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On receiving his first African based award, Dr Al Barrak proudly said,
"I am honored and humbled by this recognition. I love this beautiful continent and its people and I assure them that Zain's commitment to Africa will continue infinitely. It is extremely important for Zain that our economic, social and cultural projects in Africa have a positive impact on the people we serve."
Since its acquisition of Celtel International for $3.36bn in 2005, Zain has invested over $12bn in the African continent through acquisitions, network upgrades and community projects. In Africa, the company currently operates in 16 countries employing over 10,000 people, and recently rebranded all its operations from Celtel to Zain on August 1, 2008. Africa customers make up two-thirds of Zain's total customer base.
Zain's international award winning 'One Network' service, offering borderless mobile communications free of roaming charges, was launched in Africa in September 2006 in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. By November 2007, the network had been extended to include 12 countries on the continent. Today, 'One Network' links two continents after four Middle East countries joined the service.
One Network has promoted cross-border trade and driven economic growth across the region and beyond as well as allowing loved ones to stay in touch at an affordable price.
CEO Middle East magazine recognized Dr Al Barrak for his achievements in the regional telecom scene, where Zain has become an industry leader in many areas of mobile communications, quickly rising from a one country operator in Kuwait in 2002 to being a global mobile operator, putting the region on the world telecom scene.
It also recognized Dr Al Barrak's brave decision in September 2007 to rebrand from MTC to Zain brand with a marketing campaign that has won the admiration of both the advertising and telecom sectors.
Similarly, Bespoke magazine's 2008 Visionary Award recognized that, since his appointment as CEO in June 2002, Dr Al Barrak has taken Zain from a $2.5bn Kuwaiti operation with 600,000 customers, to a $25bn market capitalized company operating in 22 countries with over 56 million customers.
As well as the launch of the 'One Network,' his other landmark and pioneering achievements include the 2003 acquisition of Fastlink in Jordan, the 2005 acquisition of African mobile operator Celtel with 13 operations at that time and a series of further acquisitions in Bahrain, Ghana, Iraq, Madagascar, Nigeria, Sudan, and most recently, Saudi Arabia, where, in March 2007, Zain successfully bid $6.1bn for the Kingdom's third mobile licence.
Throughout its evolution, and under Al Barrak's leadership, Zain has shown the way in embracing and refining the concept of CSR. Education and health have been the cornerstones, using telecom and wireless communication to help the lives of those living in remote areas, while encouraging excellence in all disciplines in the countries in which Zain operates.
Finally, he has pledged, through his 2007 ACE (Accelerate, Consolidate and Expand) strategy, to break into the top ten global telecom companies with $6bn in EBITDA and 150 million customers by 2011.On receipt of these two awards from CEO Middle East and Bespoke, Dr Al Barrak commented "We are proud of our roots and we hope to make Zain the first genuine telecom company to make the top 100 worldwide brands."
Earlier in 2008, Al Barrak was recognized by pan Arab media magazine, Arab Ad, as its Man of the Year. Prior to that, Dr. Barrak received Best CEO in the Middle East for the ICT sector by Datamatix in 2005 and two "Lifetime Achievement" Awards, the first in 2006 during the Arab Economic Forum organized by Al Iktissad wal Aamal Group and the second in 2007 by COMMSMEA magazine.
Also recently Global Telecoms Business magazine ranked Dr Al Barrak in 29th position most influential telecom executive over the century in its top 100 survey, placing him first among his Middle East and African peers.
But it is more than just a healthy bottom line that Al Barrak brings to the Zain Group. His energy for work, his zest for life and his enthusiasm to create a brand, whose sum is far greater than its core business, must surely have been factors that contributed to these recent honors. More are sure to follow.
Posted by Husam Odiabat
