Stallion Group chairman Sunil Vaswani in February topped the Arabian Business GCC Indian Rich List for 2015, with an estimated net worth of $7.2 billion.
It was a busy year for Vaswani as he was also walked away with the coveted “Outstanding Contribution to Business” award at the Indian CEO Awards held later the same month.
Click here to see who the other 11 billionaires were who made this year’s richest Indians list.
Other big winners at the Indian CEO Awards included Landmark Group vice-chairperson Renuka Jagtiani, KV Shamsudheen, Jacky Panjabi and BR Shetty. Click here for the full list of winners.
The following month, HE Sheikha Lubna Al Qassimi topped the CEO Middle East list of the Arab world’s most powerful women for the fifth year in a row. Having served for more than 10 years in the UAE Federal Government, Sheikha Lubna has not only been an icon for women in the region, and a trailblazer for women’s rights, but also a vital part of the UAE’s evolution and growth in global prominence.
Click here for full details of those who made this year’s list, including the year’s highest new entry, Amal Clooney, the Lebanese-British lawyer, activist and author who has been at the forefront of numerous high-profile human rights cases.
One of the newest power lists introduced this year was the Arabian Business ‘100 under 40’ list, which named Egypt’s Jawad Nabulsi as the most influential young Arab.
The entrepreneur, humanitarian and activist topped the list, beating Kuwait’s Bader Al Kharafi and Qatar’s Hassan Al Thawadi into second and third place, respectively. Click here for the full list of young achievers.
September saw the Gulf’s top executives turn out in force for the CEO Middle East Awards, which were held at the InterContinental Dubai Festival City. Among the evening’s big winners were Omar Alghanim, the CEO of Alghanim Industries and chairman of Gulf Bank, who picked up the Visionary of the Year Award.
Click here for a full list of the recipients, which included, amongst others, Khalid Alkhudair, Emirates NBD’s Shayne Nelson and flydubai’s CEO Ghaith Al Ghaith.
Proceeding moved to Doha the following week, where Bader Al Darwish, the chairman and managing director of Darwish Holding, received the Visionary of the Year award at the Arabian Business Qatar awards.
Click here for the full details of the thirteen winners, including, Qatar Business Incubation Centre, Doha Bank and real estate giant Ezdan Holding.
October and the setting was Riyadh for the Arabian Business KSA Awards, which recognised 12 winners from across the length and breadth of the kingdom. Click here for a rundown of all the winners, which included Bank Al Bilad, the Panda Retail Company and BAE Systems.
November was a busy month, with some of the biggest events of the year. Karim Wasfi, the ‘Maestro of Baghdad’ was named as Humanitarian of the Year at the Arabian Business Achievement Awards. The Iraqi national made global headlines earlier this year after footage of the musician playing his cello at bomb sites in Baghdad went viral. His foundation ‘Peace Through Arts’ aims to rebuild not only Iraq’s symphony orchestra, but his country’s broken relationship with the arts. He was presented with his trophy by last year’s winner of the Humanitarian of the Year award, British war zone surgeon Dr David Nott (below).
Sixteen awards were presented to a variety of companies and business leaders from across the Arab world, including RP Group chairman Ravi Pillai, Faizal Kottikollon and the the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Click here for a list of the winners.
Later that month, the best businesses, individuals and institutions from across the regional start-up ecosystem were honoured at the third annual Arabian Business StartUp Awards. More than 300 people, including this year’s 70 Arabian Business StartUp Awards finalists, attended a special gala dinner at the Ritz-Carlton DIFC hotel.
Each of the 14 categories featured five nominees previously shortlisted by the judging panel out of nearly 700 nominations received. Click here for a look at some of the small companies making a big impact in 2015.
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