Mrs Salma Hareb, is the CEO of Economic Zones World and spearheads innovative product development to provide greater value to EZW customers. She has been instrumental in the creation of the Dubai Logistics Corridor, which quadruples Dubai’s logistics efficiencies.
Under her leadership, Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza), the flagship Free Zone of Economic Zones World, has been recognized as one of the most efficient Free Zones in the World, with a customer base of more than 7,300 companies, and 120 of the Global Fortune 500 enterprises, with total non-oil trade of US$90.2 billion, contributing more than 20 percent to Dubai’s GDP.
As head of Economic Zones World, she also leads Technopark, the company’s research and development initiative in core economic sectors including Water, Health, Energy, Engineering, e-Commerce and Logistics, as well as Dubai Auto Zone (DAZ), a comprehensive market place for the Auto Industry catering to buyers, sellers, service providers, principals and traders.
Internationally, she is actively overseeing Economic Zones World’s development of a logistics park in South Carolina, USA, Special Economic Zones in India, and a Free Zone in Djibouti, Africa.
Prior to her role as CEO, she worked as Jafza’s Chief Planning Officer, responsible for strategic planning, business development, finance, and human resources. Before that she worked as Chief Haematologist in the Department of Health and Medical Services. She completed her education in the UAE and the UK, in the fields of Medical Sciences, Information Technology and Business in addition to a one year post graduate study in Haematology at the University of Cardiff.
Mrs Salma Hareb’s distinctive initiatives and achievements have been recognised with several awards over the years.
Most recently, she received the Frost & Sullivan Growth, Innovation and Leadership Award 2014, and last year, she was named the “Overall Winner – Professional Category” in Emirates Women Awards 2013.
Her array of awards over the years includes the ‘Women CEO Excellence Award’ conferred at the 9th Middle East CEO of the Year Awards; the ‘Asian Business Leadership Award’ at the Asian Business Leadership Forum Awards; the ‘Woman CEO of the Year’ at the Women in Leadership (WIL) Forum and “Business Women Award 2006 for Leadership”.
She was also recognized as the 2nd most influential Arab woman in Government in the Middle East and North Africa region by Forbes Middle East in 2013 and was also rated among the 100 most powerful Arab Women earlier by CEO Middle East as well as the Asian Business Magazine. She was declared one of the most influential business women in the region by MEED magazine in 2008. She also topped Forbes Arabia’s list of the 50 most powerful Arab business women in the same year.