Two Qatari women among Forbes ME’s 100 Most Powerful Businesswomen list
Sheikha Anwar bint Nawaf Al Thani, CEO of Al Faleh Educational Holding, marked the first educational entry in the list
NT Bureau
Doha: Two Qatari women have made it to the Forbes magazine’s list of the 100 most powerful women in the Middle East and North Africa, with new names from Doha added to the prestigious list.
In total, six Qatar-based women have been featured in the list.
Ranked 68 on the list is QNB Capital CEO Mira Al-Attiyah. “Al-Attiyah has been leading the investment banking arm of QNB Group since 2014, providing advisory and asset management services to corporate, government, and institutional clients in Qatar and globally. In 2021, it concluded more than ten transactions in the debt capital market space worth over $25 billion. Al-Attiyah was previously assistant undersecretary for trade affairs at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and has occupied several senior positions within the Ministry and at the Supreme Council of Information and Communication,” the magazine said.
Al-Attiyah was ranked 49 on the previous Forbes list.
Sheikha Anwar bint Nawaf Al Thani, CEO of Al Faleh Educational Holding, is the second Qatari woman in the list, and marked the first educational entry, ranking at 74.
“Al Thani led the listing of Al Faleh Educational Holding in January 2024, which became the first woman-led Qatari public shareholding company and the first Qatari educational institution to list on the stock market. It reported a profit of over $521,200 for the three-month period ending on November 30, 2023. Al Thani also founded Little Panda’s Kindergarten,” the magazine said.
The latest edition featured 104 women from 27 sectors and 28 nationalities, with the banking sector dominating the list with 26 entries.
The women on the list have been chosen for their overall leadership impact on the region and their performance last year. This year’s edition excluded leaders of family businesses.
Leading Qatar’s entries is Lana Khalaf, General Manager of Microsoft Qatar, and was ranked as the 60th most powerful businesswoman alongside Mirna Arif, Country Manager of Microsoft Egypt.
Khalaf assumed her position as Microsoft Qatar’s general manager in 2018 after joining in 2006 as an academic developer evangelist, according to Forbes.
Leonie Ruth Lethbridge, COO and Executive General Manager of the Commercial Bank of Qatar, and an Australian national, ranked 70 on the list.
Iyabo Tinubu-Karch, CEO of Sidra Medicine, marked her first entry in the businesswomen list with an 87 ranking. And the sixth Qatar-based name on the list is Lalla Hanane Drissi, Managing Director of Oracle in Qatar, with a 94 ranking.
