Saad Al Barrak

Dr. Saad Hamad Al-Barrak is a Kuwaiti pioneer businessman and an exceptional economic visionary in the Middle East.

Dr. Saad H. Al Barrak is currently the Deputy Chairman and Managing Director (CEO) of the leading multinational telecommunications company Zain.

Since his appointment in 2002, under his tutelage Zain’s (formerly MTC) customer base has increased from 600,000 to a conglomerate of 22 operations with over 50.74 million active customers across the Middle East and Africa. In this period, Zain's market capitalization on the Kuwait Stock Exchange has increased from less than US$3 billion to now exceed $25.8 billion (June 30, 2008). Dr. Al Barrak holds a BSc in Electrical Engineering, an MSc in Systems Engineering from Ohio University, and a PhD in Information Systems & Technology Management from the University of London. He is also an alumnus of Harvard University.

Prior to his appointment with MTC, Dr. Al Barrak was Managing Director of International Turnkey Systems (ITS), one of the leading IT companies in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Under Dr. Al Barrak, ITS’s revenues grew from $5 million in 1985 to exceed $100 million in 2000. Dr. Al Barrak was Vice-Chairman of the Social Development Office (SDO) of the Amiri Diwan in Kuwait; Chairman of Egyptian software developer ITSoft; Chairman of Arab Telecom; and a non-executive Director of Arab Management Association in Cairo.

In 2005 he received the Middle East’s ‘CEO of the Year’ award in the Information Communication Technology sector, and in 2003 he received the ‘E-businessman of the Year’ award in the region. Recently in September 2007, Dr Al-Barrak received the 2007 Lifetime Achievement Award from leading industry magazine COMMSMEA. Dr Al-Barrak is also an Executive Board Member of Celtel International and a Member of the Board of the GSM Association.