Category: TOP 10 in MENA

Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber – Billionaire Businessman and Philanthropist

Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber – Businessman – Founder, Chairman and CEO – MBI Group

Companies include:

  • Jadawel International Construction & Development – residential compounds in Saudi Arabia
  • Continentoil – oilfield services and petroleum company
  • AJWA Group for Food Industries – shareholder
  • JJW Hotels & Resorts
  • Amarante , 4 star hotels in France, Portugal and Egypt
  • Median , 3 star hotels in France
  • Grand Hotel, Vienna, Austria
  • Palais Corso, Vienna’s shopping & office complex
  • The Elton Collection, London
  • list not complete

Philanthropy :

  • MBI Al Jaber Foundation, UK registered charity – focus in the fields of education, cultural dialogue and good governance

Other/s :

  • Founding Patron and Donor of the ‘London Middle East Institute’ at SOAS
  • Endowed Chair – MBI Al Jaber Chair in Middle East Studies, at SOAS, University of London
  • MBI Al Jaber Building, Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford
  • The MBI Al Jaber Grand Hall, University of Westminister

Board/s:

  • Advisor Board, Middle East Centre, London School of Economics (LSE)
  • Nominated as UNESCO’s Special Envoy – Personal Representative for ‘education, human rights, tolerance and culture to build peace and democracy

Book:

Sheikh Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber. Yes, Arabs can too

Honours & Awards :

2002.  Awarded Honorary Fellowship at the School of Oriental and African Studies

2004.  Awarded Doctorate of Letters from University of Westminster

2004.  Awarded Honorary Degree, Doctor of Science, from City University, London

2005.  Appointed UNESCO Special Envoy for Education, Tolerance and Cultures

2005.  Awarded UNESCO Medal on the occasion of the organisation’s 60th anniversary

2005.  Awarded a Gold Medal by the French Government for services to Tourism and Culture.

2007.  Awarded Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organisation Gold Medal

2007.  Appointed UN Spokesperson for Global Forums on Reinventing Government

2008.  Nominated as Trialog Institut “Person of the Year”

2008.  Appointed Chairman of Mediterranean Peace Forum

2010.  Awarded Honorary Fellowship at University College London

2012.  Awarded ISESCO (Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Gold Medal

2013.  Awarded a Senatorship by MODUL University

2017.  Received Dialogue of Cultures Award

Others:

  • Listed in Bloomberg Billionaire Index – n.194 – 2018
  • Listed in Sunday Times Rich List – n. 18 – May 13th, 2018

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Saudi Arabia

Issad Rebrab – Algeria’s Billionaire Businessman

Issad Rebrab – Founder & CEO – Cevital .

The 6th person listed in the Forbes 2020 African Billionaire Ranking.

A leader in food processing industries.

Cevital is the holding company. Algeria’s biggest privately held company. Own one of the largest sugar refineries in the world.

Other subsidiaries are :

  • Samha Home Appliances (Samsung Electronics)
  • Mediterranean Float Glass
  • Cevitas Minerals
  • Baticompos
  • CeviAgro
  • Nolis SpA
  • Hyundai Motor Algeria (HMA)
  • COGETP (Compagnie Générale des Équipements de Travaux Public) -Volvo and SDLG (China)
  • Associated Car & Truck Specialists (ACTS)
  • Prainsa Cevico Algeria
  • Metal Sides
  • Profilur
  • Evcon
  • Cogetp
  • Cevicar – Car Renting
  • Future Media
  • Cevital Minerals
  • Numilog
  • Numidis

Global Acquisitions:

  • Groupe Brandt – French Home Appliances
  • Luchini – Italian Steel Maker
  • German Water Purification Company
  • Oxxo – France (Premade window and door systems)
  • Alas – Spain (Window and door aluminium frames)

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Algeria

IM’Hungry : World’s Largest Burger Restaurant – Saudi Arabia : December 2019

IM’ Hungry, Jeddah , Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest burger restaurant.

It has an area of 2,860 sq.m (30,784 feet) almost the size of 11 tennis courts.

Burgers are served with only fresh, non-frozen meat daily. The menu ranges a variety of dishes.

The record attempt took place in Jeddah on December 12th, 2019 and was certified by Guinness World Records.

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Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Tunisia’s ‘National Dialogue Quartet’ Wins Nobel Peace Price : October 2015

The Quartet of Tunisian General Labour Union (UGGT), The Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA), the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH) and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers were awarded the Nobel.

Winner of Nobel Peace Prize for helping building pluralistic democracy in Tunisia.

pix: abc.net.au

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Tunisia

Sudan Has Twice As Many Pyramids than Egypt

Sudan has more pyramids that Egypt. But steeper and smaller than those of ancient Egypt.

Nubian pyramids differ from Egyptian. They are built of stepped courses of horizontally positioned stone blocks and range from approximately 6 to 30 meters (20-98 ft) in height and result in tall narrow structures.

pix: africanexponent.com

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Sudan

First & Only Player from Oman to Win a FA Cup Medal. Ali Al Habsi

Ali Al Habsi . Professional Footballer. Omani International Goal Keeper. Captain of Oman International Football Team.

First and only Player from Oman to Win a FA Cup Medal. Only player from the Gulf to have a successful career in Europe.

Played for Oman. Clubs overseas in Norway, United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia.

Awards/ Recognitions: A few

-Norway’s Best Goal Keeper (2003-2004) / – Best Goal Keeper Award at Gulf Cup, 5 consecutive years – 2003, 2004, 2007, 2009 and 2011 / -Oman won their 1st ever Gulf Cup (2009) with his leadership as Captain / Winners – Saudi Professional League (2017) / Winners – Saudi Super Cup (2018)

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pix : twitter @AliAlhabsi

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OMAN

Nassef Sawiris – Egypt’s Billionaire Businessman

Nassef Onsi Sawiris – Businessman in Construction and Chemicals. Youngest of the 3 brothers Naguib Onsi Sawiris and Samih Onsi Sawiris. Children of businessman baron Onsi Sawiris

Business Interest/s

  • CEO – Orascom Construction Industries (OCI), one of the world’s largest nitrogen fertilisers producer with plants in Texas and Iowa. Trades on the Euronext Amsterdam Exchange
  • Orascom Construction – Trades on the Cairo Exchange and Nasdaq Dubai
  • Holdings include stakes in the cement giant Lafarge Holcim
  • Holdings include stakes in Adidas AG . Supervisory Board Member of Adidas AG, Germany

Sports :

  • Joint Owner : Aston Villa FC , British Football Club

Other/s :

  • Board of Directors – Cairo Stock Exchange ( 2004-2007)
  • Board of Directors – Alexandria Stock Exchange ( 2004 – 2007)
  • Board of Directors – Dubai International Finance Exchange (DIFX) (2008-2010)
  • Member – Cleveland Clinic’s International Leadership Board
  • Member – University of Chicago’s Board of Trustees

Education:

B.A. – Economics , University of Chicago

Philanthropy :

  • Donated USD 6 million to Chicago Booth School of Business
  • Donated USD 24 million to aid Egyptian studends and fund an executive education program (2019)

Scholarship Fund:

  • Onsi Sawiris Scholar Program (in honour of his father Onsi Sawiris) – 2015

General :

  • Listed in Forbes List of Billionaires 2020
  • Listed in Africa’s Billionaires of 2020
  • Fourth Richest African – Forbes 2019

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Egypt

Ahdeya Ahmed First Female President of Bahrain Journalist Association (BJA) : November 2019

Ahdeya Ahmed Al-Sayed , Bahrain – TV personality and Journalist, has many firsts to her credit.

Deputy Editor-in-Chief , for the english language ‘Daily Tribune’

First/s :

  • First female President of Bahrain Journalist Association (BJA)
  • First Arabian Gulf Woman to be elected member of ‘The International Federation of Journalist (IFJ) Gender Council’.

Other/s :

  • Winner – Arab Woman of the Year Award for the category ‘Achievement in Journalism’ 5th edition – by The London Arabia organisation
  • Member – Bahrain’s International Federation of Journalists Gender Council

Assignments :

  • Spokesperson of the Government of Bahrain
  • Spokesperson- Bahrain Human Rights Watch
  • Official Spokesperson for the ‘ Bahrain Parliamentary Election’ (2006)

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Bahrain

The Dubai Mall , the second Largest Shopping Centre in the World : November 2018

The second largest shopping centre in the world by total land area and is situated in Downtown Dubai, UAE

Dubai Mall has 4 levels, an internal floor area 548,127 square metres. 1,200 retail outlets and over 160 food and beverage outlets.

The Mall includes an acquariam, Olympic size ice rink, 22 screen cineplex.

Developed by Emaar Properties

Additional World Records:

Within the Mall there are several world records to be listed individually

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Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Moncef Slaoui appointed by US President Trump to Lead Covid-19 Vaccine Team : May 2020

Moncef Slaoui (aka) Moncef Mohamed Slaoui, immunology expert, has been appointed by U.S. President Donald Trump to head up the U.S. Government’s development of vaccine to treat coronavirus disease in ‘ Operation Warp Speed ‘.

Last Post Held:

  • Head of GlaxoSmithKline’s Vaccine Department

Education :

  • Ph.D – Molecular biology and Immunology – Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
  • MBA – International Institute for Management Development, Lausanne,
  • M.S. – Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
  • B.S. – Biology – Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium

Awards / Honours:

  • Honorary Doctorate of Science – Gettysburg College (2017)
  • ’25 of the Most Influential People in Biopharma Today’ – by FierceBiotech (2012)
  • ‘The World’s 50 Greatest Leaders’ – by Fortune (2010)
  • ‘World’s Top 100 Medicine Makers’ – by The Medicine Makers (2018)

Books/ Papers Published:

Several

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American / Belgian-American / Moroccan