Qalaa Holdings as been chosen as one of Egypt’s top 100 companies listed on the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) for the third year in a row. This year, Marianne Ghali, Chairman and Managing Director of Sphinx Private Equity Management and Hala Abou Bakr, Chairman and CEO of City Gas and CFO of TAQA Gas are included in the prestigious list of 50 Most Influential Women of 2017. The inclusion of Ghali and Abuo Bakr on this year’s list brings the total number of Qalaa executives to be recognized up to four. In 2016, Pakinam Kafafi, CEO of TAQA Arabia, Qalaa’s energy sector subsidiary and Ghada Hammouda, Qalaa’s Chief Marketing and Sustainability Officer were selected.
“We are deeply honored to be recognized today among the top 100 Egyptian companies for three years in a row,” said Qalaa Holdings Co-Founder and Managing Director, Hisham El-Khazindar. “I am even more honored that four Qalaa Holdings senior executives are included among the most influential women, all four of them serve as role models to women and men alike.”
Qalaa Holdings was recognized at the award ceremony held under the patronage of H.E. Sherif Ismail, the Prime Minister of Egypt, and attended by leading government officials including H.E. Sahar Nasr, Minister of Investment, and H.E. Hala El Said, Minister of Planning and Administrative Reform, H.E. Hesham Arafat, Minister of Transportation, H.E. Khaled El Badawy, Minister of Public Enterprise and H.E. Abu Bakr El-Guindy, Minister of Local Development, along with leading members of the Egyptian business community and the diplomatic corps.
Ghali, Abou Bakr, Kafafi and Hammouda join an impressive list of leading Egyptian women who are active in diverse sectors of the economy such as banking, industry, energy, marketing, real estate, telecommunications, entrepreneurship and public service.
“I’m extremely pleased to have contributed in some measure to the growth of some of Egypt’s most promising medium sized companies and to have helped them expand to a level where they can now compete regionally,” said Ghali.
Ghali’s successful professional career has been diverse; in addition to her position at Sphinx, she serves as Managing Director at Grandview Investments Holding Corp. She is considered a pioneer in Egyptian private equity and has managed the endowments of the American University in Cairo.
“I’ve been working in Egypt’s oil and gas sector for my entire 39-year career, 17 of which were in the public sector, and it gives me great pleasure to have developed and enlarged the role of the private sector and the role of women in Egypt’s gas industry. I hope that in the years to come we will see more and more women enter into this promising sector. It has much to offer and women have proven that they can make valuable contributions as both engineers and financiers,” said Abou Bakr.
Abou Bakr is considered one of the pioneering founders of Egypt’s first private LDC (local distribution company) in 1996 with City Gas where she is currently Chairman and CEO. She was subsequently involved with the establishment of Genco Group, House Gas, Master Gas, and Egusco as well as the acquisition of Repco in 2001. Abou Bakr is also a founding member of the the Egyptian Gas Association established in 1989.
“The 50 Most Influential Women award offers a platform for accomplished Egyptian women to connect, exchange views and offer mentorship to the next generation of women leaders. It is a testament to the availability of high-caliber talent in Egypt and a reflection of the great impact that women are making today. As the Egyptian economy begins to regain strength we hope to see more and more women play active roles in each and every sector of the economy including many traditionally male-dominated fields where we are now starting to see women achieve great things” added Hammouda.
Qalaa Holdings is a proud supporter of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and is honored to lead by example as a company that empowers women to play leading roles as senior executives and industry leaders.
