Saad Al Barrak

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Dr. Saad Al Barrak
Born (1955-09-05) 5 September 1955 (age 66)
Farwaniyah, Kuwait
CitizenshipKuwait
Alma materGeorgetown University, Ohio University, Harvard Business School, University of London
OccupationBusinessman, Engineer
Websitewww.saadalbarrak.com

Saad Al-Barrak is a Kuwaiti businessman, entrepreneur, and investor. Al-Barrak's career started as an engineer at International Turnkey Solutions where he was promoted to CEO after a five year tenure. Shifting ITS from a local player to a regional powerhouse. Al-Barrak is best known for his role as CEO of Zain Group where he turned Zain (formerly known as MTC) from a local telecom company with 500,000 users to an empire with 72 million users. Al-Barrak's leadership and expertise in change management was the element to Zain's success.


Saad Al-Barrak was born in the Farwaniyah District of Kuwait in the year 1955, the seventh of eleven brothers and five sisters, the son of Hamad Al-Barrak, treasurer to Helal Al-Mutairi, one of the most prominent pearl traders in the region. Al-Barrak studied at the Mubarakiyah school where he excelled in secondary school. Concurrently Al-Barrak was a gymnastics player at Kazma club. After successfully finishing high school, Al-Barrak was granted a scholarship to continue his education in The United States of America. Al-Barrak took an ESL course at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. and went to Ohio University afterward to study electrical engineering. Al-Barrak was a politically active student during his time at Ohio.

Career[]

Al Barrak started his career with a short stint at Kuwait Prefab Industries, during a short break in between his Bachelors and master's degrees. After completion of his master's degree, he taught at the Kuwait Institute of Applied Technology as a part of the conditions of the government scholarship that he was given. Upon being persuaded by an old friend, he joined ITS as a project engineer. Within a year, he was put in charge of Project teams and sent on training courses to the UK and US. By the end of 1985 he was appointed as Systems Development Manager and in (months after that was promoted to Assistant Director General for Sales and Systems support. In 1987, he was appointed CEO of ITS, barely 4 years after he had joined them as a Project Engineer. Al Barrak, resigned as CEO in 2001 and continued as managing director until 2002. Mobile Telecommunications Co. (MTC) had just been divested by the government and been taken over by the Al Kharafi Group, and Al Barrak became managing director of MTC which later re-branded as Zain Group in 2002 until he resigned in February 2010.[1] He started ILA, an advisory firm in December 2010.[2]

Awards[]

  • 2003 - E-businessman of the year, Arabian Business e-achievement award[3]
  • 2007 - Lifetime achievement award, Comms MEA[4]
  • 2008 - Arab Ad man of the year, Arab Ad[5]
  • 2008 - International Investor award, Africa Investor[6]
  • 2008 - Telecom CEO of the year, CEO Middle East
  • 2008 - Visionary award, Bespoke[6]
  • 2009 - Editor's Award for Individual Contribution to the telecoms industry, Global Telecoms Business[7]
  • 2012 - Kuwaiti Business Man of the year, Arabian Business[8]
  • 2012 - Outstanding contribution to Business, CEO Middle East[9]

Bibliography[]

  • Al Barrak, Saad (February 2012). A Passion for Adventure-turning Zain into a telecom Giant. Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing. ISBN 978-99921-94-88-1.

References[]

  1. ^ "Saad al Barrak resigns from Zain". The National. Retrieved 2020-06-06.
  2. ^ Al Barrak, Saad (2012). A Passion for Adventure. Qatar: Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing. ISBN 978-99921-94-88-1.
  3. ^ "MTC's Dr Saad Al-Barrak voted eBusinessman of the year". Zain. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  4. ^ "MTC scores hat-trick at CommsMEA awards". Arabian Business. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  5. ^ "Arab Ad awards Dr. Saad Al Barrak 'Man of the Year 2008'". Media ME. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  6. ^ a b "Zain Group chief wins three awards". New Vision, Uganda. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  7. ^ "GTB Innovation Awards: results in full". Global Telecom Business. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  8. ^ "Ex-Zain CEO wins Kuwaiti Businessman of the Year". Arabian Business. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  9. ^ "Dr Saad Al Barrak Wins Prestigious Award". Arab Times. Retrieved 12 July 2013.

External links[]

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