50 over 50 EMEA 2022

Women around the world are proving that 50 and beyond is the new golden age. Here are the founders, business and political leaders, scientists and vanguards leading the way throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

- By Maggie Mcgrath, with Nicola Slawson, Samantha Todd, Justin Conklin and Giacomo Tognini

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 BioNTech’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