Taroudant - The Arabian Business Magazine listed four Moroccan women on its “CEO Middle East” list of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Arab Women released on March 1.
The top Moroccan woman, ranking number 8 on the list, is the CEO of Aksal Group, Salwa Idrissi Akhannouch. She is followed by the founder of Teach4Morocco, Maha Laziri (ranked at 27), sociologist Fatema Mernissi (ranked at 81) and scientist Ismahane Elouafi (ranked at 91).
Head of Akwa Group, a distributor of petroleum products, Salwa Akhannouch is a prominent Moroccan businesswoman who heads the franchise group Aksal, founded in 2004. Her ambitious project, Morocco Mall, is the largest shopping center in Africa and the Middle East and among the world’s top five. Her father, the famous Berber businessman Ahmed Haj Belfiqih, made his fortune in the tea trade. She is married to Aziz Akhannouch, Minister of Agriculture.
As a young woman coming up in an emerging country, Maha Laziri found her passion as an education activist in Morocco. Laziri and her NGO’s small team have built schools in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains, the village of Ait Hamza, and the Tassaout Valley.
The author of numerous books on social, cultural and religious issues, Fatema Mernissi, a Moroccan feminist writer and sociologist, has been on the forefront of the critical dialogue about the position of women, and civil society since 1975.
Ismahane Elouafi, director general of International Centre for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) in Dubai since 2012, holds a PhD in genetics from Cordoba University, Spain, and has over 15 years of experience in agricultural research. Last year, Elouafi, a food safety champion, was among the eight scientists listed under “the shapers” category in the list of the top-20 most influential women scientists in Islamic World, and the only North African woman included in the ranking.
For the fifth year in a row, Sheikha Lubna Al Qassimi, the UAE Minister of International Cooperation and Development topped the 100 Most Powerful Arab Women list, followed by Lebanese attorney Amal Clooney, wife actor George Clooney.
Last year, three Moroccan women made it to the list namely Ismahane Elouafi, Fatema Mernissi and Maha Laziri.
The Middle East leading magazine ranks the Arab women according to the influential role they play in their societies and the impact they have in their field of work.
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