As many as six women from Qatar have featured among the Middle East’s 100 most powerful businesswomen 2023, according to Forbes Middle East magazine.
They are HE Dr Hanan Mohamed al-Kuwari, managing director of Hamad Medical Corporation, who has been ranked eighth; followed by Noor al-Sulaiti, chief executive officer of Ooredoo Oman, ranked 31st; Mira al-Attiyah, chief executive officer of QNB Capital, ranked 49th; Sheikha Alanoud bint Hamad al-Thani, deputy managing director and chief business officer of Qatar Financial Centre, ranked 61st; Sheikha Aisha bint Faleh al-Thani, founder and chairperson of Al Faleh Educational Holding, ranked 71st; and Sheikha Hanadi bint Nasser al-Thani, founder and the chief executive officer of Amwal, Al Waab City Real Estate and Injaz Qatar, who is ranked 82nd.
HE Dr al-Kuwari is also Qatar's Minister of Public Health.
This year’s list of the region’s most powerful businesswomen features 100 entries, with 104 women from 27 different sectors and 27 nationalities.
The banking and financial services sector dominates the list with 23 entries, followed by 11 who are leading diversified businesses, eight from the investments sector, six from the retail sector, and five from healthcare.
The UAE and Egypt scored the most entries at 15 and 12, respectively; followed by 11 from Saudi Arabia, eight from Kuwait, and six each from Lebanon, Qatar and Oman.
When creating the ranking, the Forbes Middle East considered seven criteria with each point assigned a weight.
The criteria are the impact that the leader has had on the region and the markets that she serves; the achievements and performance of the leader in the last year; the number and extensiveness of the sustainability and CSR (corporate social responsibility) initiatives led by the leader; designation; size of the business in terms of revenues, assets, AUM or assets under management, market capitalisation, and the number of employees; and the number of years of industry experience that the leader has and the time they have served in their current role.