For the first time, Forbes Middle East hosted an event on Monday to celebrate their “Egypt 100” list, which is divided into three categories: “The Top 50 Egyptian companies”, “The 25 strongest Egyptian startups” and “The 25 most powerful women”.
The event began with a minute of silence to mourn the victims of the Rawda mosque attack, in the presence of Minister of Planning and Administrative Reform Hala Al-Saeed, Minister of Social Solidarity Ghada Wali, and Editor in Chief of Forbes Middle East Khuloud Al Omian. Forbes Middle East highlighted the financial achievements of Egypt at the “Egypt Top 100” conference which was attended by a number of highly valued businesspeople, along with senior officials of major local, regional and international companies.
Speaking on the occasion, Al Omian expressed happiness about the conference and said, “it is the perfect time for Forbes Middle East to be present in the Egyptian market due to the positive developments the country is witnessing in the economy and investments, as well as multiple other achievements including high growth, investments, and foreign currency reserves rates.” Al Omian added that “celebrating and honoring the top 50 Egyptian companies, the 25 strongest Egyptian startups, and the 25 most powerful women emphasises the role of companies and individuals in improving the country’s economic situation and help push it forward.”
As for how the best companies are determined, Khuloud explained that “the selection of the best companies comes in line with the global criteria followed for choosing the best 100 companies in the Arab world, including analysis of revenues, profits, market value, and assets.”
The “Top 100” event was hosted by Forbes Middle East in collaboration with “Egypt Media Avenue” and under the auspices of Dorra Group, Nile Air, Danube Properties, Business School of Manchester University in Dubai, OnLive, and Dar Al Meawiya Advertising.
As an acknowledgement of its 70 years of achievement, Forbes Middle East also honoured Dorra Group for its influence on the economy’s growth in the field of real estate development and investment.
The first event speaker, Ahmed Ali, CEO of Nile Air, one of the event’s partners, said that most of the time, aviation is overlooked in Egypt, although it is clearly a dynamic sector and a cornerstone of any strong economy and is essential for promoting investments.
“Nile Air became the second largest airline in Egypt and the top private airline, and we were recognised as the largest growing airline in the MENA region after achieving 23% growth in 2017. In the same year, we successfully surpassed the 1 million passenger mark,” Ali said.
On the other hand, the University of Manchester Middle East Centre, which is the event’s knowledge partner, announced a tailor-made programme for the event’s startup awardees, in addition to special scholarships for them, said Randa Bessiso, the founding director of University of Manchester Middle East Centre, who has been named amongst the Forbes Middle East 100 Most Powerful Arab Businesswomen for 2017.
Moving on to the list, the most prominent companies that were awarded are Commercial Bank of Egypt (CIB), Qatar National Bank of Egypt (QNB), Dorra Group for Real Estate Investment, Naeem Holding for Investment, Union National Bank of Egypt, Elsewedy Electric, Arafa Holding—the leading player in the global fashion and apparel industry—Suez Canal Bank, Edita Food Industries, Orange Egypt, Palm Hills Development, National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) Egypt, Oriental Weavers, Egypt Kuwait Holding Company, Credit Agricole Bank Egypt, and Telecom Egypt
While the most remarkable startup awardees were Eventtus for facilitating networking at events, Wuzzuf, the digital recruitment platform, Vezeeta, the digital healthcare booking platform for patients and doctors, Edfa3ly, the digital platform facilitating online ordering and shipping of US merchandise, Instabug, the software glitches detecting tool, and Yaoota, the online price comparison platform.
Furthermore, in regards to the top 25 influential women in government and business, Minister of Social Solidarity Ghada Wali and Minister of Planning Hala Al-Saeed topped the list, in addition to Lobna Helal, deputy governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), Marwa El-Ayouti, CFO of Vodafone Egypt, Reem Asaad, CEO of Raya Data Center, Hania Sadek, COO of HSBC Bank Egypt, Sahar Farahat, senior executive vice president of Egypt Kuwait Holding, and Sahar Al-Damaty, deputy chairperson of Banque Misr.
