197:. She subsequently worked there in fire-fighting operations, as superintendent of petroleum engineering, and as R&D specialist. Between 1981 and 1999, Akbar worked in the oil sector at Kuwait Energy, a company she co-founded and served as CEO. She is the first woman to hold a leading position in the Middle East oil and gas industry. During the 1990 invasion of Kuwait by Iraq, most of the oil wells in the country (80%) were attacked by Saddam Hussein's army. Akbar was the lone woman on a rogue team of petroleum engineers who acted against orders to take on the dangerous task of dousing oil well fires. She believes it was her familiarity with the wells that allowed her team to be successful: "I worked on the oilfields, offshore and onshore, day and night, and the result of this work was that I knew the oilfields very well... There were 800 wells and I knew every single one like the back of my hand." Their efforts were later shown in
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she argues, "Kuwait is top of the class in women’s rights, access to education, business and work. , the country remains way behind in terms of political rights, which we finally got four or five years ago. I strongly believe in the 'power of women,' i.e., their ability to fight for what they are entitled to and to finally win the battle. In Kuwait, this movement is quite strong." Akbar does not believe Islam imposes "social limits" on women, instead, she believes there are larger socio-cultural factors that impact women's rights.
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In interviews, Akbar speaks about the role of women in the workplace, especially in Middle
Eastern countries. She notes that there is variation between the countries and should not be viewed as equivalent in their advancements of women's rights. Speaking about Kuwait and the women's rights movement,
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139:) is a Kuwaiti chemical petroleum engineer, women's rights advocate, and co-founder and former chief executive officer of Kuwait Energy. Akbar is recognized as a "national hero" due to her involvement in the
219:. She also was a "catalyst" humanitarian efforts in the country. Under Akbar's direction, Kuwait Energy sponsored approximately "two hundred women to start up small business markets..."
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In
January 2018, Akbar became the only woman on the Board of Trustees of the Silk City and Boubyan Island development authority for the project
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Akbar credits parental support as a key factor in her success, as well as the success of her siblings. She is currently married and living in
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Akbar began her career working in departmental offices before attaining a position as a petroleum engineer for
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From 2001 to 2005, she was the business development manager of Kuwait
Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company.
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Ali, Souad T. (2016-09-08). "Sara Akbar: Kuwait's Hero and Female Leader in the Oil
Industry".
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In 2006, Akbar was behind the creation of oil and gas legislation and regulations in
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418:"Sara Akbar Makes a Name for Herself in the Oil Industry - Knowledge@Wharton"
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161:. Akbar is one of the first women oil sector company executives from the
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544:"Iron lady of the Middle East, Sara Akbar, to speak at ONS - ONS 2018"
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WOW Award (Entrepreneurship Award) – New Arab Woman Forum, 2017
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American
Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers
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Ranked 46 out of "The Top 100 Most
Powerful Arab Businesswomen" by
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Leader in Energy – Women in
Leadership Awards and Forum, 2009
752:"100 Most Powerful Arab Businesswomen 2017 - Forbes Middle East"
489:"Sara Akbar: The first Kuwaiti engineer working in oil fields"
758:. Researched by Ahmed Mabrouk, Ranju Warrier, Jason Lasrado
702:"Distinguished Membership - Society of Petroleum Engineers"
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with her husband and three children. Akbar is Shia Muslim.
379:"Kuwait Energy eyes London listing with Soco merger talks"
185:'s first graduating class of Chemical Engineers in 1981.
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Kuwait Energy's CEO, Sara Akbar talks to Oil & Money
568:"Kuwait Energy chief Sara Akbar recalls baptism of fire"
233:. She resigned as the CEO of Kuwait Energy in 2017.
153:. For her firefighting efforts, she was awarded the
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619:"Soco turns lights out on Kuwait Energy merger"
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441:Al Madani, Abdullah (2015-03-20).
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854:Kuwaiti people of Iranian descent
143:which were later depicted in the
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884:Kuwaiti women company founders
675:Abucedo, Zainab (2009-11-06).
487:Omran, Mohammed (2014-04-07).
257:Society of Petroleum Engineers
224:Society of Petroleum Engineers
167:Society of Petroleum Engineers
16:Kuwaiti scientist and activist
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255:Distinguished Member –
834:21st-century women engineers
824:20th-century women engineers
616:Gosden, Emily (2018-03-06).
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829:21st-century businesswomen
819:20th-century businesswomen
377:Ambrose, Jillian (2018).
353:10.1163/15692086-12341298
246:Global 500 Roll of Honour
241:Akbar's awards include:
155:Global 500 Roll of Honour
110:Global 500 Roll of Honour
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889:Women chemical engineers
844:Kuwait University alumni
173:Early life and education
894:Kuwaiti women engineers
869:People from Kuwait City
65:chief executive officer
879:Women chief executives
775:: CS1 maint: others (
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147:nominated documentary
443:"Iron Lady of Kuwait"
874:Petroleum engineers
727:"Sara Akbar - AIME"
652:"Sara Akbar | AIME"
517:"Sara Akbar | AIME"
756:Forbes Middle East
596:Kuwait News Agency
195:Kuwait Oil Company
129:Sara Hussein Akbar
86:Kuwait Oil Company
468:The Business Year
422:Knowledge@Wharton
231:Madinat al-Hareer
183:Kuwait University
163:Arabian Peninsula
141:Kuwaiti oil fires
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572:The National
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814:1958 births
706:www.spe.org
683:(in Arabic)
495:(in Arabic)
445:(in Arabic)
298:Kuwait City
808:Categories
762:2018-02-05
736:30 January
711:30 January
687:2018-02-05
661:2017-12-08
637:2018-03-07
602:2018-03-07
577:2017-12-08
553:2017-12-08
548:www.ons.no
526:2020-01-09
499:2018-02-05
473:2018-02-05
449:2018-02-05
427:2017-12-08
396:2018-03-07
304:References
57:Occupation
23:Sara Akbar
771:cite news
632:0140-0460
624:The Times
493:Hayatouki
391:0307-1235
361:1569-2086
237:Accolades
226:in 2007.
169:in 2007.
157:from the
137:سارة أكبر
248:–
79:Employer
799:YouTube
217:Somalia
681:Alanba
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277:Forbes
266:, 2013
259:, 2003
252:, 1993
189:Career
133:Arabic
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103:Awards
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341:Hawwa
777:link
738:2018
713:2018
628:ISSN
387:ISSN
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797:on
349:doi
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
