Darwish nets Businessman of the Year at Qatar awards

Badr Darwish has scooped the prestigious Businessman of the Year award at the Arabian Business Qatar Awards 2011. Held in Doha on Tuesday night, the judges commended Darwish for “his sense of doing the right deal at the right time.” Darwish was one of 17 award winners named in the same week that the IMF placed Qatar as the world’s richest nation. Qatar’s gross domestic product per capita at $88,221 in 2010, beating Luxembourg for the top spot. The country’s economy is set to grow by 16% this year, and as one of the largest global investors through its sovereign wealth fund, Qatar plans to spend over $125bn in the next five years on construction and energy projects. Other big winners included Buthaina Al Ansari for Businesswoman of the Year, while Qatar Foundation won a special CSR award. Hisham Al Mana was named Visionary of the Year, with Al Jazeera English picking up the award for International Achievement. A special award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to Business’ was given to the bidding team behind the Qatar 2022 World Cup, which the judges said “had proved the doubters wrong, in the process putting Qatar firmly on the world map.”