Forbes, a global business magazine, has recognised two Pakistani businesswomen in its ‘100 Most Powerful Businesswomen 2024’ list.

The two on the list are former Unilever Pakistan CEO Shazia Syed and PureHealth co-founder Shaista Asif.

According to Forbes, the criteria in the compilation of the list included the leaders’ tangible impact on the region and the market that they serve, alongside their respective achievements and performance in the last calendar year.

Shaista Asif was ranked fourth in the list. She co-founded the healthcare corporation in 2006 and was appointed as the group’s chief executive in December 2023.

The initial public offering of the company was raised the same month by $986 million after offering 10% of its issued share capital on the first market of the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, the magazine said.

The IPO was oversubscribed 54 times in the professional subscriber tranche and 483 times in the retail tranche.

Syed serves as the general manager for Unilever’s operations in North Africa, Iraq, Levant, and Arabia. She had previously been recognised as one of the top executives in the Middle East in 2023.

She began her professional journey with Unilever Pakistan as a management trainee in 1989 and worked her way up the corporate ladder.

In a LinkedIn post, she said: “To me, personally, it’s a wonderful reminder of boldly championing my values in my personal and professional leadership journey,” she said.

“I am humbled and proud to represent Unilever and deeply grateful to every person in the organization who has contributed to my journey of enabling change both internally and externally,” Syed stated