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Power, influence, success, inspiration…you name it, they have it.
Yes, it’s that time of the year again, the publication of the Arabian Business Power List – our special guide to the world’s 100 most influential Arabs.
So who is in this year’s list? Topping the tree for the fifth year in succession is HRH Prince Alwaleed, once again not just the world’s richest Arab, but in our view the world’s most influential Arab.
A hundred places below him, propping up the Power 100, is the Freej cartoonist taking the region by storm, Mohammed Harib.
Between them is a variety of names from all walks of life – media, fashion, business, sports, science, academics – even charity work. These are the people who have made the biggest impact on a global scale.
This year sees a record 52 new entries, with the highest newcomer straight in at No.3, Muntadhar Al Zaidi.
The Iraqi journalist found international stardom in December last year by hurling his shoes at President Bush.
He may be serving 3 years behind bars for the incident, but that hasn’t stopped the Al Zaidi global phenomena – from street protests around the globe in support of him, to computer games, shoe sales, songs being written about him, a movie in the making and even a marriage proposal, Zaidi has clearly been one of the most influential Arabs of the past decade.
Also making the top 5 for the first time is Hydra CEO Dr Sulaiman Al Fahim, climbing to No.4 thanks to his TV show “The Hydra Executives” and his purchase of Manchester City Football Club.
It means that with both Dr Fahim and Al Zaidi in the upper echelons of the list, two of our top five are under 35 years old – a clear sign that the younger generation is taking over when it comes to power.
Al Zaidi is one of a remarkable five new entries in this year’s top ten. Straight in at No.6 is the Palestinian theatre director Amir Nizar Zuabi, who’s play “Alive From Palestine: Stories Under Occupation” has been a sell out in the US, and earned rave reviews in London and Edinburgh.
The best-selling author Mohammed Al Aryan is one place behind him, while in eighth place is Dr Mohamed Nedal Alchaar. His work on accounting standards for Islamic finance have had a massive global impact on the business world. And in tenth place is Fayez Al Maliki, the star of the first Saudi movie to be screened in the Kingdom for 30 years.
This year’s list features 23 entries from media and arts, three from science and medicine and two from the field of charity. The highest female newcomer is at No.11, the Kuwaiti television presenter Fawzieh Al Dorai.
As always, we should stress that the list is not scientific but entirely subjective.
Below is a guide to how it was compiled: however, we accept that our readers will disagree/agree on almost every name and position. Our apologies to anyone offended by their rankings (or non-appearance), these are the views of our editorial team based on the events of the past year.
HOW WE COMPILED THE LIST
Over a period of 11 months, beginning in April 2008, our editorial began updating our “Power” database – looking out for Arabs making a name for themselves on both the regional and global stage.
We define power as influence. In simplest terms, it is how much impact the actions of one person can have on others – the more impact, the more influence.
We considered Arabs from across the globe in all walks of life – business, media, entertainment, law, academia, arts, fashion, music – names from more than 20 different sectors were entered.
In line with our Power List policies, we do not consider any members of royal families, politicians or religious leaders. The main exception is Prince Alwaleed, who we believe has amassed his power and fortune through business acumen.
By January this year, our team of 12 began the first of a series of meetings to consider more than 500 names on the database (including last year’s Power 100).
By March, this was narrowed down to 100 names. The rankings from 11 – 100 were selected by the editorial team. For the top 10 names, we first agreed on who the top ten should be.
After this, the rankings were decided by a voting system – each member of the team ranked the 10 in order of personal preference. Position 1 = 10 points, Position 2 = 9 points – right down to Position 10 = 1 point.
The total number of points was then taken for each name in the top 10, with the individual with the highest points assigned top position, second highest points assigned second position – and so on.
Power List Researchers: Anil Bhoyrul, Andy Sambidge, Andrew White, Joanne Bladd, Joanna Hartley, Rob Morris, Claire Ferris-Lay, Soren Billing, Alex Delmar-Morgan, Tom Arnold, Neeraj Gangal, Edward Liamzon, Anees Dayoub, Hassan Abdul Rahman, Bashar Bagh, Shahem Shareef, Sayed El Azony.
Posted by Abdullah, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on 6 October 2009 at 03:17 UAE time
I'm Saudi, and I don't think Fayez Al Maliki should make any list here. No disrespect, but he's no where near any influencial status, he's not the best saudi actor, he's not very popular. he's the subject of jokes. it's just that MBC and Rotana keeps enforcing him and other nobodys in our Ramadan after breakfast time! he's not the director, he's not the guy behind this (Prince Al-Waleed)...I'm not sure i'd be interested in reading your lists again if the #10 is a nobody!
Posted by umar farooq, Lahore, Pakistan on 24 July 2009 at 09:41 UAE time
Must be quite inetersting to know the Power 100
Posted by Sami, Beirut, Lebanon on 22 May 2009 at 19:08 UAE time
I can't deny that I'm a bit surprised with the list... Also surprised that many names are very new to me... But that's a good thing, for then I can search and find out who they are (tried it on some, and it's amazing what people have been achieving)...
But 2 quick remarks:
- Couldn't but be proud to be Lebanese, seeing that 17 names out of the hundred came out of our small country, which is war torn and has one of the lowest populations... I'm just wondering if all our Middle East finds peace, how much can we all achieve!
- One has to still admit that the ratio of men to women is quite high... Although some women made the list, but it's clear that we still live in a society that doesn't give women all the potential to realise themselves...
Great work and I have some more searching to do :)
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