Nashwa Al Ruwaini on Forbes Arabia’s list

Nashwa Al Ruwaini, CEO of production company Pyramedia, Director of the Middle East International Film Festival and popular media personality takes the 49th spot on Forbes Arabia's list of the 50 Most Powerful Arab Businesswomen.

Nashwa joins a host of successful businesswomen for the second year of Forbes Arabia's list of the 50 Most Powerful Businesswomen in the Arab World. Taking the top spot this year is Salma Hareb, Chief Executive of Dubai's Economic Zones World and Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority and in 1995 became the first woman in the Middle East and North Africa to head a free zone when she became the boss of Jafza.

Following Hareb on the list in the second and third spots are Kuwait's Maha Al Ghunaim, the chair of Global Investment House and Saudi Arabia's Lubna Olayan, CEO and General Manager of Olayan Financing Company who topped the 2006 list.

An international star in her own right, Nashwa was born in Egypt, raised in Saudi Arabia and Qatar and educated in England and now splits her time between the UAE, Paris and London. Nashwa first entered the media arena 18 years ago when she started her career in Radio and TV in Qatar and quickly moved on to join the Middle East Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) for a number of years in London. She later moved to Cairo to head MBC's Cairo office and in 1998, established her own production company, Pyramedia, which now has offices in London, Cairo, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and New York.

Nashwa says, “It's a true honour to join such an impressive list of admirable people, my team and myself have worked very hard over the years to contribute to the success of the media industry in the region. Our aim is to give the world a gateway into the region and to continue in improving the image of the Middle East in the West, I only hope we can continue to grow in the future.''

Nashwa's company, Pyramedia, has grown to become one of the largest production companies in the region, producing some of the highest rated TV shows on Abu Dhabi TV including the ‘Million's Poet' and ‘Prince of Poets' TV competitions. In addition to productions, Pyramedia are the agents of many stars in the Arab world and have cast Arab actors in international productions such as Ghassan Massoud in Ridley Scott's film ‘Kingdom of Heaven.'

Nashwa has become a household name over the years with her self-titled talk show on Dubai TV, ‘Nashwa,' which was first broadcasted in February 2005. On the show, she discusses various topics surrounding the Arab World and addresses many issues that are considered taboo in Arab societies such as witchcraft, divorce and child abuse and HIV. She also heads the Nashwa Foundation, a charity established by her to help disadvantaged women and children. As a result of her show she has recently been nominated for a Rose D'or Award in the ‘Best Entertainer' category at the prestigious festival in Switzerland.

Nashwa is Director of the Middle East International Film Festival which had its inaugural festival in October 2007 hosted by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage. The Festival was a massive success attracting major stars from the international film industry to Abu Dhabi such as producers Harvey Weinstein and Paul Haggis.

With 18 years of experience in the media, Nashwa has been voted best female presenter for five consecutive years from 1998-2002 by various Arab newspapers and magazines and most recently won a Gold Award for Best Talk Show in the Tenth Gulf Radio and Television Production Festival.

The Forbes Arabia list will appear in the magazine's May edition that is due to be released on Wednesday. This year's list is dominated by executives who run businesses with six of the top 10 working in the banking and investment sectors. The listing takes into account a number of factors including title and resume, the size and importance of their businesses, influence, career path, cultural and social impact and the number of regional and international media mentions.