Arab Women: Salma Hareb

There are many characters and celebrities we hear about every now and then or maybe daily, but in this topic I'm going to introduce two of the most powerful Arab women, we have the Emirati woman Salma Hareb. On the other side we have Leila El Solh, the Lebanese woman. Both are on the 100 most powerful Arab women, as for Salma, she came at the third place while Leila is on the forth place.

Salma graduated from UAE University and was still holding down a job in Dubai before she decided to change the career. In 1997 she started to work in JAFZA. She quickly moved up the ranks and in 2005 was chosen to be the CEO of JAFZA and Economic Zone World. She got her new title "The First Female in the Middle East and North Africa" to be appointed head on an economic free zone. As for Leila, she was the first woman to hold a cabinet position when she was appointed as a Minister of Industry in year 2004. Now, she is known for her humanitarian work with the Alwaleed Bin Talal humanitarian Foundation in Lebanon.

Under Hareb's leadership, both JAFZA and EZW have grown massively. In recent years EZW established free zones around the world including hubs in many countries. Also she was responsible for EZW's takeover the British logistics and warehouse in July 2008. The foundation Leila is holding was set up in 2003 and in a very short time is managed to reach many areas in Lebanon in need of humanitarian support for development. The foundation has become the base of educational, health and social organizations support throughout Lebanon.

These women showed us how people weather they are men or women could develop themselves and it encourage the people to do better in life and work hard to achieve what they aim for, and they can do it if they really believe in themselves.

References:

100 Most Powerful Arab Women 2011 [Leila El Solh ]. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/

100-most-powerful-arab-women-2011-384182.html?view=profile&itemid=383758

100 Most Powerful Arab Women [Salma Hareb]. (n.d.). Retrieved from Arabian Business website:

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/

100-most-powerful-arab-women-2011-384182.html?view=profile&itemid=383757