Forbes Middle East has revealed its list of 40 women who created Middle Eastern brands in 2021, highlighting female entrepreneurs in beauty, fashion, jewelry, accessories, handbags, and shoes. The list was compiled based on celebrity endorsements, social media following, the number of countries represented by the brand, media coverage, and years of experience.
According to Forbes, the UAE leads the list with 15 brands headquartered in the country, followed by Egypt with eight brands and Lebanon with seven brands.
**Huda Beauty**
According to Forbes Middle East, sisters Huda and Mona Kattan, American of Iraqi descent, took the top spot on the list with their cosmetics brand (Huda Beauty), valued in millions of dollars and based in Dubai. The company started as a beauty blog in 2010, and Huda Kattan ranked 47th on Forbes' list of America's self-made richest women in 2020, with a net worth of $510 million as of October 13, 2020. The brand's annual sales are estimated at around $250 million.
The list also includes other established brands, such as the fashion brand (Reem Acra) in second place and the jewelry brand (Azza Fahmy Jewellery) in third.
**UAE Dominance**
The list highlighted the female founders and contributors to the region's most successful platforms and applications through the (10 Women Behind Middle Eastern Tech Brands) list, featuring 10 women who have created technology brands in the Middle East, evaluated based on funding rounds and revenues.
Thanks to its attractive business landscape and ease of doing business, the UAE once again leads the tech brand list with eight entries, followed by Saudi Arabia with two. The 10 startups collectively raised over $120 million in funding.
The e-commerce platform (Mumzworld), founded by Palestinian entrepreneurs Mona Ataya and Lina Khalil, ranked first, having raised over $50 million across five funding rounds. It is currently in the process of being acquired by the Saudi Tamimi Group, following a deal agreement in June 2021. This is considered one of the largest exits ever for a female-founded startup in the Middle East.
Sarah Toukhan also co-founded the platform (Ziina), the newest tech company on the list, which raised approximately $7.5 million in its latest funding round, bringing its total funding to over $8.6 million to date.
