The Gulf Business Awards 2026 celebrated the region’s leading companies and executives on September 23 at The Ritz-Carlton, Dubai, JBR, bringing together senior business leaders, entrepreneurs and decision-makers from across the Gulf. The ceremony opened with a welcome address from Ian Fairservice, Managing Partner and Group Editor-in-Chief, Motivate Media Group followed by an address by HE Abdulla Ahmed Al Saleh, Under Secretary of the UAE Ministry of Economy.

Among the night’s highest honours, Dr Azad Moopen, Chairman and Founder of Aster DM Healthcare, received the Lifetime Achievement Award, recognising his contribution to the region’s healthcare sector. Alshaya Group was named Gulf Business Company of the Year, while Raheel Ahmed, Group CEO of RAKBANK, received the Gulf Business Leader of the Year award.

Read entire speech by HE Abdulla Ahmed Al Saleh

The 2026 awards recognised achievement across a broad range of sectors, including artificial intelligence (AI), banking, tourism, hospitality, retail, transport, healthcare, energy, technology, investment, logistics, resilience and sustainability. Winners in the Business Leader categories included senior executives from ADNOC Distribution, RAKBANK, Miral, Aleph Hospitality, Chalhoub Group, Parkin, Mediclinic Middle East and Global South Utilities, among others.

The company awards, meanwhile, recognised businesses including Inception42, Habib Bank AG Zurich, Miral, Radisson Hotel Group, Alshaya Group, GE Aerospace, Mediclinic Middle East, GE Vernova, stc Bahrain, EFG Holding, Arenco Automotive, TalentOne and VinFast Middle East. The evening also featured a series of Editor’s Choice and Special Awards, recognising achievements spanning finance, entrepreneurship, AI innovation, global launches, business marketing and CFD brokerage.

The awards formed part of a milestone year for Gulf Business, which marks its 30th anniversary in 2026, celebrating three decades of covering the companies, leaders and economic developments shaping the Gulf’s business landscape.

Gulf Business Awards 2026: Winners and Highly Commended

Business Leader Awards

AI Leader of the Year

Winner: Saeed Nasser Al Ahbabi — Chief Shared Services & Technical Officer, ADNOC Distribution

Banking Leader of the Year

Winner: Raheel Ahmed — Group CEO, RAKBANK

Tourism Leader of the Year

Winner: Mohamed Abdalla Al Zaabi — Group CEO, Miral

Hospitality Leader of the Year

Winner: Bani Haddad — Founder & Co-CEO, Aleph Hospitality

Retail Leader of the Year

Winner: Michael Chalhoub — CEO, Chalhoub Group

Transport Leader of the Year

Winner: Eng. Mohamed Abdulla Al Ali — CEO, Parkin

Healthcare Leader of the Year

Winner: Hein van Eck — CEO, Mediclinic Middle East

Energy Leader of the Year

Winner: Ali Alshimmari — Managing Director & CEO, Global South Utilities (GSU)

Technology Leader of the Year

Winner: H.E. Dr Tariq Bin Hendi — CEO, Botim, CEO & Board Member, Astra Tech

Investment Leader of the Year

Winner: Prateek Suri — Founder & CEO, MDR Investments

Logistics Leader of the Year

Winner: Tarek Sultan — Chairman, Agility

Resilient Business Leader of the Year

Winner: Mazen Nahawi — Founder & CEO, CARMA and RAIYN

Sustainability Leader of the Year

Winner: Salmeen Alameri — Managing Director & CEO, Agthia Group

Conglomerate Leader of the Year

Winner: Capt. Pradeep Singh — Owner & Chairman, Karma Group

Editor’s Choice & Special Awards

Financial Leader of the Year

Naser Taher — MultiBank

Young Entrepreneur in the Middle East 2026

Ali Al Musalam — Nava Group

Excellence in AI Innovation of the Year

Andreas Hassellöf, Founder & CEO — Ombori

Best Global Launch

Maison Origine Paris x Emirates Inflight Duty Free — 2 trophies

Excellence in CFD Brokerage

Tag Markets

Excellence in Business Marketing

Credibility X

Lifetime Achievement Award

Winner: Dr Azad Moopen — Chairman and Founder, Aster DM Healthcare

Business Company Awards

AI Company of the Year

Winner: Inception42

Highly Commended: AIQ

Banking Company of the Year

Winner: Habib Bank AG Zurich

Highly Commended: RAKBANK

Tourism Company of the Year

Winner: Miral

Highly Commended: Marjan

Hospitality Company of the Year

Winner: Radisson Hotel Group

Highly Commended: Palazzo Hospitality

Retail Company of the Year

Winner: Alshaya Group

Highly Commended: Jashanmal Group

Transport Company of the Year

Winner: GE Aerospace

Highly Commended: Car Fare Rent A Car (Car Fare Group)

Healthcare Company of the Year

Winner: Mediclinic Middle East

Highly Commended: The Brain & Performance Centre

Energy Company of the Year

Winner: GE Vernova

Highly Commended: IPT Energy

Technology Company of the Year

Winner: stc Bahrain

Highly Commended: Crowe MAK Technology

Investment Company of the Year

Winner: EFG Holding

Highly Commended: CFI Financial Group

Logistics Company of the Year

Winner: Arenco Automotive (Thrifty and Dollar Car Rental)

Highly Commended: Transcorp

Resilient Company of the Year

Winner: TalentOne

Highly Commended: FIVE Holdings; Capstone Real Estate

Sustainability Company of the Year

Winner: VinFast Middle East

Highly Commended: GoSolr

Gulf Business Company of the Year

Alshaya Group

Gulf Business Leader of the Year

Raheel Ahmed — Group CEO, RAKBANK

Rising electricity demand from artificial intelligence, data centres and industrial electrification is colliding with geopolitical disruption and infrastructure constraints, forcing energy systems to navigate increasingly difficult trade-offs over security, affordability and decarbonisation, the World Energy Council said.

The council’s 2026 World Energy Trilemma report, released during Climate Week NYC, said disruption to energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz and growing demand from digital infrastructure were contributing to a broader rebalancing of the global energy system.

The report, titled Rebalancing World Energy: Trade-Offs and Transformations, said the challenge was increasingly shifting from deploying new generating capacity to integrating generation with grids, storage, flexible demand, markets and institutions.

Drawing on dialogue with more than 275 senior energy leaders from 65 countries, the council said grids, storage and system integration were the most commonly identified constraints on progress.

“World energy is being rebalanced in real time. Our World Energy Trilemma report shows how the electrification surge, geopolitical disruption and persistent development gaps are creating harder choices across grids, storage, markets and institutions,” Angela Wilkinson, secretary general and CEO of the World Energy Council, said.

“Integration and interoperability are now critical: connecting the parts of each system and enabling different systems and pathways to work together. Leadership means continuously rebalancing security, affordability and sustainability while keeping sight of what energy is ultimately for — better lives and stronger economies.”

The report identified five recurring tensions: investing for the future while managing current costs; redesigning markets within existing systems; strengthening national competitiveness while maintaining cross-border interdependence; sustaining the pace of energy transitions while retaining public legitimacy; and matching institutional ambitions with available capacity.

In sub-Saharan Africa, around 600 million people still lack access to electricity, with investment in transmission and other infrastructure needed alongside additional generation capacity.

Saudi Arabia is meanwhile targeting renewable sources for around 50 per cent of electricity generation by 2030, increasing the focus on integrating renewable capacity with storage and other sources of flexible generation.

The World Energy Council also cited China as an example of the scale of transmission infrastructure required to connect energy resources with major industrial and population centres. The country has developed nearly 50 ultra-high-voltage transmission projects, while its government has set a target for west-to-east electricity transmission capacity to exceed 420 gigawatts by 2030.

In Brazil, renewable sources accounted for 86.8 per cent of domestic electricity supply in 2025, while increasing curtailment is adding to the need for greater flexibility across generation, storage, markets and demand.

The World Energy Council describes “rebalancing” as continuously reassessing energy security, equity and environmental sustainability as technological, economic and geopolitical conditions change.

Founded in 1923, the council says its network comprises more than 3,000 member organisations with a presence in more than 100 countries.

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Nearly three-quarters of UAE organisations experienced a material impact from a cyberattack over the past 12 months, up sharply from a year earlier, according to new research from Cohesity.

The fifth annual Cohesity Global Cyber Resilience Report found that 73 per cent of UAE organisations suffered a material cyberattack in the past year, compared with 59 per cent in 2025. Almost nine in 10, or 88 per cent, said they had experienced such an attack at some point.

The findings point to a growing focus on recovery as organisations contend with increasingly complex attacks and seek to restore critical business operations with minimal disruption.

Nearly two-thirds, or 64 per cent, of UAE organisations said they have a cyber resilience strategy but recognise that it still needs improvement to address current threats and challenges. That compares with 54 per cent in 2025.

Johnny Karam, managing director, International Emerging Region at Cohesity, said: “UAE organisations are strengthening their cyber resilience even as attacks grow more frequent and sophisticated. What the research tells us is that many recovery strategies are still built for a version of an incident that doesn’t reflect what teams actually encounter once an attack hits. Closing that gap is the next stage of resilience maturity in the region.”

Recovery plans face real-world test

Cohesity’s research identified a significant gap between how organisations plan for recovery and what happens during an actual attack.

While 91 per cent of organisations’ recovery plans assume the process will follow a largely linear, step-by-step sequence without significant backtracking, 93 per cent of those that suffered a material attack in the past year said recovery required workarounds or improvisation.

Among organisations affected by an attack, 88 per cent identified gaps in how their recovery plans accounted for critical dependencies, including artificial intelligence (AI) systems, third-party integrations, security tools and workforce skills.

Another 71 per cent found that the scope of the attack extended beyond their initial assessment.

“Recovery rarely follows a linear path. Organisations need to adapt as attacks evolve and new dependencies emerge, and that’s reshaping how we should think about resilience,” Karam said.

Operational recovery remains a challenge

Restoring technology systems does not necessarily mean businesses can immediately return to normal operations, the report found.

Among UAE organisations experiencing a material cyberattack over the past year, 93 per cent said business recovery was delayed by dependencies between systems that had not been validated or were not functioning correctly.

Another 93 per cent cited a lack of confidence that restored data and systems were clean and safe to use, while 90 per cent reported that key systems or applications had been restored but were not yet fully functional or verified for use.

Despite those concerns, only 45 per cent of organisations that suffered a material attack in the past year conducted an independent forensic review to validate restored systems before reconnecting them to production environments.

The findings suggest cyber resilience is increasingly becoming a wider business continuity issue rather than solely an IT concern, with organisations facing pressure to restore operations quickly while ensuring recovered systems and data are safe to use.

Abu Dhabi has been announcing industrial deals at pace, spanning automotive manufacturing and food production, banking partnerships and SME financing. The Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) says the point is not the individual investments but how they fit together.

Rather than backing standalone projects, it is trying to build connected ecosystems, where financing, infrastructure, logistics, suppliers and talent are already in place for companies to plug into.

Here, Nadia Rashed, director of Outreach and Enterprise Development at ADIO, tells us about that ecosystem model, the ambition to reshape access to capital, why import substitution and supply chain resilience matter, and what success will look like for Abu Dhabi’s industrial strategy over the next few years.

Across your recent announcements, we are seeing financing partnerships, SME scale-up support and manufacturing investments coming together. How does ADIO ensure these initiatives operate as one connected ecosystem rather than standalone programmes?

At ADIO, we think about industrial growth through connected ecosystems rather than standalone investments.

The automotive sector is a strong example of this in practice. ROX Motor is establishing manufacturing capability, Motherson is strengthening supply chain depth, Overfinch is adding engineering expertise, and partners such as Borouge, Tahaluf and ACTVET contribute advanced materials, digital infrastructure and workforce development. Together, these elements and investments create an industrial platform rather than a single project.

The same model is being applied across other sectors. Financial partnerships with institutions such as Dubai Islamic Bank, Gulf International Bank, WIO Bank and Zelo Finance are improving access to capital; the Emirates Growth Fund is supporting SME scale-up; and manufacturing investments from companies such as BBC Coffee Roastery, Dolphin Group and Pipetec are expanding production capability and supplier depth.

The broader objective is to create environments that companies can plug into, where financing, infrastructure, logistics, suppliers and talent are already connected, allowing businesses to establish, scale and compete globally from Abu Dhabi.

With agreements involving banks such as Dubai Islamic Bank and WIO Bank, plus the integration of TAMM for referrals, what is the broader ambition for how Abu Dhabi wants to reshape access to capital for businesses setting up and scaling in the emirate?

The ambition is to make access to capital simpler, faster and more closely integrated with the wider industrial ecosystem. One of the biggest challenges businesses face globally, particularly SMEs and manufacturers, is not always access to financing itself, but navigating fragmented systems while trying to scale operations quickly.

The focus is on reducing that friction and creating more connected pathways between businesses and financing providers.

Through partnerships with institutions such as Dubai Islamic Bank, Gulf International Bank, Numou, WIO Bank and Zelo Finance, ADIO is helping create clearer pathways between businesses and financing providers.

The integration with TAMM, Abu Dhabi Government’s digital services platform, plays an important role by creating a streamlined referral pathway that allows businesses to connect with relevant financing partners through a single channel.

The partnership with Emirates Growth Fund highlights a bridge between equity investment and expansion support. Is Abu Dhabi trying to position itself as a full capital-stack hub, from seed funding through to industrial scale-up and global expansion?

Abu Dhabi is increasingly building a full-spectrum capital environment that supports companies from early-stage growth through to industrial scale-up and international expansion. The Emirates Growth Fund partnership is a good example because it bridges equity investment with practical expansion support, helping UAE-based SMEs not only access capital, but also scale operations within Abu Dhabi.

That sits alongside broader initiatives spanning banking partnerships and supply chain finance solutions, industrial ecosystem development and export support programmes. We are working towards creating a more connected capital environment where companies can move from early-stage growth into manufacturing, production and international expansion. The focus is not only on attracting businesses into Abu Dhabi, but on giving them the financing, infrastructure and partnerships needed to grow sustainably over the long term.

We are also seeing very different sectors being activated, from coffee manufacturing and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) production to automotive engineering and heavy industrial expansion. What is the underlying sector strategy driving this diversification?

The underlying strategy is consistent across sectors. The Abu Dhabi Industrial Strategy (ADIS) is focused on strengthening industrial capability across sectors where we can expand domestic production, deepen supply chains and improve long-term export competitiveness.

That is why you are seeing activity across industries such as automotive, food manufacturing, advanced industry and industrial materials. In automotive, the focus is on building a connected ecosystem across manufacturing, engineering, supply chains and technology.

In food manufacturing, companies such as BBC Coffee Roastery, Agthia and Mars Food Industries are strengthening local production and processing capability, while industrial players such as Dolphin Group, MT Group and World Thermal Insulation are expanding manufacturing capacity linked to infrastructure and construction demand.

So while the sectors are different, the underlying objective is the same: build integrated industrial ecosystems that improve resilience, support localisation and position Abu Dhabi as a globally competitive production and export hub.

In cases like BBC Coffee Roastery and Dolphin Group, there is a clear emphasis on localisation of production and industrial capacity. How central is import substitution and supply-chain resilience to Abu Dhabi’s long-term industrial strategy?

Import substitution and supply chain resilience are becoming increasingly important because long-term industrial competitiveness depends on stronger domestic production capability and more integrated supply chains. The objective is not simply to produce more locally, but to create deeper industrial value chains across manufacturing, processing, engineering and industrial services.

What Abu Dhabi is building is a more balanced industrial model, one that combines local capability with global connectivity. By embedding more production and industrial expertise within the local economy, the emirate is strengthening resilience, improving supply chain responsiveness and creating long-term economic value across key sectors.

You can already see this taking shape across industries. Mars Food Industries is strengthening food manufacturing capacity in Al Ain, AQLON is establishing local smart meter manufacturing capability, and Pipetec’s expansion is advancing specialised coating and fabrication capability for regional infrastructure projects.

Together, these developments reflect a broader shift towards building industrial depth alongside industrial scale.

Looking across all these deals, what does success look like for ADIO’s broader strategy over the next three to five years? Is it measured in capital inflows, job creation, industrial output, or becoming a regional hub for advanced manufacturing and services?

Success for ADIO’s broader strategy goes beyond traditional metrics like capital inflows, job creation or industrial output, though these remain important indicators. The true measure of achievement is when our ecosystem partners themselves advocate to their peers that Abu Dhabi is unequivocally the place industries need to be to produce, innovate and export competitively from a single, connected environment.

We are already seeing this confidence take hold. Many of our partners say Abu Dhabi offers the right conditions for growth: integrated financing and world-class infrastructure, robust logistics, strong supplier networks, advanced technology, and high-quality talent. These elements are coming together to support not just individual companies, but entire sectors in scaling up and thriving.

The impact is tangible across automotive, advanced manufacturing and food production, where production capacity, supply chains, technology adoption and workforce development are now being built as part of a unified ecosystem, rather than in isolation.

Looking ahead to the next three to five years, our vision of success is for even more sectors to operate this way. We expect to see companies increasingly choosing Abu Dhabi, not as a standalone destination, but as an essential node in a connected ecosystem where they can accelerate growth, scale globally and build enduring industrial capabilities from within the emirate.

The momentum we feel today from our partners both validates our approach and shows that Abu Dhabi’s reputation as the place to be is already becoming a reality.

Emerson is set to build a new Middle East and Africa automation solutions service and operations centre in Qatar’s Umm Alhoul Free Zone, expanding its capabilities for customers across the region.

The 3,500-square-metre Emerson Middle East & Africa Service Center will include what the company said will be the region’s first certified in-country flow calibration laboratory, alongside automation, training, integration and distribution capabilities.

The facility is intended to help industrial customers reduce turnaround times and costs while improving operational efficiency and accelerating project delivery.

“This new investment reflects Emerson’s strategic commitment to accelerating innovation in Qatar and supporting the Middle East’s most critical operations,” said Judson Duncan, group president of Global Sales at Emerson. “Our additional capabilities will enable customers to operate with greater agility, reliability and cost efficiency.”

Qatar facility to open in phases

The centre will be equipped to calibrate large flow meters used in high-pressure and high-volume operations.

It will also provide measurement instrumentation solutions and skid training systems, off-the-shelf inventory and spare parts distribution, and staging and integration services for distributed control systems.

A dedicated training and experience centre will support customer operations teams.

The facility will open in phases, with control systems staging, measurement solutions services, spare-parts inventory and the training centre scheduled to begin operations in December 2026.

The certified flow calibration laboratory is expected to open in early 2027.

Emerson expands regional footprint

Emerson said the investment supports Qatar National Vision 2030 objectives around economic growth and diversification while expanding the company’s industrial technology presence in the Middle East.

The Qatar centre will add to Emerson’s existing manufacturing, service and distribution footprint in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, as well as its network of accredited service partners across the region.

The investment was formalised at a signing ceremony on the sidelines of the Qatar Economic Forum in New York City.

The ceremony included Sheikh Mohammed Bin Hamad Bin Faisal Al-Thani, Chief Executive Officer of Qatar Free Zones Authority, and Sheikh Faisal bin Thani bin Faisal Al-Thani, Minister of Commerce and Industry and Chairman of Qatar Free Zones Authority.