The elite women list has been unveiled in its May edition of the "Forbes Arabia," the Arabic edition of US-based Forbes, due to be issued on Wednesday.

Interestingly, this year's 'powerful women's list' is dominated by those executives who run their business but not own them, thus surpassing the 'stereotypic' businesswomen who run their own ventures.

Six out of the list's top ten are executives who are running major businesses mostly working in the areas of banking and investment services.

The second on the list is Kuwait's Maha Al Ghunaim, chairperson of Global Investment House followed by Saudi Arabia's Lubna Olayan, chief executive officer and geneal manager of Olayan Financing Company (OFC), who had topped the 2006 list. 

Saudi Arabia's Nahed Taher, founder and CEO of Gulf One Investment Bank came fourth in the list followed by Kuwait's Sheikha Khaled Al Bahar, vice chief executive officer of the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK), and Egypt's Sahar el Sallab, vice chairperson of Commercial International Bank (CIB Egypt) in the sixth position.

The 7th and 8th ranks were occupied by the UAE's Fatima Al Jaber, chief operating officer of Al Jaber Group and Raja Easa Saleh Al Gurg, managing director of Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group, while the 9th and 10 ranks were taken up by Kuwait's Sana Jumah, CEO of Kuwait Finance and Investment Company KFIC, and Suad Al Homaizi, founder and chairperson of Suad Al Homaizi Group.

The "Forbes Arabia" list also witnessed the rise of 21 newcomers. "This large number does not mean that outgoing businesswomen's size of business has been reduced," said Refaat Jaafar, managing editor of "Forbes Arabia."

"Rather, it reflects the striking presence of newcomers who have shown perseverance in their societies that have now been supporting women's right in education and their active participation in society."

The 2008 "Forbes Arabia" list also saw continuing predominance by family business women, who run companies founded or owned by their parents, at the expense of self-built businesswomen.

Trade was the most highlighted business activity in the list (17 women), followed by manufacturing (8 women) and finance/banking services (7 women).

Gulf dominance over the whole list is still on, with noticeable stress on leading ranks (29 versus 26 women in the 2006 list). Saudi businesswomen topped this year's list (9), followed by the UAE (8) and Kuwait (4).

Egyptian businesswomen (7) were distributed almost equally along higher and lower ranks, while businesswomen belonging to the North Africa region struggled to get a few places in the lower ranks.

According to Jaafar, the Gulf predominance over this year's list was mainly due "to the economic boom that countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE have experienced in the past few years.”

"Such boom paves the way for everyone – whether a man or woman - to excel in the world of business."

For the first time, the powerful women's list had businesswomen in their 20s - Egyptian Farida Mohammed Farid Khamis (28 years), vice chairperson of "Oriental Weavers Carpet", UAE's 27-year-old Amna BinHendi, CEO of BinHendi Enterprises and 28-year-old Amina Dasmal, chairperson of Alcove Entertainment of the UAE.

"Those aged above-40 dominated the list and remained as high as the previous list, at 18 per cent," Jaafar added.

"Forbes Arabia", whose first issue was published in Dubai in 2004, is renowned for its lists of celebrities and the rich.