Arabian Business Power 100 2010

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Topping the list, as he has done for the past six years, is HRH Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed. When it comes to power and influence, there is simply no equal. Whether through his vast business empire, his massive philanthropic activities or his presence on the world business and political stage, Prince Alwaleed has once again proved himself to be the best.

But below the prince come the changes during the past year. Straight in at number two is our highest new entry, Dubai’s Police Chief Dahi Khalfan Tamim. He has found global prominence after his much acclaimed work in solving the Mossad-linked murder of Mahmoud Al Mabhouh. From Dubai to New York, and London to Hong Kong, Tamim has become a household name.

Just behind him in third place is another new entry, Egyptian-born Dalia Mogahed. An advisor to US president Barack Obama, she is the first Muslim veiled woman to be appointed to a senior position in the White House. She is also the highest female entry in our list.

Another notable performance is Emaar boss Mohammed Alabbar at number four. Along with Prince Alwaleed, he is the only individual to have constantly been in the top ten for each of the six years we have published the list.

There are five new entries in the top ten alone this year. The highest climber is Air Arabia founder Adel Ali, who jumps an epic 78 places to number eight. Propping up our list at the bottom is Saudi actor Fayez Al Maliki.

After losing the top spot to Saudi Arabia last year, the UAE is back with a bang in 2010, netting seventeen of the slots in the Power 100. In at two is Egypt with sixteen entries, followed by Lebanon and Saudi Arabia with fifteen spots each. Syria comes in an impressive fifth with twelve entries.

We should, as always, stress that our list is entirely subjective. The 100 individuals named are, in our view, those who have had the most impact on the global stage in the last year, both positive and negative.

The Power 100 – the method behind the rankings

Over a period of eleven months, beginning in April 2009, our editorial team began updating the “Power” database — looking out for Arabs making a name for themselves on both the regional and global stage.

We define power as influence. In simplest terms, it is how much impact the actions of one person can have on others: the more impact, the more influence. We considered Arabs from across the globe in all walks of life — business, media, entertainment, law, academia, arts, fashion, music — names from more than twenty sectors were entered.

In line with our Power List policies, we do not consider any members of royal families, politicians or religious leaders. The exception is Prince Alwaleed, who we believe has amassed his power and fortune through business acumen rather than political influence.

In January this year our team of seventeen began the first of a series of meetings to consider more than 500 names on the database (including last year’s Power 100). By March, this had been narrowed down to 100 names.

The rankings from 11–100 were selected by the editorial team. For the top ten names, we first agreed on who should be included. After this, the rankings were decided by a voting system — each member of the team ranked the ten in order of personal preference. Position 1 = 10 points, Position 2 = 9 points — right down to Position 10 = 1 point. The total number of points was then taken for each candidate in the top ten, with the individual with the highest points assigned top position, second highest points assigned second position, and so on.

Power list researchers: Anil Bhoyrul, Andrew Sambidge, Andrew White, Damian Reilly, Joanne Bladd, Claire Ferris-Lay, Elsa Baxter, Shane McGinley, Edward Attwood, Neeraj Gangal, Edward Liamzon, Anees Dayoub, Hassan Abdul Rahman, Bashar Bagh, Samer Batter, Sayed El Azony, Fawzia Yasmineh