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Lubna Olayan, a Modern Arab Business Leader

28 September 2015 Comments (0) Featured, Leaders, Middle East

Lubna-Olayan

by Sheldon Mayer, Managing Editor

Lubna Olayan appears in “Most Powerful Women” lists every year, featured by Forbes, Fortune, and Bloomberg as a model of modern international business leadership. She was named Entrepreneur of the Year in 2010 by her alma mater Cornell University. After her renowned father and founder of OFC summoned her to head the Middle Eastern sector of his OFC conglomerate, Lubna Olayan raised the standards, and quietly began modernizing work flow practices, undaunted by her singularity as the only woman in a conservative, heavily male-dominated Arabic business-scape. Notably she now continues a trend to fill roles in her companies with women who are “deserving” of positions in business and engineering, in what she describes as a unique meritocracy for Middle Eastern businesses. Her meritocracy sweeps across vast borders of business and finance, and as a holding company it is uniquely diverse.

Although Olayan Financing Company is reserved in comments about their revenue and profit, assets are currently estimated to range from seven to ten billion dollars. With the leadership of Lubna Olayan the company expanded into real estate, manufacturing, and partnerships in international brands such as Nabisco and Burger King. Lubna, her brother, and two sisters sit on the board of directors of this global enterprise, each sibling taking a role as leader of a particular geographic area within the global scope.

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From the Bottom(ish) Up: Aliko Dangote, Africa’s Richest Man

7 August 2015 Comments (0) Featured, Leaders

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Aliko Dangote is Africa’s richest man. Valued at $17.4billion, this Nigerian magnate is the 67th richest billionaire in the world, one of an elite circle of fabulously wealthy individuals who have made their fortunes in the poorest region of the world. Thirty years ago, Dangote received a loan from his uncle, which he used to break into commodity trading. In the intervening decades, 54-year-old Dangote has managed to build a multinational trading empire.

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Bernard Dunn – the new President of Boeing Middle East

1 August 2015 Comments (0) Featured, Leaders

Bernard Dunn

On May 20, 2015 The Boeing Company named Bernard Dunn the new president of Middle East Division. He succeeded Jeff Johnson who moved to the US in March 2015 to become a vice president of business development at Boeing Military Aircraft.

Dunn is now in charge for fulfilment of Boeing’s strategy towards Middle East and the company’s business development in Middle East region. He is responsible for GR, partnership development, expanding Boeing presence and improving company relationships with customers and shareholders. He will cooperate with the President of Boeing Saudi Arabia Ahmed Jazzaar.

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Dambisa Moyo – Macroeconomist, Author and International Affairs Expert

20 July 2015 Comments (0) Leaders

Dambisa Moyo

As an internationally renowned economist and author, Dambisa Moyo has analyzed the many aspect of macroeconomics and global current affairs, with focus on developing economies, market trends and finance, earning herself a position as one of the most respected people of our generation. 

Ms. Moyo was born on September 15, 1969 in Lusaka, Zambia, but spent a fair portion of her childhood in the United States while her father completed a postgraduate degree, after which they returned to Zambia. Her father ended up with a career in an academic setting as well as public administration and her mother, with a career as chairwoman at a bank. The success of Dambisa’s parents had set her up with opportunity for her future education and career. She began a chemistry degree at the University of Zambia, however, chose to complete it back in the United States. This was done at American University in Washington, D.C., followed by a Master’s degree in business administration. She went on to obtain a second Master’s degree in public administration from Harvard, as well as a Ph.D. in economics from Oxford, with her thesis on savings- “Why Is It That Some Countries Save and Others Not?” Her interest and expertise lie in a number of fields which include, but certainly are not limited to, business strategy, economic modeling, foreign direct investment, unemployment, commodity supply, currency wars, public markets, U.S. fiscal policies, oil and trade.

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Building the Foundation of Trust from Below: Amine Mazouzi’s New Position as CEO of Sonatrach

9 July 2015 Comments (0) Leaders

SONATRACH

Amine Mazouzi is one of those lucky individuals for whom changes in large Algerian companies are most beneficial. Mazouzi has recently been named CEO of Sonatrach, Algeria’s state-owned oil and gas company, which operates more than 10,000 gas stations across Algeria and produces 90% of the country’s hydrocarbons. Mazouzi’s new position does not, however, come without complications.

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Mohammed Dewji : Visionary and Leader

2 July 2015 Comments (0) Leaders

Mohammed Dewji

As Billionaire Businessman and Political Philanthropist, Mohammed Dewji, Shows Us Hard Work Does Pay, and He Pays it Forward.

Mohammed Dewji is considered to be one of the most successful and accomplished people in Africa today. He is the Chief Executive Officer of Mohammed Enterprises Tanzania Limited Group (METL), a company started by his father, which has an extremely diversified presence in Tanzanian industries. Mr. Dewji owns 75% of the group and has a current net worth of $1.25 billion, according to Forbes. His passion for politics has landed him a seat in local government, which he uses to implement his vision and ideas for a better Tanzania. This position, along with his financial success has allowed him to build a foundation for philanthropic action in the areas of education, health and clean water.
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Twitter Presence and Influence of African Leaders

16 June 2015 Comments (0) Leaders

Aliko-Dangote-Biographie

“Twitter has proven to be a revolutionary social network even in politics. It is an extraordinary channel of diplomacy and of communication.” – Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

Over the past eight years, the Twittersphere has expanded to incorporate mass amounts of people from all facets of the political spectrum, all over the world. A recent study under the name of Twiplomacy has amalgamated data from Twitter to categorically display political participation within the social platform. This initiative was put forth by an American agency called Burson-Marsteller, who has gathered data from the 669 Twitter accounts of government members, including world leaders, heads of states, foreign ministers, as well as public institutions in 166 countries. They used 60 variables, including the number of mutual peer connections, number of followers, number of retweets, appearance on Twitter lists, tweets per day, percentage of @replies, and the year world leaders signed up to Twitter.

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Tidjane Deme Demands Internet Investment

12 June 2015 Comments (0) Leaders

tidjane-deme

In 2009, Google opened an office in Dakar, the capital of West-African Francophone country Senegal. By 2015, much of West Africa is on the Internet thanks to an increase in infrastructure development, particularly with cell phones, and the work of one man: Tidjane Deme. Deme is a 40-year-old Senegalese Internet technician educated in France, and man who has played a huge part in the Africa’s Internet explosion.

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Oil industry leader Igho Sonami promotes social and economic influence

2 June 2015 Comments (0) Leaders

igho-sanomi

Igho Sonami is one of Africa’s most socially and economically influential people today whose success is seen on an international scale. Having transformed the dynamic of the oil and power world, he has become a major success in his own right, and continues to diversify the landscape of the oil and power industries, while playing an integral role in the social and economic development of Western Africa.
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