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Hisham Talaat Moustafa has been ranked 30th on Forbes Middle East's Top 100 CEOs list for 2026, the highest placing of any Egyptian executive on a ranking dominated by Gulf state companies.
The chief executive and managing director of Talaat Moustafa Group Holding heads a contingent of 15 Egyptians on the list, second only to the 31 Emiratis and ahead of the 13 Saudis. The ranking covers 102 individuals across 100 entries representing 21 nationalities, based in eight countries, with 49 in the United Arab Emirates, 18 in Saudi Arabia and 11 in Qatar. Every one of the top 10 comes from a Gulf Cooperation Council state, and the chief executives of Saudi Aramco, ADNOC and Emirates Airline retained the top three positions.
Banking and financial services accounted for the largest share of entries at 30. Real estate and construction, the sector Moustafa represents, supplied eight.
TMG booked $8 billion in contractual sales during 2025 and lifted net profit 43 percent to $381 million. Forbes Middle East separately ranked it the top listed real estate company in Egypt for 2026. The group reported total assets of E£436.2 billion and equity of E£157.7 billion, and employs more than 100,000 people.
The company now operates across Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Iraq, with a land bank exceeding 128 million square metres and developments including SouthMED, Banan City, Jood, Yamal and The Spine.
Iraq is the newest market. TMG secured an investment licence in May to develop an integrated city across 12.8 million square metres in southwest Baghdad, a project expected to generate about $18.8 billion in sales and to house 250,000 residents across 43,000 units.
The Egyptian projects are larger still. Noor City, a green smart city development, carries a $32 billion price tag. SouthMED, a luxury residential and tourism scheme on the North Coast valued at $20.9 billion, has recorded $4.2 billion in sales. Moustafa announced The Spine in April, a $27 billion mixed-use city east of Cairo comprising 165 towers with underground logistics infrastructure and a projected 55,000 direct jobs, developed in partnership with the National Bank of Egypt with paid-up capital of E£69 billion.
Moustafa, 66, took the chief executive role in 2017, returning to the company after nine years in prison. His father Talaat Moustafa founded the original construction and real estate business in the early 1970s, building integrated residential communities as Egypt's urban population outgrew its housing stock. The holding company was created in 2007 and listed on the Egyptian Exchange the same year.
The family retains control. TMG for Real Estate and Touristic Investments SAE holds the largest single block, and the brothers Tarek, Hisham and Hany Talaat Moustafa ultimately own about 34 percent of the listed company through their combined vehicles.
Other Egyptians on the Forbes list came mainly from banking. Mohamed El-Etreby of the National Bank of Egypt, which employs more than 35,000 people, was the highest-ranked Egyptian banker. Hisham Ezz Al-Arab of Commercial International Bank placed 46th and Hisham Okasha of Banque Misr 47th.
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