Two Pakistani women have been recognized by global business magazine Forbes as two of the 10 most powerful women leaders in the Middle East. Shaista Asif, ranked fourth in Forbes magazine’s list of the 100 most powerful businesswomen in the Middle East 2024, is the co-founder and group CEO of PureHealth Holding, a healthcare network in the United Arab Emirates. Asif co-founded the healthcare corporation in 2006 and was appointed group CEO in December 2023.
The company’s initial public offering (IPO) was raised by US$986 million in the same month after offering 10% of its issued share capital on the first market of the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), Forbes reported. The IPO was oversubscribed 54 times in the professional tranche and 483 times in the retail tranche. The company acquired the UK’s largest independent hospital operator, Circle Health Group, for $1.2 billion before debt in January 2024.
And that same month, PureHealth acquired Sheikh Shakbout Medical City, the largest healthcare complex in the UAE, for $600 million with revenues of $585.4 million. Unilever CEO North Africa, Levant and Iraq Shazia Syed, also Head of Customer Development in Arabia, is ninth on the list for her extensive experience in large corporations.
The former CEO of Unilever Pakistan served as the President of the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry and was also the Director of the Pakistan Business Council. In 2021, she took up the position of General Manager for North Africa, the Levant and Iraq. Hailing from Abbottabad, Syed joined the British consumer goods multinational as a management trainee in Pakistan in 1989.
“She also sits on the board of United Bank Limited in Pakistan, is a member of the board’s risk and compliance committee and is the chairperson of the board’s audit committee,” Forbes said, adding that she previously served as a board member of Chai Pukka and Pepsi Lipton.
