(Credit: Forbes ME official website)
BEIRUT – Forbes just released its Top 100 CEOs list of 2023, featuring two Lebanese Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), Carlos Wakim and Joe Kawkabani, who head companies in the Middle East.
Last year’s 2022 list had featured three Lebanese CEOs (Alain Bejjani, Samia Bouazza and Eddy Maroun), a number close to this year’s.
Meet the two Lebanese CEOs who made the list
Carlos Wakim
(Credit: Forbes ME official website)
Ranked at 77, Brazilian-Lebanese Carlos Wakim currently serves as the CEO of Bloom Holding, a leading UAE real estate developer which he joined in 2021 to oversee Bloom Properties, Bloom Hospitality and more. Wakim also serves as the chairman of the Executive committee for Bloom Education and chairman of the board of governors of Brighton Colleges U.A.E. schools, according to Forbes’ official website.
Joe Kawkabani
(Credit: Forbes ME official website)
Ranked at 91, Kawkabani serves as the CEO of OSN group, the region’s leading entertainment network across MENA, which he joined in April 2022. He currently leads around 1,000 people from the company’s headquarters in Dubai. Forbes’ website also states that Kawkabani is the Group Chief Strategic Initiatives Officer (CIO) at the Kuwait Projects Company (Holding) – KIPCO, one of OSN’s two parent companies.
Combined revenues 'of over $1 trillion'
In its third annual list, Forbes gave the spotlight to top players that run the region’s largest companies, headquartered in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
According to Forbes’ website, the 100 CEOs listed managed combined revenues “of over $1 trillion in 2022.” Collectively, their companies were reportedly worth more than $5 trillion.
To build its ranking and assess CEOs, the business magazine took into account various metrics including “individual’s accomplishments, implemented innovations over the past year, size of their company and their impact on their firm and the wider industry.”
It is worth noting that, for the second consecutive year, only seven women CEOs made the cut, that is 7 percent of the individuals listed. This remarkably low number mirrors a reality where top executive positions remain heavily male-dominated in big corporations, especially in the region.