Bahraini women to the fore

A new list that puts the spotlight on the most influential women in Middle East Finance has included Bahrain residents Four Bahrain-based women have been included in the FN50 Most Influential Women in Middle East Finance list. The women included in the power list are Sico chief executive Najla Al Shirawi, Mumtalakat chief operating officer Rima Al Masri, Bahrain Bourse chief operating officer Narjes Jamal and Investcorp deputy general counsel and company secretary Rasha Sabkar. The report praised the women for their instrumental work in Bahrain’s finance industry and their contribution to the industry in the Middle East. 

The UAE dominates almost half the FN50 list, followed by Egypt with six women, and Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain, each with four. “The Middle East is one of the toughest regions for women to climb the corporate ladder, but as Financial News’s spotlight on the region reveals, women are increasingly making their mark in driving strategy, revenues and innovation in the financial sector,” the report reads. Women, according to the report, account for around 2 per cent of board positions in Gulf Cooperation Council countries compared with 31.6pc at the largest listed companies in the UK. “This is something that some governments such as the UAE, with support from diversity groups like the 30pc Club, are trying to address,” the report said adding: “But changing mindsets of business leaders and overcoming cultural, economic and political challenges in the Middle East, is slow progress.”

Just over half those featured in the inaugural FN50 Most Influential Women in Middle East Finance list are chief executives, founders or managing partners running some of the largest and most successful investment banking, private banking, asset management, trade finance, private equity and law firms in the region.

Meanwhile, two successful women from Bahrain were included in the list of top 100 Women in Fintech to know and follow in the world created by LATTICE80 in collaboration with Miss Kaya.  Bahrainis Fatema Ebrahim, Founder of Andra Public Relations & Corporate Communications, and Board Member at the Economic Development Board Bahrain, and Yasmeen Al Sharaf, Head of the Fintech Unit at the Central Bank of Bahrain made the list. The chosen candidates are part of the Women in Fintech Bahrain Initiative (WIFBH) that launched last year chaired by the Economic Development Board Bahrain.