Revealed: Gulf Business Awards 2020 shortlists

The Covid-19 pandemic has undoubtedly shaken nearly every facet of our lives including the way we live and work. It’s been a year of immense change and yet there have been individuals and businesses who have persevered in the face of this adversity and come out on top.

To recognise and celebrate these individuals and companies, Gulf Business will be hosting its Gulf Business Awards 2020 virtually on Thursday, November 26, at 3pm.

At the virtual awards, you will recognise familiar categories such as the Energy Company of the Year and the Retail Company of the Year. However, you will also notice an all-new category of industry awards under Technology, which will recognise companies which have excelled in Consumer Tech, Emerging Tech and Digital Transformation.

Also for the first time, we will be delivering a Sustainability Company of the Year award, to acknowledge those who have put the environment and adoption of green technologies at the heart of their business model.

With disruption being the norm this year, it was an organic decision to include a Disruptor of the Year category.

In addition to companies, the individual excellence awards will include categories such as the Businesswoman Leader of the Year, as well as leaders within the tourism, retail and logistics sectors, among others.

A very special addition to this year’s awards is the Covid-19 Heroes category – one that has seen so many inspiring initiatives to counter the economic, social and health pandemic which has gripped us over the last few months.

Some of the top awards of this year’s awards will be the SME of the Year, the Gulf Business Leader of the Year, the Gulf Business Company of the Year and perhaps the most coveted of them all – Gulf Business Lifetime Achievement Award. It’s an award whose past winners have included H.E. Sheikha Lubna bint Khalid Al Qasimi, H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al Maktoum, H.E. Easa Saleh Al Gurg and H.E. Mohamed Alabbar, among others.

Below is the list of nominees across all the categories of the award.

To watch the awards presentation live on Thursday, November 26, at 3pm, click here.

Banking Company of the Year

• Emirates NBD
• First Abu Dhabi Bank
• Mashreq Bank
• National Commercial Bank
• RAKBank

Investment Company of the Year
• Century Financial
• Al Mal Capital
• Shuaa Capital
• Alpen Capital
• Berkeley Assets

Energy Company of the Year
• Saudi Aramco
• ACWA Power
• ENEC
• Masdar
• GE Power

Healthcare Company of the Year
• Aster DM Healthcare
• Mediclinic Middle East
• Thumbay Group
• Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA)
• VPS Healthcare

Real estate Company of the Year
• Aldar
• NEOM
• Danube Properties
• Nakheel
• Seven Tides

Retail Company of the Year
• Majid Al Futtaim
• Souq/Amazon
• Noon.com
• Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons
• Spinneys

Transport and logistics company of the Year
• UAE Space Agency
• RTA
• Air Arabia Abu Dhabi
• Emirates SkyCargo
• Etihad Rail

Tourism and hospitality company of the year
• Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing
• Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (RAK TDA)
• Accor
• Rove Hotels
• Radisson Hotels

Consumer Tech company of the year
• OPPO
• Samsung
• HP
• Huawei
• Lenovo

Emerging Tech company of the year
• G42
• China Terminus
• Dubai Future Labs
• Mohammed bin Zayed University of AI
• Micro Focus

Company of the year: Digital Transformation
• Huawei Enterprise Solutions
• Injazat Data Systems
• Orange Business Services
• Evoteq
• Datamena

Banking Business Leader of the Year
• Shayne Nelson, CEO, Emirates NBD
• Andre Sayegh, CEO, First Abu Dhabi Bank
• Dr. Adnan Chilwan, CEO, Dubai Islamic Bank
• Lubna Olayan, Chairperson, Saudi British Bank (SABB)
• His Excellency Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, Chairman of Mashreq

Energy Business Leader of the Year
• Amin Nasser, President and CEO, Saudi Aramco
• Saif Humaid Al Falasi, CEO, ENOC
• Mohamed Al Hammadi, CEO, Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation
• Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, CEO, Masdar
• Jasim Husain Thabet, CEO and MD, TAQA

Healthcare Business Leader of the Year
• David Hadley, CEO, Mediclinic Middle East
• Dr. Thumbay Moideen, Founder and president, Thumbay Group
• Dr Azad Moopen, Founder, chairman and managing director, Aster DM Healthcare
• Dr. Shamsheer Vayalil, Chairman and managing director, VPS Healthcare
• Dr. Rakesh Suri, CEO, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi

Real Estate Business Leader of the Year
• H.E. Mohamed Alabbar, Chairman, Emaar
• Farhad Azizi, CEO, Azizi
• Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, Chairman, Arada
• Arif Mubarak, CEO, Dubai Asset Management
• Atif Rahman, Director and partner, Danube Properties

Retail Business Leader of the Year
• Yusuff Ali MA, Chairman and managing director, LuLu Group
• Alain Bejjani, CEO, Majid Al Futtaim Group
• Ronaldo Mouchawar, Co-founder of Souq and vice president, Amazon MENA
• Mohamed Alabbar, Founder, Noon.com
• Rajiv Warrier, CEO – GCC, Choithrams

Transport and logistics Business Leader of the Year
• Bashar Obeid, CEO, Aramex
• Dr Mohammed Nasser Al Ahbabi, Director general, UAE Space Agency
• Mudassir Sheikha, CEO and co-founder, Careem
• Ahmed Al Mutawa, CEO, Abu Dhabi Terminals
• Jay Walder, CEO, Virgin Hyperloop

Tourism and Hospitality Leader of the Year
• Issam Kazim, CEO, DCTCM
• H.E. Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman, Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi
• Amr AlMadani, CEO, Royal Commission for AlUla
• Guy Hutchinson, CEO and president, Rotana
• Kevork Deldelian, CEO, Middle East and Africa, Millennium Hotels and Resorts

Technology Business Leader of the year
• Samer Abu Ltaif, President, Microsoft Middle East and Africa
• Takreem El- Tohamy, General manager, IBM Middle East and Africa
• Leopoldo Boado, Senior vice president of Business Applications for Eastern and Central Europe and MEA, Oracle
• Mohammed Amin, Senior vice president, Middle East, Russia, Africa and Turkey, Dell Technologies
• Reem Asaad, Vice president, Middle East and Africa, Cisco

Sustainability company of the year
• Majid Al Futtaim – For its plans to phase-out single-use plastics across its operations by 2025
• Etihad Airways – For introducing the ‘Greenliner’ and committing to a minimum target of zero net carbon emissions by 2050
• The Abu Dhabi Department of Energy and Abu Dhabi Global Market – For their green bond accelerator initiative and green bonds strategy
• ACCIONA – For creating the “most energy-efficient electric car in the world”, which also participated in the Saudi Dakar rally
• Careem Bike – For introducing a cleaner public transport option

Disruptor of the Year
• Rain –the first cryptocurrency platform to have received a regulatory licence in the region
• Anglo-Gulf Trade Bank – a fully digital corporate trade bank
• Cafu – the region’s first on-demand fuel delivery app
• Pure Harvest Smart Farms – a sustainable agriculture business focused on the production of greenhouse fruits and vegetables
• Okadoc – a Dubai healthtech firm that offers instant doctor appointments online

Businesswoman of the Year Award
• Sarah Al-Suhaimi, Chairperson of Tadawul
• Amna Al Owais, Chief registrar, DIFC Courts
• Nayla Al Khaja, CEO, Nayla Al Khaja Films
• Alyazia Al Kuwaiti, Executive director, Upstream and Integrated sectors, Mubadala Investment Company
• Hind Abdul Hamied Seddiqi, Director general, Dubai Watch Week and Chief marketing and communications officer, Seddiqi Holding

Covid-19 Heroes award
• Ma’an, for its ‘Together we are good’ campaign
• Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, for its 10 million meals campaign and its World’s Tallest Donation Box initiative
• Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation for Education, for the Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair Covid-19 Online Learning Fund for Refugee Education
• Alwaleed Philanthropies for pledging $30m to fight Covid-19