Rank 01 ( Rank in 2023 , 08 ) Bader Al-Kharafi – CEO of Zain Group
Al-Kharafi is being recognised as the most strategic leader in 2023 , in large part for his role forging . the landmark tower company agreement with Ooredoo and TASC Towers , incorporating nearly 30,000 towers across six countries , combining their respective passive infrastructure portfolios .
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Rank 01 ( Rank in 2023 , 08 ) Bader Al-Kharafi – CEO of Zain Group
Al-Kharafi is being recognised as the most strategic leader in 2023 , in large part for his role forging . the landmark tower company agreement with Ooredoo and TASC Towers , incorporating nearly 30,000 towers across six countries , combining their respective passive infrastructure portfolios .
Zain and Ooredoo will each retain a 49.3 % shareholding in the yet-to-benamed joint tower company , while TASC Towers , in which Zain holds a 92.87 % stake , will have the remaining stake .
The newco will be headquartered in Dubai , and will boast combined assets in Qatar , Kuwait , Jordan , Iraq , Algeria , and Tunisia , with a projected run-rate revenue close to US $ 500 million annually .
Zain is already one of the most active telcos in the tower leasing business in the Middle East , having announced at the start of 2023 that its operation in Iraq had entered into a definitive 15- year agreement to sell and leaseback the passive physical infrastructure of its 4,968-tower portfolio to TASC Towers Iraq .
2023 also saw Al-Kharafi preside over other major developments including at ZainTECH , Zain ’ s digital innovation provider , which announced its intention to acquire Specialised Technical Services Company ( STS ), Jordan ’ s largest digital transformation solutions company . The deal follows the announcement of the acquisition earlier in 2023 of Adfolks , a UAEbased cloud-native engineering firm that provides a comprehensive range of cloud transformation services .
In Kuwait , Zain unveiled a new marketing partnership with Red Bull Mobile targeted at the youth market .