiCorp

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Jassim Boodai

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58. ELARABY Group

60. Ghassan Aboud Group (GAG)

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Chairman: Ibrahim Elaraby Country: Egypt Established in: 1964 Sector: Manufacturing

59. Gulf Marketing Group (GMG)Chairman: Abdulaziz Hassan Ali Baker Country: U.A.E. Established in: 1977 Sector: Diversified GMG began in 1977 when Abdul Aziz Baker opened a small butcher shop in Dubai. The company has since grown into a global well-being company, which employs over 8,000 people. It partners with more than 120 global brands and operates under five divisions. It has 450 sports stores worldwide. Its food division has six product lines. The health division focuses on nutrition, pharmacare, vitamins, and supplements. The consumer goods division distributes international and local brands, including Geant and Franprix. GMG Ventures has four brands: Trilogi, Emirates British Nursery, Jumeirah Centre, and Sun Coast.

The ELARABY Group is associated with large international companies, including Toshiba, Sharp, Hitachi, La Germania, Seiko, Alba, and Sony. The group has 16 commercial, industrial, medical, and service companies, with 26 industrial facilities, two hospitals, and a workforce of over 40,000 people. Its portfolio includes 14 global brands and 25 product categories that are exported to over 60 countries. Its regional network comprises over 3,000 sales partners, 20 stores, and over 600 after-sales service centers.

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Chairman: Ghassan Aboud Country: U.A.E. Established in: 1994 Sector: Diversified GAG was founded as an automotive trader by Ghassan Aboud. Today, it has 16 companies across automotive, retail, FMCG, media, hospitality, logistics, healthcare, facilities management, catering, and digital marketplaces. It employs over 1,000 people and has offices in Australia, Belgium, Turkey, and Jordan. In February 2022, the group announced a partnership with AD Ports Group to establish a 3.5 sqkm wholesale food market in KIZAD, in collaboration with Rungis, to boost local farming and promote national food security. In March 2022, GAG announced it was establishing a 3.3 sqkm regional auto hub in KIZAD. In July 2021, the group acquired Vincent Hotel in Australia for $70 million.

61. Saudi Bugshan Group (SBC) Chairman: Khaled Bugshan Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 2000 Sector: Diversified SBC manages and owns 17 subsidiaries, including the Arabian Farms Development Company, S&A, Advanced Development Real Estate Investments Co. Ltd. (Tanmyah), Al-Talayi, Advanced Generations International Schools, and Al Athar Trading. SBC has $2 billion in assets. S&A is the exclusive operator of HaagenDazs retail stores in Saudi Arabia. The group’s real estate entity Tanmyah has developed 12 projects across Saudi Arabia, such as Danube Commercial Center, Ajyad Hotel, Obhur Resort, and AGS School Campus.

62. MB Holding Company

President and CEO: Patrick Chalhoub

Chairman: Mohammed Al Barwani

63. AlOthman Holding

Management,Tours,Commerce,Foundation,Contracting,Industries,TigerGeneralTigerincludeTigerofcoveringconsistingwithfocusandcommerce,industrialproperties,includecontracting,production,travel,hotels,education.Itsmainisonrealestate,over200projectsof23,000unitsabuilt-uparea79millionsquarefeet.GroupcompaniesTigerContracting,InternationalContracting,Properties,TigerAlDurahAlDurahAlWaleedDubaiLinkDanaHotelandSamaya

Chairman: Mohammed Abdullah Al-Othman

66. Saeed & Mohammed Al Naboodah Holding

Country: U.A.E. Established in: 1955 Sector: Retail The Chalhoub Group was first established by Michel and Widad Chalhoub as a Christofle boutique in Syria. Today, it’s a partner, curator, and creator of luxury products and services in the Middle East. It has six of its own brands, including Faces, Level Shoes, and Tryano, and over 300 global brands. The group has over 680 stores and employs 14,000 people across seven countries. In April 2022, Christofle, a French company owned by the group, entered the metaverse with its first NFT collection, “925 Genesis MOOD.” The group has been a member of the UN’s Global Compact Community since 2014.

64. Tiger Group Chairman: Waleed Mohammad AlZoubi Country: U.A.E. Established in: 1976 Sector: Diversified Tiger Group’s main activities

Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 1967 Sector: Diversified AlOthman Holding was founded as a trading and contracting company in 1967 by current chairman Mohammed Abdullah Al-Othman. Since then, it has grown into a diversified entity, with 18 subsidiaries that operate in agriculture, industry, oil and gas, manufacturing, real estate development, education, business technology solutions, engineering, and trading. Its Takween subsidiary is a publicly-listed company specializing in producing plastic packaging and non-woven fabric materials with two factories in Saudi Arabia. Takween had $450 million worth of assets and recorded $223 million in revenues in 2021.

65. Chalhoub Group Group

Hotels & Resorts. In March 2022, Tiger group launched its new project, the Cloud Tower, in Dubai, with investments valued at $109 million. In April 2022, The group donated $1.6 million to support the #1BillionMeals initiative.

Chairman: Abdullah Mohammed Juma Al Naboodah Country: U.A.E. Established in: 1958 Sector: Diversified Saeed & Mohammed Al Naboodah Holding was founded by brothers Saeed and Mohammed in 1958 as a small shop trading in agricultural machinery. Today, Al Naboodah Group Enterprises oversees two main divisions: the Al Naboodah Construction Group and the Al Naboodah Commercial Group. Both hold 15 companies and employ 10,000 people. The Al Naboodah Construction Group’s projects include the Al Maktoum Airport Terminal 3 concourse, Jumeirah Golf Estates, Dubai Creek Harbour Development, and Dubai’s Museum of the Future. The Al Naboodah Commercial Group partners with different municipalities in the U.A.E. to protect agriculture resources. In 2019, the Al Naboodah Group launched a smart cities division.

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Country: Oman Established in: 1982 Sector: Oil & Gas Established in 1982, MB Holding is a multinational group of companies with operations and subsidiaries in more than 20 countries in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Asia, Asia-Pacific, Australia, and New Zealand. The main activities of its subsidiary companies include drilling, oilfield services, the exploration and production of oil and gas, oilfield and marine engineering, mining, manufacturing and trading, and investments. The group employs more than 5,000 people.

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Country: Kuwait Established in: 1957 Sector: Diversified Bukhamseen Holding was established as the Jawad Bukhamseen Commercial Corporation, focusing on trade, real estate, and construction. It later expanded into finance and banking, hospitality, travel and tourism, industrial production, media and communication, and civil engineering. In the media sector, the group is the controlling shareholder of Kuwait Cable Vision and owns the Al Barakah Media Group. In the banking sector, the company co-founded the Kuwait International Bank and holds 35.87% of its shares, which were worth $294.7 million as of August 2022. It also holds 48.24% of Al-Arabiya Real Estate Co. and 61.12% of Warba Insurance Company, as well as shares in Egyptian Gulf Bank and Qatar First Bank.

Sumou Society, an investment firm, to enhance its CSR initiatives. In the logistics sector, it owns Makhzny, a self-storage concept.

67. Al-Nahdi Family Office

Chairman: Abdullah Amer Al-Nahdi

Chairperson of ITICS; Chairperson of ACERE: Lujaina Mohsin Darwish and Areej Mohsin Darwish Country: Oman Established in: 1987 Sector: Diversified MHD consists of two large clusters: MHD Automotive, Construction Equipment & Renewable Energy (ACERE), headed by Areej Mohsin Darwish, and MHD Infrastructure, Technology, Industrial & Consumer Solutions (ITICS), headed by Lujaina Mohsin Darwish. The group employs 1,000 people. MHD has partnerships with numerous global brands in automotive, commercial vehicles, computers, telecom, electronics, engineering products, and building materials, among others.

Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 2008 Sector: Diversified Sumou

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69. Sumou Holding Company Chairman: Ayedh Al-Qahtani

Founder and Chairman: Jawad Ahmed Bukhamseen

Sumouof$332.5wasRealofownsholdingfundandservicesaninIthealthcarerenewables,energy,construction,theoperatesHoldinginrealestate,mining,andsectors.isastakeholderMusharaka,investmentproviderinvestmentmanager.Thecompanyaround63%thelistedSumouEstate,whichvaluedatmillionasAugust2022.Holdingestablished

Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 2019 Sector: Investments First founded by Abdullah Al-Nahdi as a small pharmacy, the Al-Nahdi Family Office has since evolved to span logistics, transportation, education, catering, clean energy, and artificial intelligence. The company has multiple partnerships, including with the Centre for Strategic Philanthropy, the KPI Institute, EY, SEDCO Holding, and Credit Suisse. It owns 35% of the Al-Nahdi Medical Company, which was valued at $2.1 billion as of August 2022.

70. Mohsin Haider Darwish

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68. Bukhamseen Holding

Thebanking,engineering,spanIts5,000andhastheandJordan,PaintestablishingexpandedininassembleCompanytheSayeghIbrahimestablishedAlTakadomtobusbodiesJaffa,Palestine,1932.ThegroupbyNationalFactoriesintheU.A.E.,Qatar.Today,SayeghGroup35subsidiariesemployspeople.investmentschemical,andmedia.groupholdsshares

74. Almana Group Chairman: Omar Hamad Almana Country: Qatar Established in: 1960 Sector: Diversified

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in the Jordan Commercial Bank, Roya TV, and Canning Industries Co.

73. Sayegh Group

The Almajdouie Group was first established by Shaikh Ali Ibrahim Almajdouie as a land transport company. Today the group has businesses across logistics, automotive, manufacturing, food, steel, real estate, and training and education. It employs over 5,000 people and operates in North America, Europe, the Far East, the Middle East, and Africa. The group’s logistics arm has a fleet of over 1,800 trucks and 2,200 trailers. In February 2022, the Almajdouie Industrial Company partnered with the Albassami International Group to produce 250 trailers. In the same month, the Arjaa for Travel and Tourist Company partnered with Kuwait’s Jazeera Airways to become the exclusive agent in Saudi Arabia.

SOURCEFROMIMAGES

Country: Jordan Established in: 1932 Sector: Diversified Fa’eq

Chairman, Vice-Chairman: Kamal Allam, Essam Allam Country: Egypt Established in: 1936 Sector: Diversified Hassan Allam Holding started as a limited partnership company for general contracting. Today it has operations across Engineering, Construction, Infrastructure, Investment, and Development. It employs 45,000 people and delivered over 70 projects during the last five years. The company has an $8 billion current backlog. In June 2022, Hassan Allam Holding signed an agreement with ACWA Power to develop a 1.1GW wind project in Egypt. In April 2022, Hassan Allam Utilities partnered with Masdar to develop green hydrogen plants with 4GW capacity in Egypt by 2030.

The Almana Group started as a trading house in 1960 and has since grown to become a diversified company operating across automotive, industrials, contracting, real estate, project division, F&B, financial, security and IT, and travel. It employs 10,000 people and has over 30 subsidiaries, among them United Cars Almana, Almana Exchange, the Qatar Securities Company, Almana Real Estate, and the Almana Trading Company. It has partnerships with more than 100 global brands. Almana Maples delivered all the furniture, fixtures, and equipment for the National Museum of Qatar in 2019.

75. Almajdouie Group Group Chairman: Ali Bin Ibrahim Almajdouie Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 1965 Sector: Diversified

Chairman: Michael Sayegh

71. Hassan Allam Holding

72. AlKhorayef Group Chairman and CEO: Saad Alkhorayef Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 1957 Sector: Diversified The AlKhorayef Group’s operations span over 40 countries. It employs 5,000 people across four business units: oil and contractingmachinerylubricants,systems,services, and printing and paper. The group manufactures and supplies pumps, pipes, and power generation machinery globally, covering the agriculture, water, power and oil, and marine industries. It has a lubricants production plant in Yanbu, manufacturing Castrol Lubricants. It also distributes global brands, including Volvo, John Deere, Castrol, Linde, Manroland, and Yamaha. The group owns 56% of Alkhorayef Water and Power Technologies Co., which is listed on the Saudi Exchange and was valued at $453 million as of August 2022.

Founded by David Mouawad over 132 years ago, today Mouawad operates in Lebanon, Qatar, the U.A.E, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia, as well as internationally in Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia. Mouawad is vertically integrated and manufactures jewelry from rough diamonds. The 54.21-carat Mouawad Dragon is the largest round vivid yellow diamond in the world. The company has had multiple global partnerships, including with the Miss Universe Organization and Victoria’s Secret. Billionaire Robert Mouawad had a net worth of $1.5 billion as of August 2022.

79. Al Qahtani Holding

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76.

Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 1971 Sector: Diversified

Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 1948 Sector: Diversified Established by the late Sheikh Abdulhadi Abdullah Al Qahtani, Al Qahtani Holding today spans oil and gas, mining, beverage production, bottling and canning, manufacturing, and real estate. It has nine companies and employs 2,000 people. Its portfolio of brands includes joint-ventures with the Jordan Ice & Aerated Water Company (PepsiCo Jordan), CemServ, Central Mining Holding, REFAD Real Estate, and Al Qahtani Beverages, which produces and distributes international brands including Pepsi, 7UP, and Mountain Dew in southern Saudi Arabia.

Chairman: Abdulrahman Al Abdullah Al Faisal

The Al Faisaliah Group operates across the dairy, electronics, healthcare, and food service sectors. It has partnerships with local and global firms, including Sony, Danone, Philips, and Accenture. The group partnered with SALIC and other investors to establish a large-scale agricultural business in Sudan. Its joint venture subsidiary Al Safi Danone supplies fresh dairy products to more than 32,000 retailers in 12 countries across the Middle East, with 50,000 cows producing more than a million liters of fresh milk every day. Al Faisaliah Medical Systems has been the exclusive distributor of Philips Health Care products since 2013. The Modern Electronics Company operates 20 electronics retail stores across Saudi Arabia under the Sony World brand.

The Abdulla Yousif Fakhro Group was founded by the late Yousif bin Abdulrahman Fakhro as a traditional merchant house. Today, it operates across industrialautomotive,products, telecommunications,electronics,insurance, contracting, shipping and logistics. It has branches in Bahrain, Iraq, the U.A.E., and India, with investments spread across Bahrain, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Qatar. The group has partnerships with global brands, including Budget Rent-ACar, BYD Auto, Mobil, Dunlop, Omia, Cisco, OKI, Avaya, McDonald’s, MK, Honeywell, GAC, and Alico. Chairman Esam Abdulla Fakhro also chairs the Bahrain Cinema Company and Bahrain Islamic Bank and is deputy chairman of the National Bank of Bahrain.

78. Naif Alrajhi Investment Chairman and CEO: Naif Saleh Alrajhi

Naif Alrajhi Investment has branch offices in Dubai and London. It has made 400 investments through 40 companies across 13 different industries and six countries. It has operations across real estate, architecture and engineering, facility management, hospitality, and entertainment, among other sectors. The company has two real estate funds, including The Investor for Securities, which has a fund size of $26.7 million. In January 2022, Naif Alrajhi Investment acquired shares of Beez Logistics to expand its logistics operations in Saudi Arabia, with more than 100 delivery points and a fleet of over 1,000 vehicles.

Robert Mouawad

Country: Bahrain Established in: 1888 Sector: Diversified

77. Al Faisaliah Group (AFG)

Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 2012 Sector: Diversified

Chairman:Mouawad

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Country: Lebanon Established in: 1890 Sector: Jewelry

80. Abdulla Yousif FakhroChairman:Group Esam Fakhro

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Chairman: Abdulaziz Al-Qahtani

Country: U.A.E. Established in: 1964 Sector: Diversified DBA and Sons has operations in infrastructure, material handling, oil, quarry and mining, air conditioning, and transportation. It has a network of distribution channel partners in 35 countries, and has offices in Moscow, Kiev, Almaty, Tashkent, and Bangalore. The group employs 7,000 people across the Middle East, Europe, Africa, India, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, and the CIS states. It has five subsidiaries: Saif Bin Darwish, United Motors & Heavy Equipment, AHI Carrier, Diamond Steel Industries, and DBA CyberTech.

Country: Bahrain Established in: 1977 Sector: Diversified

Chairman: Abdullah Omar K. Alesayi

84. Al Zayani Investments

Country: U.A.E. Established in: 1971 Sector: Diversified

82. Oasis

Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 1945 Sector: Diversified

83. Omar Kassem Alesayi Group (OKAG)

GroupCompanyInvestment(AlShirawi)Chairman:

Mohamed Al Shirawi

81. Darwish Bin Ahmed and Sons Group

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Chairman: Nawaf Khalid Al Zayani

The Omar Kassem Alesayi Group was initially founded as a textile business. Today the group has 23 F&B.inandAccor-operateddevelopmentprojectspeople.employsandandtrading,consumerassetrealandsectors:spanningcompaniesfiveengineeringtechnology,estateanddevelopment,andelectronics,investmentpartnership.Itover1,000Thegroup’sincludetheof14hotelsover186projectsfashion,fitness,and

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Managing Director: Abdullah Bin Darwish AlKetbi

The Al Zayani Investments Group was founded by Hamid Rashid Al Zayani. Today, its companies operating across industrial, automobile, real estate, F&B, and venture capital. The group’s joint venture with Closures Systems International, Gulf Closures, is one of the major suppliers of Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola bottle caps in the Middle East and the Indian Subcontinent, with an installed capacity to manufacture two billion caps per year. In Q2 2022, Al Zayani Investments announced the opening of Aloula Motors, the exclusive dealership for Geely in Bahrain. It also announced that it would be exclusively distributing the high-end Chinese automotive brand Hongqi in Bahrain.

The Al Shirawi Group was co-founded by Abdulla Al Shirawi and Mohan Valrani as a trading house. Today, the group spans over 17 sectors, including construction, oil and gas, manufacturing, healthcare, education, trading, energy, renewables, water solutions, transport, logistics, HVAC, electronics, and heavy equipment. It has operations in more than 35 companies with offices across the GCC, Egypt, and the U.S. It employs more than 10,000 people. In April 2022, Al Shirawi Enterprises announced a new brand partnership with BOGE Compressed Air Systems. In July 2022, it announced a partnership with French aircraft manufacturer Titan Aviation to develop electric vehicles and refueling.

Chairman: Obaid Humaid Al Tayer

85. Al Tayer Group

Country: U.A.E. Established in: 1979 Sector: Diversified

The Al Tayer Group represents global brands across automotive, retail, hospitality, real estate, contracting, and travel. Its automotive business represents Ferrari, Maserati, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lincoln, Ford, and Foton in the U.A.E. The retail division consists of nearly 200 outlets operating in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Oman. The group employs more than 8,000 people. The group’s hospitality brands include Caffé Nero, Armani Caffé, and Magnolia Bakery. In 2020, the group launched Bloomingdale’s online in the U.A.E., Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. In 2016, the group also launched Ounass, its first e-commerce site, offering over 600 brands.

The Tamer Group was first established as a pharmacy in Saudi Arabia. It has since expanded its portfolio to include Tamer Investments, Tamer Logistics, Tamer Industries, Tamer Innovate, AMPC Ltd, and joint venture SAJA. The group’s investments in healthcare include Arabio, Sukoon, United Gulf Health, Sanofi Arabia, IEC, and Roche Diagnostics Saudi Arabia. The group employs more than 4,000 people. In June 2021, the group acquired a majority stake in Mumzworld.

Country: U.A.E. Established in: 1978 Sector: Diversified

88. MAG Group Chairman: Moafaq Ahmed Al Gaddah

86. Tamer Group Chairman: Ayman Tamer Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 1922 Sector: Diversified

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89. Rawabi Holding Group Group Chairman: Abdulaziz AlTurki

Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 1980 Sector: Diversified Rawabi Holding operates across oil and gas, petrochemicals, engineering and construction, power, telecom and IT, industrial services, logistics, and consumer products. Magnom Properties is the real estate arm of Rawabi Holding, overseeing the construction of commercial, residential, and lifestyle projects in MENA.

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87. Al Jammaz Group Chairman: Ibrahim Abdulaziz AlJammaz Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 1975 Sector: Food and Beverage

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The Al Jammaz Group was established in Riyadh and operates in the agriculture and food sectors. The group comprises over 17 businesses operating over more than 650 branches and outlets across the Middle East. It employs over 4,000 people. The group owns 57.1% of Alamar Foods, which was valued at $462 million as of August 2022. Alamar owns the Domino’s master franchise in 16 countries across MENA and Pakistan, and the Dunkin’ franchise in Egypt and Morocco. Alamar Foods was listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange on the August 9, 2022. The Al Jammaz Group also owns the Olaya Dates Factory, which processes dates from Al Jammaz Farms. It distributes irrigation systems, fertilizers seeds, and other agriculturerelated products.

Founded in 1978, MAG Group’s main business divisions include real estate, contracting and engineering, industrial and commercial trading, freight services, and hospitality. The group employs over 2,000 people across more than 50 companies and branches throughout MENA. MAG Lifestyle Development is the real estate arm of the group, with projects worth a total of more than an estimated $1 billion, including MAG 214 in Jumeirah Lakes Towers Dubai, MAG 218 in Dubai Marina, Emirates Financial Towers in DIFC, and the MAG Complex serving industrial warehouses in Sharjah.

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Chairman: Ali Saeed Juma Albwardy Country: U.A.E. Established in: 1976 Sector: Diversified Albwardy Investment was founded by Ali Saeed Juma Albwardy. Today, it operates in over 20 countries across the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and South America, with a portfolio of more than 30 companies. The group employs more than 10,000 people. The group operates in retail, hospitality, and industrial, representing brands such as Spinneys, Waitrose, Four Seasons, Nestle, Meliá Hotels and Resorts, and Henkel. In 2020, ASB Hospitality Zimbabwe, a subsidiary of Albwardy Investment, acquired the 312-bed five-star Meikles Hotel in a $20 million deal.

93. Jaidah Group Chairman: Jassim Jaidah Country: Qatar Established in: 1898 Sector: Diversified

90. The Orientals Group

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takaful insurance offerings. The group founded the Abdelkader Bensalah Foundation in 2000.

Chairman: Hany Mahmoud Country: Egypt Established in: 1895 Sector: Diversified MM Group was founded in 1895. It has 15 companies including MTI, which is a distribution company with access to over 40,000 points of sale across Egypt and businesses in consumer electronics, telecommunication, automotive, seamless pipes, and tractors. MTI is listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange and had a market value of $148.2 million as of August 2022. In 2021, the company recorded sales of $484 million, profits of $20 million, and assets worth $198 million. In the consumer electronics sector, it has partnerships with Samsung, Huawei, and Bosch. It has partnered with Vodafone since 1998, with its service covering 90% of Egypt.

Chairman and CEO: Mohamed Hassan Bensalah Country: Morocco Established in: 1978 Sector: Diversified Holmarcom Group was founded by Abdelkader Bensalah. Its businesses cover finance, real estate, agro-industry, logistics, and distribution. The group has two companies listed on the Casablanca Stock Exchange: Les Eaux Minérales d’Oulmès and Atlanta

94. Albwardy Investment

Chairpersons: Yasmine and Farida Khamis

The Jaidah Group was established in 1898 in Qatar as a trading company importing from Iran and India. Today, the group’s portfolio includes businesses in real estate, energy, heavy equipment, automotive, electrical, and industrial supplies. In 2022, Jaidah Project Division’s Switchgear Factory began assembling smart panels in Qatar in collaboration with Schneider Electric. In the same year, Jaidah Prime Security services completed the supply, test, and commissioning of IP CCTV systems and public address systems at the Al Rayyan Stadium. Jaidah Automotive was founded over 50 years ago and today trades in the Chevrolet, Hyundai, and Genesis brands.

specializing“Takafulia2022,itsmoreBenin.BurkinaintheHeadquarteredAssurance.inCasablanca,grouphasapresenceSenegal,theIvoryCoast,Faso,Kenya,andThegroupemploysthan4,000peopleacross20companies.InFebruarythegrouplaunchedAssurances,”inShariah-compliant

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91. Mohamed Mahmoud Sons Group (MM Group)

Country: Egypt Established in: 1979 Sector: Diversified The Orientals Group was first founded as a single loom operation by Mohamed Farid Khamis. Today, the group has over 240 looms, 259 stores in Egypt, and three distribution offices in the U.S., the U.K., and the U.A.E. The group’s portfolio includes textile, petrochemicals, education, real estate, and agriculture businesses. Oriental Weavers Carpet employs over 17,000 people and produces more than four million copyrighted designs. It exports to 130 markets across MENA, Europe, and Asia. In June 2022, Yasmine Khamis became a founding member of the Africa Business Leaders Coalition, an initiative by UN Global Compact to advance sustainable growth, prosperity, and development in Africa.

92. Holmarcom Group

Founder and Owner : Hany & Khaled El Assal Country: Egypt Established in: 1981 Sector: Real Estate and Construction Misr subsidiary,Itsdecorationfurniture,management,tourism,inHoldingItaliaoperatestherealestate,facilityandsectors.realestateMisrItalia

Chairman and Managing Director: Hussain Jawad Country: Oman Established in: 1866 Sector: Diversified WJ Towell was first founded by William Jack Towell in Oman to sell U.S.-produced Kerosene and shipping materials. In 1914, Mohamed Fadhil acquired the full rights of the company. With a portfolio of 29 companies and international operations in the U.A.E., Kuwait, and India, the group works in several sectors, including engineering, construction, property, services and trade, consumer products, and automotive. The company has a number of joint ventures with global brands, including Nestle and Unilever.

Country: Jordan Established in: 1933 Sector: Diversified

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group employs more than 4,000 people. The retail division includes global brands Cole Haan, Breitling, Godiva, and Elie Saab, among others. In May 2022, Blue Salon participated in the Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition.

Founded by Mohammad Rafie Hussain Marafie, the Marafie Group today operates in various sectors, including hospitality and real estate, manufacturing, audio-visual systems, power systems, and data centers. It has 30 subsidiaries and over 300 brands. It employs over 1,500 people. The group’s subsidiaries include First Hotels, Radisson Blue Hotel Kuwait, the Oasis Hotel, Kuwait Capital Real Estate, the First Holding Company, the Wara Construction Company, and the Al-Ryadh Group. The Marafie Group organized a voluntary campaign in February 2022 to remove waste dumped along the shore, “Revitalizing the Ushairij Beach,” in collaboration with Kuwait Municipality and the Environment Public Authority.

The Mounir Sukhtian Group was initially established by pharmacist Munir Sukhtian as a neighborhood pharmacy in Tulkarm, Palestine in 1933. In the 1950s, the company grew to include fast-moving consumer goods, chemical, agriculture, and veterinary sectors. Today, it is a manufacturing and distribution company.

96. Abu Issa Holding

Chairman and Chief Executive: Nidal Sukhtian

100. Al Muftah Group

Country: Kuwait Established in: 1919 Sector: Diversified

Country: Qatar Established in: 1963 Sector: Diversified

Properties, has 25 completed and in-progress projects. These projects have a total land bank of 7.1 million m2 across New Cairo, the New Administrative Capital, Sixth of October City, Ain Sokhna, Ras Sudr, North Coast, El Shorouk, and 10th of Ramadan City.

Chairman: Abdullah Mohamed Rafie Marafie

The Al Muftah Group was a tire dealer in the 1960s. Today, the group has businesses in 14 sectors, including engineering and construction, automotive and transport, real estate, wellness and fitness, education, and home appliances. The group established the Al Muftah Centre department store in 1987 and Al Muftah Jewellery in 1984, which sells watches from global brands such as Movado, Nina Ricci, Scalia, Montana, Roamer, Richard Junot, and Champs Elysée’s.

Chairman and CEO: Ashraf Abu Issa Country: Qatar Established in: 1981 Sector: Diversified Abu Issa Holding started as a luxury department store “Blue Salon” in 1981. Today, it houses over 70 businesses across 11 sectors, including retail, andbranches,nineconglomerateamongandbroadcasting,hospitality,ecommerce,realestate,contracting,engineeringservices,others.Theoperatesincountriesthrough4712warehouses,200retailstores.The

99. Misr Italia Holding

Chairman: Abdulrehman Muftah Almuftah

The group’s brands include HiGeen, Barrad, Hairmate, and Calcitra. It has a presence across MENA, parts of Asia, and South America.

95. WJ Towell & Co.

98. Marafie Group

97. Munir Sukhtian Group

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SEPTEMBER 2022FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM EL GOUNA SUMMIT 24-26 NOVEMBER 2022 For general enquiries, contact sarah.g@forbesmiddleeast.com For sponsorships advertising@forbesmiddleeast.com Hosted By The first-ever Forbes Middle East Under 30 Summit will convene in Egypt to celebrate the accomplishments of an exquisite list of future leaders, entrepreneurs and innovators whilst exploring what the future has in store as we enter a brand-new era. Platinum Partner

Syria’s Damascus Stock Exchange Weighted Index (DWX) appreciated 116.4% in 2021, making it the region’s best-performing index, according to the Arab Federation of Capital Markets.

Asset management companies often act as the intermediaries between the public and the financial markets. They use their expertise and experience to invest in the markets to maximize returns while minimizing risks for their clients in a fiduciary capacity. Their clients are typically members of the public or high-net-worth individuals that invest in the stock markets through equity mutual funds, debt funds, exchange-traded funds, and private equity funds.

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THE MIDDLE EAST’S COMPANIESMANAGEMENTASSET30TOP

TOP 30

The Middle East’s Top 30 Asset Management Companies had a total of $316 billion in assets under management in 2021, compared to $265 billion in 2020. Of the 30, 15 are subsidiaries of commercial banks.

To nominate yourself or someone else for our lists, email: info@forbesmiddleeast.com

We collected information on the Middle East’s asset management companies from questionnaires, publicly disclosed data from websites and financial statements, and capital market authorities. We only considered companies that are based in the Middle East. We excluded sovereign wealth funds, venture capital funds, family-owned investment companies, and regional offices of international companies. We ranked companies based on: The value of their total assets under management as of December 2021. We considered all fiduciary assets that the company invested on behalf of its clients— including equity and debt mutual funds, discretionary portfolios, real estate funds, and private equity—as assets under management.

Last year was a great year for asset management companies in the Middle East, thanks to the performance of the region’s stock exchanges, which have created over $1 trillion in wealth since the beginning of 2021. The total market cap of the Middle East’s stock exchanges stood at $4.5 trillion as of July 31, 2022, compared to $3.2 trillion in December 2020. Among the largest indices, the ADI (Abu Dhabi Exchange) and the Saudi TASI gave the most returns, appreciating 68.2% and 29.8% in 2021, respectively.

Methodology

The Saudi Stock Exchange, Tadawul, is currently the most developed exchange in the Middle East, making up nearly 70% of the region’s market capitalization. This is reflected in our list of the Middle East’s Top 30 Asset Management Companies 2022, with 16 of them from Saudi Arabia, five from the U.A.E., and three each from Bahrain and Kuwait.

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Country: Bahrain Established in: 1982 AUM: $40.4 billion

THE MIDDLE EAST’S

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Rishi Kapoor; Hazem Ben-Gacem

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2 Co-CEOs:Investcorp

TOP 30 ASSET COMPANIESMANAGEMENT2022

CEO: Rashed Sharif Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 2007 AUM: $72.6 billion SNB Capital was founded in 2007 as NCB Capital, the investment banking and asset management arm of the National Commercial Bank. It became SNB capital in 2021 when Samba Capital and Investment Management merged with NCB capital. Its products and services include a full range of asset management offerings, advisory services, and wealth, fund, and portfolio management. The company recorded $81.8 billion in assets under management by the end of Q1 2022. In June 2022, SNB Capital partnered with stc to manage its recently launched employee savings plan. CEO Rashed Sharif was the head of local holding investments at Saudi’s Public Investment Fund from 2017 to 2020.

Investcorp was founded by Nemir Kirdar to connect clients in the gulf region with global investment opportunities. It has previously invested in businesses, including Gucci, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Circle K, among others. As of June 2022, Investcorp had $42.7 billion in assets under management that are diversified across three continents, six asset classes, and numerous product lines. In November 2021, Investcorp launched a Saudi-based pre-IPO growth vehicle with an aim to raise $500 million. In 2021, Investcorp’s New Yorkbased real estate team participated in deals worth nearly $4 billion. In December 2021, Investcorp Europe Acquisition Corp I, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) sponsored by Investcorp, completed its IPO.

SNB Capital

5 Al Rajhi Capital CEO: Waleed H. AlRashed AlHumaid

AUM: $20.4 billion

Alinma Investment CEO and Managing Director: Mazin Fawaz Baghdadi

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Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 2009

6 Kamco Invest CEO: Faisal Mansour Sarkhou Country: Kuwait Established in: 1998 AUM: $14.6 billion Established in 1998 and listed on Boursa Kuwait in 2003, Kamco Invest operates as an independently managed subsidiary of the KIPCO Group. The company had $14.6 billion in assets under management by the end of 2021, up by 12.8% compared to 2020. It has operations in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E., Jordan, and Turkey. In 2021, the investment banking division closed 22 transactions worth $4.8 billion. It also launched its iktatib.com subscription-based website. In May 2022, Kamco Invest acted as the exclusive sell-side advisor and the sole financial advisor on the sale of a majority stake in GlobalCorp for Financial Services. It was also the partial purchase offer manager for the Qurain Petrochemical Industries Company when it purchased a 9% stake in the Advanced Technology Company.

Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 2008

CEO: Sabty Sulaiman Al-Sabty Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 2008 AUM: $24.3 billion Riyad Capital is the investment arm of Riyad Bank. It recorded assets under management of $24.3 billion in 2021. In June 2022, it launched two closed-end REITs with the Arabian Centers Company, with a value of $1.7 billion, for the purpose of developing two projects—Jawharat Al-Riyadh and Jawharat Jeddah—which are considered among the largest projects in Saudi Arabia. Riyad Capital also has a dedicated venture capital fund, the Riyad TAQNIA Fund, which has invested in companies including Foodics, Beehive and Trukker.

Alinma Investment is the investment arm of Alinma Bank, providing asset and wealth management and investment management services. The company recorded $20.4 billion in assets under management in 2021. The firm offers multiple services, including ETFs, corporate finance, asset management, wealth management, and brokerage, among other services. In April 2022, the Alinma Investment and the Rawasi Real Estate Company signed an agreement to develop the Ajdal Jeddah Real Estate Project, which is built on an area of more than a million square meters, with investments amounting to $121.3 million.

Founded in 2008, Al Rajhi Capital provides financial products and services across brokerage, asset management, and investment banking. Al Rajhi Capital is the investment banking arm of Al Rajhi Bank. The company had $16.1 billion in assets under management by the end of 2021, an increase of 16% compared to 2020. In 2021, it was appointed as a bookrunner in Saudi Aramco’s $6 billion sukuk issuance. It also acted as a joint-lead manager in the National Debt Management Center’s local sukuk exchange, and as a passive joint-lead manager in the $2 billion sukuk issuance for Saudi Arabia. In 2021, Al Rajhi Capital implemented a fund distribution program enabling its clients to open new accounts and subscribe to all its mutual funds through Alrajhi Bank’s online channels.

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The company also runs the Alinma Orphan Care Endowment Fund.

3 Riyad Capital

AUM: $16.1 billion

Ghazi Faisal Alhajeri

Country: Morocco Established in: 1995 AUM: $13.4 billion

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CEO: Reda Hilali

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Country: U.A.E. Established in: 1979 AUM: $13.1 billion

Wafra International Investment Company was established in Kuwait in 1994, primarily to invest the money of the Public Institution for Social Security. The company recorded $10 billion in assets under management in 2021. Its wealth management division offers financial planning services, consultations, and investment products. Wafra International Investment has five funds under its management: the Wafra Bond Fund, the Wafra Fund, the Masaref Fund, the Al Fajer Fund, and the Wafra GCC Islamic Fund. In March 2022, Boubyan Bank mandated Wafra as a joint global coordinator for its $500 million senior unsecured Wakala/Murabaha sukuk issuance.

10 Wafra CEO:InvestmentInternationalCompany

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Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 2006 AUM: $13.6 billion

Jadwa offers investment services for individuals and corporates across asset management, financial advisory, mergers and acquisitions, and research brokerage divisions. It recorded $14.5 billion in assets under management as of Q1 2022. In June 2022, the Jadwa E-Commerce Opportunities Fund acquired a 70% equity stake in Dabdoob Holdings, one of the largest toy e-commerce apps in the GCC. Jadwa has also launched two closed-end Shariah-compliant real estate development funds: the $266.7 million Al Dar Investment Fund 2 in partnership with the Dar Al Majed Real Estate Company and the Arab National Bank, and the $83.2 million Liwan Investment Fund in partnership with the Liwan Real Estate Company and Riyad Bank.

Wafa Gestion is 66% owned by Attijariwafa Bank and 34% by French asset management company Amundi. The firm’s total assets under management amounted to $13.4 billion in 2021, covering 94 funds and mandates in total. The firm operates through four distribution networks and is considered to be the largest investment manager in Morocco, with 25% market share since 2016.

SHUAA Capital Group CEO and Head of Investment Banking: Fawad Tariq Khan

7 Jadwa Investment CEO and Managing Director: Tariq Al-Sudairy

Wafa Gestion

SHUAA Capital was initially established as the Arabian InvestmentGeneralCorporation but changed its name in 2001. In 2016, the Abu Dhabi Financial Group acquired around 48.4% of SHUAA Capital, making it a majority shareholder. SHUAA has operations in eight countries and employs more than 350 people. It recorded $13.1 billion in assets under management in 2021. In March 2022, the company acquired a majority stake in U.A.E.-based Fintech, Souqalmal. Fawad Tariq Khan became Group CEO in June 2022, replacing Jassim Alseddiqi, who has become managing director. In February 2022, SHUAA Capital filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to set up a SPAC that was listed on Nasdaq in March.

Country: Kuwait Established in: 1994 AUM: $10 billion

AUM: $7.1 billion NBK Capital operates in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E., Bahrain, Turkey, and Egypt with more than 159 employees. The National Bank of Kuwait is the main shareholder in the firm. The company had $7.1 billion in assets under management in 2021. NBK Capital Partners is the Alternative Investments unit of NBK Capital, which has a presence in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Turkey, and is headquartered in DIFC, Dubai.

12 NBK Capital CEO: Nabil Maroof Country: Kuwait Established in: 2005

Alistithmar Capital CEO:(ICAP)

Khaled Alrayes Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 2007 AUM: $7.9 billion Alistithmar Capital is an investment bank wholly owned by the Saudi Investment Bank (SAIB). The firm recorded $9.1 billion in assets under management in Q1 2022. In 2021, the firm had 3.1% of the market share of the total transactions in the Saudi stock exchange, which exceeded $37 billion. In October 2021, the firm also launched its new Alistithmar Capital Freestyle Saudi Equity Fund.

14 Emirates NBD Asset Management

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CEO: Salam AlKhunaizi

Samba Capital. Al-Khunaizi was among the leaders behind Saudi Aramco’s IPO in 2019, the biggest IPO in history.

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Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 1985 AUM: $7 billion Saudi Fransi Capital offers servedCapital,joining230andbillionworthequityissuance,includingItmanagementbillionThesecuritiesandandinstitutionalandmanagement,banking,investmentassetdebtequityresearch,salestrading,andlocalinternationalbrokerage.companyhad$7inassetsunderin2021.conducteddeals—IPOs,debtandprivatetransactions—atotalof$8.1across20212022.Itemployspeople.BeforeSaudiFransiAl-KhunaiziasCEOof

13 Saudi Fransi Capital

Senior Executive Officer: Steve Corrin Country: U.A.E. Established in: 2006 AUM: $6.1 billion Emirates NBD Asset Management is a 100%-owned subsidiary of Emirates NBD Bank, offering both conventional and Shariahcompliant funds as well as real estate in the U.A.E. The funds managed by the company are also domiciled in Jersey, Luxembourg, and the Cayman Islands. It recorded assets under management of $6.1 billion in 2021. Between 2021 and 2022, Emirates NBD Asset Management launched its U.A.E. Strategic Investment Fund, with assets under management worth $630 million. In October 2021, the firm strengthened its commitment to responsible investment by becoming a signatory of the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment.

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17 SICO BSC CEO: Najla Al Shirawi Country: Bahrain Established in: 1995 AUM: $4.5 billion

GFH Financial Group specializes in investment, treasury, and management,assetreal estate development, and commercial banking. The firm recorded revenues of $368.5 million and assets and assets under management worth $15 billion in 2021. GFH is listed on four main markets in the GCC: the Bahrain Bourse, Boursa Kuwait, the Dubai Financial Market and Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. In January 2022, the firm launched a new subsidiary, Infracorp, to manage its $3 billion infrastructure and real estate assets portfolio. Since the start of 2022, GFH has acted as an arranger or advisor on nearly $1.5 billion of sukuk issuances, including Infracorp’s perpetual sukuk as well as Dar Al Arkan’s $400 million sukuk issuance.

GFH Financial Group Group CEO: Hisham Alrayes

SICO BSC is an asset manager, broker, market maker, and investment bank. The firm recorded $4.9 billion in assets under management as of March 2022, an increase of 9% compared to year-end 2021. In March 2021, SICO completed the acquisition of 72.7% of Saudi-based Muscat Capital, worth $14.6 million, which was rebranded as SICO Capital. SICO was appointed as Bahrain receiving agent, Bahrain execution advisor, and cross-listing advisor from the $11.6 billion merger of Ahli United Bank and Kuwait Finance House. Najla Al Shirawi has been with SICO for more than 24 years and became CEO in 2014. She is also a board member at the Bahrain Economic Development Board and the Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance.

SEDCO Capital is a shariah-compliant, ESG-led asset management and investment advisory firm. SEDCO Capital has offices in Riyadh, Dubai, London, and Luxembourg. It recorded more than $5.9 billion in total assets under management in 2021. In 2021, the company added an additional offering for SEDCO Capital REIT to increase the fund’s total asset value by $187.2 million. In September 2021, SEDCO joined forces with Swiss private banking group Lombard Odier to launch an ESG-focused Shariahcompliant fund to invest in developed market equities. In October 2021, SEDCO launched two new global passive equity funds in partnership with French asset management firm Amundi. The SC Global Listed Infrastructure Equity Fund has a size of $69 million, while the SC Global Low Volatility Equity Fund has a size of $91 million.

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Country: Bahrain Established in: 1999 AUM: $5.3 billion

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15 SEDCO Capital CEO: Samer Abu Aker Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 1976 AUM: $5.9 billion

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20 AlKhair Capital CEO and Managing Director: Abdullah Al Shilash Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 2009 AUM: $3.1 billion

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Riyadh-based Albilad Capital, is the investment banking arm of Albilad bank, which operates shariahcompliant investment and financial services to individuals, institutions, and corporations and provides investment banking services, such as arranging debt and equity issues and advisory services. The company reported $3.7 billion in assets under management in Q1 2022. Albilad Capital runs a shariah-complaint Gold ETF. The Albilad MSCI US Equity ETF invests in large U.S. companies that are compliant with Islamic law.

EFG Hermes Holding Group CEO and Chairman of the Executive Committee: Karim Awad Country: Egypt Established in: 1984 AUM: $4.1 billion

19 Albilad Capital CEO: Zaid Almufarih Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 2008 AUM: $3.5 billion

AlKhair Capital offers asset management, advisory, and private equity services across international and regional financial institutions. Its major shareholder is Bahrain’s Bank Alkhair. The company recorded $3.6 billion in assets under management in Q1 2022. In February 2022, Ways Marketing Solutions Company appointed AlKhair Capital as its financial advisor to list the company’s shares on the Saudi parallel market, Nomu. In 2022, AlKhair Capital signed an MoU with KLAIM to launch investment products worth $50 million to support healthcare service providers across MENA. 21 Aljazira Capital CEO and Managing Director: Naif Almesned Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 2007 AUM: $2.7 billion

Aljazira Capital is a Shariah-compliant company owned by Bank Al Jazira. It offers dealing, underwriting, managing, arranging, advisory, and custody services. The company recorded $2.7 billion in assets under management in Q1 2022. In July 2022, Aljazira Capital acted as the financial advisor, bookrunner, lead manager, and underwriter for the IPO of the Naqi Water Company. The company was also appointed as the financial advisor, bookrunner, lead manager, and underwriter for the rights issue offering to increase the capital of Wafrah for Industry and Development.

EFG Hermes Holding is one of the largest financial institutions in MENA. The firm has operations across 13 countries, including Egypt, the U.A.E., Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the U.S., the U.K., and Pakistan. The firm’s asset management division manages over $4.1 billion in assets under management. In November 2021, the firm entered Egypt’s commercial banking sector, acquiring a 51% stake in the Arab Investment Bank. By the end of 2021, the company’s Fintech arm, EFG EV Fintech, invested $1 million into funding seven startups: Fintech Galaxy, Mozare3, Dayra, Fatura, Raseedi, Yashry/ Edfa3ly, and Zvendo.

ANB Invest is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Arab National Bank and acts as its investment arm. It offers multiple mutual funds for its clients, including the Al-Arabi Balanced Fund, the Al-Mubarak Saudi Sovereign Sukuk, and Al-Mubarak Saudi Equity, among others. The company recorded $2.7 billion in assets under management in Q1 2022. In March 2022, Aljabr Financing Co. appointed ANB Invest as its financial advisor, lead manager, and bookrunner for its IPO on the Saudi Exchange. In July 2022, ANB Invest agreed to join Thimarya to develop land in Riyadh through a $1 billion fund.

23 Arab National Investment Company (ANB Invest)

CEO: Khalid S. Al-Ghamdi Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 2007 AUM: $2.6 billion

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25 Misr Capital CEO and Managing Director: Khalil El Bawab Country: Egypt Established in: 2010 AUM: $2.4 billion Misr Capital is the investment arm of Banque Misr. The company recorded $2.4 billion in assets under management in 2021. In January 2022, Misr Capital and Fawry launched the Fawry Yawmy money market fund, a Fintech-focused investment fund. In April 2021, Misr Capital and Elevate Private Equity launched a $380 million healthcare investment platform, Nile Misr Healthcare, which manages the fund’s strategy and targets acquisitions spanning hospitals, diagnostic facilities, pharmaceuticals, medical education, and digital medical services in Egypt and Sub-Saharan Africa.

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22 GIB Capital CEO: Osamah Mohammed Shaker Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 2008 AUM: $2.64 billion Established in 2008, GIB Capital is a whollyowned subsidiary of the Gulf International Bank. The company recorded $2.64 billion in assets under management in 2021. In 2022, GIB Capital was selected as a financial advisor, lead manager, bookrunner, and lead underwriter on the potential IPO for the Abdullah Al Othaim Investment Company. It also paved the way for other IPOs, including Arabian Contracting Services and Al-Dawaa Medical Services Company in 2022.

24 Alpha Capital CEO: Fahad Alsaud Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 2018 AUM: $2.59 billion Alpha Capital is a shariah-compliant boutique investment company. It has two mutual funds listed on the Saudi Exchange: the Alpha Saudi Equity Fund, which had a 39.79% return in 2021, and the Alpha Murabaha Fund, which had a 1.29% return. Alpha Capital’s total revenues grew from $7 million in 2020 to $22 million in 2021, and profits grew from 623,000 to $8.8 million.

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29 Mashreq Capital CEO- Head of Asset Management: Robert Hahm

Derayah’s platform Derayah Smart is an automated investment advisory that provides investment solutions to clients. Derayah provides a mutual fund to its clients, including NCB Capital, ANB Invest, and Al Rajhi Capital. It managed $2 billion in assets under management in 2021.

Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 2004 AUM: $1.97 billion

Country: U.A.E. Established in: 2006 AUM: $1.9 billion Mashreq Capital is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mashreq Bank. It manages $1.9 billion in assets under management. In 2021, the company launched the Mashreq MENA Equity Fund and the Mashreq MENA Fixed Income Fund. It partnered with BlackRock to launch the Mashreq Global Conservative Fund, the Mashreq Global Balanced Fund, and the Mashreq Global Growth Fund.

30 Waha Capital

ChiefManagementAssetInvestmentOfficer: Mark Friedenthal

Alkhabeer Capital is an asset management and investment bank offering services for individuals, corporations, and family groups. Alkhabeer recorded $1.97 billion in assets under management in 2021.

Waha Capital is listed on the Abu Dhabi stock exchange and recorded $1.6 billion in assets under management in 2021, up 14% compared to 2020. The Mubadala Investment Company is its key shareholder. In August 2022, Waha Capital, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Waha Land, agreed to the sale of 17 leased warehouse buildings situated on five plots at the ALMARKAZ Industrial Development to Peninsula Real Estate Management Limited, for $151 million. CEO Al Mehairi previously held roles on the Abu Dhabi Investment Council and at the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

CEO: Ahmed Saud Hamzah Ghouth

CEO: Ahmed Khalifa Al Mehairi

Country: Saudi Arabia Established in: 2007

The company also signed a strategic agreement with Wamid, a subsidiary of the Saudi Tadawul Group, as part of its strategy to provide an advanced brokerage platform.

28 Alkhabeer Capital

AUM: $2 billion

Country: U.A.E. Established in: 2018 AUM: $2 billion ADCB Asset Management is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Abu MarketoncompanybankwhichCommercialDhabiBank,isthethirdlargestintheU.A.E.TheisincorporatedtheAbuDhabiGlobalandrecordedassets under management of $2 billion in 2021. Since 2014, its managed funds have been domiciled in Luxembourg to be available for investors around the world.

Country: U.A.E. Established in: 1997 AUM: $1.6 billion

CEO:Derayah Mohammed AlShammasi

COMPANIESMANAGEMENTASSET30TOP SOURCEFROMIMAGES

26 ADCB

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This content was created in partnership with Palazzo Versace Dubai.

Life Of Luxury

The Palazzo Versace Dubai at Dubai’s Jaddaf Waterfront is a favorite among visiting celebrities. As you relax amidst its palatial luxury surroundings, it’s easy to see why.

W hen I headed to the U.A.E. for a business trip in April, it was far from my first visit to Dubai, but with this visit, I discovered a new sense of magic and luxury. The Palazzo Versace Dubai is often frequented by celebrities and other high-profile guests, and during my first stay there, I discovered why. Journey It was a quick flight from Beirut to Dubai International Airport, and once I was in a cab it only took 15 minutes to travel from the airport to Dubai’s Jaddaf Waterfront, where the sprawling Palazzo Versace Dubai is located. Accommodation I had done my research, and I knew the hotel often attracted high society, so I was ready, elegantly dressed to match my luxurious surroundings. As I walked in, I was—as usual—busy on my phone preparing work appointments, but looking up from the screen for a moment, the magnificent interior design of the lobby, enveloped in a detailed and creative mosaic, took my breath away. I was greeted warmly and quickly shown to my room, which was a Grand Suite overlooking the creek on the ninth floor of the hotel. The room was scented with Versace perfume, and I inhaled deeply. It PROMOTION

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77 was a room fit for a princess, with delicate details and comfortable pastel colors throughout. The whole ambiance filled me with positive energy, and I began to look forward to the time I would have for rest and recreation between work engagements.Atsunset,Iwent out to the large balcony, holding in my hand a cup of my favorite mint tea, and I contemplated the scene in front of me—a side to Dubai that I felt I had never seen before. Activities I loved the lobby lounge, Mosaico, so much that I arranged all of my appointments to be there for the day. The area feels full of life and good energy. I enjoyed Turkish coffee with Loukoum, and my favorite drink, a passion fruit cocktail. I’d finished my work by the

This content was created in partnership with Palazzo Versace Dubai.

SEPTEMBER 2022FORBESMIDDLEEAST.COM 78 evening, so I took some time to enjoy the hotel at night. The atmosphere was loud and joyful, with music accompanying a vibrant dance show.The next day, as I love swimming, I lounged by the pool under the mild sun. The hotel has three outdoor swimming pools, with one of them for adults only, no children. I chose to spend the afternoon there, alternating between enjoying the refreshing water and lying in the open air beneath the blue sky. I also wandered around the hotel’s outdoor gardens and admired the design and architecture of the hotel, which is reminiscent of a 16th-century Italian palace, but with exceptional Versace furnishings reflecting a modern décor. After my walk, I treated myself to a trip to the hotel spa and the pure bliss of an hour and a half of a face and body massage. PROMOTION This content was created in partnership with Palazzo Versace Dubai.

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Final thoughts

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On my first night, I booked a table at the hotel’s Italian restaurant “Vanitas” and asked some friends to join me. We enjoyed a truly Italian night with a delicious truffle pizza, seafood pasta, and mouthwatering appetizers. The next day, I met my best friend for dinner at the hotel’s Persian restaurant Enigma. It was the right choice. I am a fan of Persian cuisine, and I always love its tasty appetizers, such as kebabs, fesenjoon, and other famous dishes. The ones I had at Enigma were delicious. The service was also excellent, and the ambiance and lighting were comfortable, erasing the pressures of work and life. We loved this place, and as my friend thanked me for the good choice, she assured me that while it was the first time she had visited this restaurant, it wouldn’t be her last. After a good night’s sleep, I woke up late for a day filled with a busy work schedule. However, I decided first to eat breakfast at La Piscina. I don’t usually eat breakfast in hotels because of the “buffet” concept, but on that day, I liked the way dishes were displayed. The room is large and overlooks the pool, and does not feel crowded. Also, food items are divided and very organized; there are many options, including all kinds of western and oriental dishes.

My trip to Dubai this time was a particularly special experience and, while leaving the Palazzo Versace Dubai was hard, I know that I will be going back.

www.palazzoversace.ae

This content was created in partnership with Palazzo Versace Dubai.

Dining

Tolerance

• THOUGHTS ON • SHUTTERSTOCK.COMREINSTEIN/MARK

—Lao Tzu “Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and the wrong. Sometime in life you will have been all of these.”

—1 Peter 3:8

—Ayaan Hirsi Ali “The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority.”

—B.C. Forbes

—Karl Popper “We see the world not as it is, but as we are.”

“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” —Aristotle “More dangerous than bayonets and cannon are the weapons of the mind.”

—Voltaire “Tolerance of intolerance is cowardice.”

—Charlott e Brontë

“Finally, all of you, be likeminded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.”

“The mark of a moderate man is freedom from his own ideas.”

—Willmoore Kendall

Nelson Mandela

—Ludwig von Mises

—Ralph W. Sockman

80 THOUGHTS

—George Washington Carver “Difference is an accident of birth and should therefore never be the source of hatred or conflict.” —John Hume “In the practice of tolerance, one’s enemy is the best teacher.”

“Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance.”

“People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love—for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

FINAL THOUGHT “Let us reconcile ourselves to compromises not wholly ideal from our viewpoint.”

“Respect everyone who crosses your path, even if you feel they don’t deserve it.”

—Dalai Lama XIV “Think for yourself, and let others enjoy the privilege of doing so too.”

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—Alaric Hutchinson

—Anaïs Nin “In order to practice tolerance on behalf of the pursuit of truth, you fi rst have to value and believe in not merely the pursuit of truth but Truth itself.”

—Nelson Mandela “Prejudices, it is well known, are most diffi cult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilized by education. They grow there, fi rm as weeds among stones.”

SOURCES: THE “OPEN SOCIETY” AND ITS FALLACIES, BY WILLMOORE KENDALL; THE TREATISE ON TOLERANCE, BY VOLTAIRE; THE TAO TE CHING, BY LAO TZU; THE OPEN SOCIETY AND ITS ENEMIES, BY KARL POPPER; LIVING PEACE, BY ALARIC HUTCHINSON; LIBERALISM: THE CLASSICAL TRADITION, BY LUDWIG VON MISES; LONG WALK TO FREEDOM, BY NELSON MANDELA; JANE EYRE, BY CHARLOTTE BRONTË.

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Forbes Middle East - September 2022 - English

Articles inside

I Thoughts On Tolerance

I World’s Top 5 Ultra-Rich Families

I 5 Countries Gaining Millionaires

I 5 Companies Banking On Bitcoin

I Sidelines

I Futureproofing Fuel

I Cloud Pipe Dream

I In Numbers: Following The Generational Wealth Of The Rich

I Money Heap