Salma Hareb

Salma Hareb sits at the heart of the Dubai economic story, as the CEO of the city’s most prominent free zone. The Jebel Ali area plays host to businesses from over 100 countries, sustains over 135,000 jobs and attracts more than 20 percent of the UAE’s foreign direct investment. A former lab technologist, Hareb started as a planner for JAFZA. She quickly moved up the ranks and in 2005 was appointed the CEO of JAFZA and parent company Economic Zones World. As a result, she became the first woman in the Middle East to lead a free zone.