Muna Easa Al Gurg is a businesswoman and philanthropist from Dubai. She is Managing Director of retail at Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group LLC and sits on several boards of directors of companies and non-profit organizations. Al Gurg is Chairwoman of Young Arab Leaders, promoting education, entrepreneurship and youth development. She received the Emirates Women’s Award and the Arabian Business StartUp Award for Women in Business.
Career
Al Gurg obtained her BA in Business Administration from the American University in Dubai and her Executive MBA in Business Administration from London Business School in 2009. She started her career with Saatchi & Saatchi in Dubai. Her first seat on a board of directors was in the Dubai Community Theatre and Arts Centre, where she served from 2004 to 2009, helping build the cultural center. In 2001, she joined Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group, her family's business and a leading conglomerate in the United Arab Emirates, as director of marketing and communications. She followed the example of her father, HE Sir Easa Saleh Al Gurg and eldest sister Raja Al Gurg. Since 2009, she has been director of retail, responsible for strategy and operational development for the group’s international and local retail brands.
Initiatives and charities
Since 2008, Al Gurg has been Chairwoman of , where she promotes education, entrepreneurship and youth development. She is a founding board member of Hub Dubai, a non-profit collaborative playground for social, environmental and economic development. Al Gurg has been advocating a greater role for women in business. Within Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group, she started the Al Gurg Women's Empowerment Forum, a program providing a platform for women to voice their opinions to company board members. In 2015 she launched the Muna Al Gurg Scholarship at London Business School, supporting female students studying on the school’s MBA and Executive MBA program. Al Gurg has been serving on the board of several non-profit organizations, such as the where she works with Chairman Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan. At the Easa Saleh Al Gurg Charity Foundation, she is responsible for strategy and initiatives both in the UAE and internationally, including primary education support for underprivileged children in Zanzibar. She is a member of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Sustainability Board, which is mandated to provide innovative and sustainable solutions to refugees in the MENA region. Finally, she is a founding board member and Co-Chair of Endeavor UAE, a non-profit organization promoting high-impact entrepreneurship in emerging and growth markets.
Other activities
Al Gurg is a Fellow of the Middle East Leadership Initiative of the Aspen Institute and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. She is an opinion columnist for Gulf News, a major Dubai daily newspaper. Al Gurg is a judge for the Emirates Award for the Arabian Gulf Youth. In 2012, she was a member of the judging panel on the UAE business reality show The Entrepreneur. Al Gurg is an active investor. One of her most publicized successes was the $3.1 billion exit from the Middle East's largest technology startup Careem which was acquired by Uber in March 2019. Al Gurg was one of the only female investors and the sole Emirati.
Honors and awards
In June 2010, Al Gurg received the Emirates Women’s Award for outstanding achievers from the hands of Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum. In 2013, she was given the Arabian Business StartUp Award for Women in Business. In 2015, she was featured in Emirati Women Achievers, a book with inspiring stories of 21 successful Emirati women.
