Bahrain's Top 50 Power List

Arabian Business is a magazine that's been running for quite a while, and one thing they're good at is picking out and identifying whose who. They've brought us the top 50 richest Arabs a few months ago, and are now down to tackle our own little island with their top 50 most influential people.

This list confuses me a little. It's not the 50 richest, nor is it the 50 in the top positions of power. I guess it's a little bit of everything, fame, fortune, etc. Royal family members are not included apparently because that skews the list, so here you have it.

It's a pretty interesting list. Talal Al Zain tops out at number 1, being CEO of Mumtalakat (which is essentially the holding company for the governments assets, namely Gulf Air, Bahrain International Circuit, major shares in Batelco, National Bank of Bahrain, etc). CEO of that? That's a lotta frickin' power.

Esam Janahi holds the second spot, mainly for his role as Chairman of Gulf Finance House, as well as being on the board of a bunch of other companies. A regular employee just over a decade ago, Esam pushed forward with GFH to create one of the biggest Islamic investment banks in the region back in '99; we're talking about initiative such as energy cities in countries all over the world, economic development zones, and those two emerald green towers you see from almost any spot in Bahrain. And that's hardly scratching the surface; GFH has done a LOT, with many investment banks in the country and region opening to try and follow course.

The Kanoo's make an obvious appearance in the top 10. So do the Moayyed's, although not the one you would expect; Mona Almoayyed, President of Bahrain's Businesswomen Society, MD of Y K Almoayyed, and achievement spanning being the first woman to be elected to the board of the Bahraini Chamber & Commerce. Lovely.

Number 5 gives me a bit of a shiver when I read his history; Menir Kirdar, who originally escaped from Iraq as a child hiding in a rolled up carpet, is founder of Investcorp, one of the earlier investment banks in the region holding over $13 billion dollars worth of assets, with regional office in London and New York. A bit of a step-up from that rolled up carpet, huh.

The list goes on to cover CEO's, Chairman's, and other people holding up major positions. A few names hold special interest, however. Milan Macala, Coach for the Bahrain football team makes #10, and with good cause. Bringing Saudi to their knees and bringing us that one step closer to the World Cup, Milan is revered as one of the best coaches in West Asia. Will that hold true against New Zealand? Let's wait and see.

Artists also manage to make the list, as we see both Qassim Haddad, probably Bahrain's most famous poet, Al Shaikh, one of our most influential composers, Balqees Fakhro, artist, and Haifa Hussein, actress whose gone on to be featured in TV shows all around the region make the list. I don't necessarily agree with all of these, as I do believe we have more deserving and influential artists, but it's always good to see that this list is not just about business.

What do you think of the list? I personally have a bunch of names I would take out and a few more I would put in there (I would also rank myself at either 27 or 28 somewhere on this list), but generally this gives a good idea of whose who on our little island. Check out the actual list and let me know what you think!

1 Talal Al Zain
2 Esam Janahi
3 Abdulla Ali Kanoo
4 Mona Almoayyed
5 Nemir Kirdar
6 Anwar Abdulrahman
7 Khalid Abdulla Janahi
8 Abdul Rahman Jawahery
9 Steve Harrison
10 Milan Macala
11 Dr Jawaher Al Mudhaki
12 Ahmed Al Noaimi
13 Dr Mohamed Nedal Alchaar
14 Jawad Habib Jawad
15 Khalid Rashid Al Zayani
16 Alan Horne
17 Hassan Ali Al Majed
18 Samer Majali
19 Dr Osama Al Ali
20 Rashid Mohammed Al Maraj
21 Qassim Hadad
22 Khamis Al Muqla
23 Jamil A Wafa
24 Farouk Y K Almoayyed
25 Jassim Al Jowder
26 Akram Miknas
27 Mohammed Dadabhai
28 Peter Kaliaropoulos
29 Mohamed Al Qaed
30 Fouad Rashid
31 Martin Whitaker
32 Fahad Al Rajaan
33 Stephen Rothel
34 Hassan Ali Juma
35 Adel Hassan Bin Ali Al A'Ali
36 Bob Vincent
37 Abdulla Ahmed Nass
38 Khaled Al Sheikh
39 Murad Ali Murad
40 Fathi Al Mohamed
41 Ahmed Al Ameer
42 Faisal Jawad
43 Haifa Hussein
44 Khalid Abdulla Al Bassam
45 Nooruddin A Nooruddin
46 Balqees Fakhro
47 Atif A Abdulmalik
48 Ammar Ali
49 Majid Al Sayed Bader Al Refai
50 Yousof Saad Kamel


ArabianBusiness.com - Bahrain Power List