Hussain Sajwani, the founder, chairman and CEO of Damac Properties, a leading luxury real estate developer in the region, received major recognition at the Top CEO Awards 2017 ceremony held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Sajwan clinched the top spot amongst the real estate CEOs and ranked number 11 in the list of 100 regional CEOs compiled by Trends magazine in conjunction with Insead business school.

The red carpet awards ceremony, held recently at King Abdullah Economic City – Saudi Arabia, celebrated achievements of Top CEOs in the GCC region.

It paid tribute to 100 business leaders whose efforts toward the success of their organisations are instrumental in the continued growth of the GCC and have excelled in the field of leadership, said Mediaquest, the media and events company behind the initiative.

A leading luxury developer, Damac has been at the forefront of the Middle East’s real estate market since 2002 bringing luxury living experiences to residents from all over the world. As of December 31, 2016, it has delivered approximately 17,900 homes.

On the win, Sajwani said: "It is indeed an honour to receive this award, which I whole-heartedly dedicate to my team who worked long and hard to make Damac Properties what it is today."

"This award reaffirms our success and achievements as a company, and celebrates our contribution to Dubai’s overall success story and the wider GCC," he noted.

Julien Hawari, co-CEO at Mediaquest, said: "Top CEO Awards distinguishes itself from other schemes by stipulating that only CEOs of listed companies are eligible for entry. The awards are based on the financials of these companies, with the entire evaluation process being fully transparent and audited."

Trends works in partnership with Insead to ensure that the program formula is the most accurate it can be and collaborates with Hawkamah to include corporate governance and disclosure criteria as integral components of the ranking, explained Hawari.

"The entire work has a final review by Deloitte, who provide an independent, authoritative stamp of approval. The overall result is that Top CEO is the most reliable barometer of business leadership performance for the region," he added.

The awards ceremony was attended by close to 400 senior business figures from a wide cross-section of industries, keen to salute and celebrate the achievements of the region’s leading executives.-TradeArabia News Service