50 OVER 50 EMEA 2022
Özlem Türeci • 54
Cofounder-Chief Medical Officer, BioNTech, Germany
Türeci’s name will forever be synonymous with the coronavirus pandemic and the vaccine she helped pioneer at BioNTech, the company she cofounded in 2008. A doctor and immunologist by training—for decades, she researched innovative ways to treat cancer—Tureci oversaw BioN-Tech’s “Project Lightspeed,” which successfully developed a messenger-RNA vaccine for Covid-19. Along with Pfizer, the company began distribution to the public within the first year of the pandemic. BioNTech is not her first entrepreneurial venture; she and her husband, Ugur Sahin (who is her cofounder at BioNTech and the CEO), founded the cancer therapy-focused Ganymed Pharmaceuticals in 2001 and sold it for roughly $1.4 billion in 2016.
Raja Al Gurg • 66
Managing Director, Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group, U.A.E
Businesswoman Al Gurg is the managing director and vice chair of the Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group, which is one of the largest conglomerates in the Middle East. Additionally, she is the Dubai Business Women Council president and board member of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In 2020, Al Gurg was awarded the Legion of Honor, Chevalier (Knight) by French President Emmanuel Macron for her efforts in strengthening the partnership between France and the U.A.E.
Fatima Al Jaber • 56
Board Member, Al Jaber Group; Chair, Al Bashayer Investment Group, U.A.E
An architectural engineer by training, al Jaber is one of the most influential women in the U.A.E. She was the longtime chief operating officer of the Al Jaber Group, a 50,000-employee conglomerate founded by her father with businesses in construction, logistics and manufacturing. She now sits on the company’s board, and also serves as board chair of Al Bashayer Investment Group, a investment shop with $22 billion in assets under management operating across the Gulf, Middle East and Asia.
Anne Boden • 61
Founder-CEO, Starling Bank, U.K
Fed up with Britain’s musty banking system, Boden started her own digital bank, Starling, in 2014. Before joining the fintech boom in her fifties, Boden had a distinguished 30-year career at many global financial heavyweights, including the Royal Bank of Scotland. Starling, which has won Best British Bank every year since 2018, now has nearly £8 billion worth of deposits and more than two million customer accounts. Boden’s memoir, Banking On It: How I Disrupted an Industry, was published in 2020.
Mo Abudu • 57
Founder-CEO, EbonyLife Media, Nigeria
A one-time model who saw an opportunity to expand the shows and stories broadcast on the African continent, Abudu founded Ebony-Life in
