HE Mohamed Alabbar Speaking at the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival in November last year, HE Mohamed Alabbar emphasised the importance of ensuring the presence and influence of home-grown businesses in the region. He has certainly taken the lead in doing so, both with his ubiquitous development company Emaar, and more recently his e-commerce venture Noon.com. Now just over one-year-old,… Speaking at the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival in November last year, HE Mohamed Alabbar emphasised the importance of ensuring the presence and influence of home-grown businesses in the region. He has certainly taken the lead in doing so, both with his ubiquitous development company Emaar, and more recently his e-commerce venture Noon.com. Now just over one-year-old, Noon has made substantial ground in its bid to win market share from Amazon-owned rival Souq.com. Backed by Saudi sovereign wealth fund PIF, Alabbar plans to expand the online marketplace to Egypt by the end of Q2 in 2019, and has also called for new legislation that imposes 51 per cent local ownership of e-commerce related businesses. Meanwhile, Alabbar is plotting greater international expansion, with China foremost among the company’s priorites. Chairman, Emaar / Noon.com Origin:UAE Residence:UAE Sector:Real estate / retail