Countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council, whose economies have benefitted massively from natural resources like oil and gas, have been increasingly diversifying their economies beyond the hydrocarbon business. They have a role to play by being a platform for various things in between these two poles: China versus the West.” To gauge how different industries are developing across the GCC countries, TIME partnered with data firm Statista on a research project aimed at identifying the top-performing 200 companies in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates based on employee satisfaction, revenue growth in recent years, and sustainability transparency informed by self-reporting. Methodology: How TIME and Statista Determined Arabia’s Top Companies of 2026 There are varied diversification efforts across the GCC countries.
The United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain have entered into agreements as part of the Trump Administration’s America First Investments to put more money into AI data centers and other technology innovations over the coming years. Saudi Arabia has been interested in becoming a hub where critical minerals are processed. And in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, which lead the region in economic diversification, other growing industries include health services, health tourism, and regular tourism.
Developmental differences in each country have affected which non-oil industries excel. States are investing more in renewable energy and green tech as they consider energy efficiency to meet their enormous electricity needs, and saving oil for exports, says Karen Young, political economist and senior fellow at the Middle East Institute. Banking and finance is the industry most represented on TIME and Statista’s list, with 15.5% of the companies.
Bahrain was the first of the GCCs to develop its financial services sector, allowing private equity funds like Investcorp, an investment vehicle that connected Gulf institutions with global business opportunities, to flourish. Places like Abu Dhabi are trying to follow suit. In 2023, Bahrain-headquartered Investcorp spun out Investcorp Capital (no. 84 in the overall list) in an IPO on the Abu Dhabi stock exchange.
Top-ranked First Abu Dhabi Bank’s largest shareholder is the state-owned Mubadala Investment Company. State activity and investment has been behind the expansion of the real estate industry as well as the development of giga-projects. All of these projects are “big business,” Young says, and “the bank sector is doing a lot of lending to these projects.” According to a 2024 McKinsey report, GCC banks tend to be more profitable than their global peers because of a balance of good oil prices, stable domestic deposits, and ambitious public investment programs.
The GCC’s economic development plans have experienced disruptions this year from geopolitical conflicts, and in response, companies have had to pivot their plans. Aluminum Bahrain Alba (no. 1 in country and no. 51 overall), which has long been a driver of the country’s non-oil economy, has had to lower output to protect itself from attack, driving up global prices for the metal and creating supply uncertainties. There’s now new attention on transport and infrastructure in the region.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
