Sima Ganwani Ved

Sima Ganwani Ved is the Founder and Chairwoman of the Apparel Group, one of the largest retailers in the Middle East based out of the UAE. The multi-billion-dollar company is home to 75+ brands with over 1900 stores in 14 countries with 16,500+ human capital. Over the years, Sima has been the recipient of many awards professionally and personally, some of which are The Philantropreneur of the year, Retailer of the year, Great Place to Work, Great Women’s Award and Emirates Woman of the year.

Sima was born in Africa and brought to Dubai by her self-made entrepreneur father in the 1970s. She studied in King’s College London to achieve her Bachelor’s degree and subsequently an MBA in Business Management. She began her entrepreneurial journey at the age of 20, working in her father’s shopping mall in early 90s as the manager of a department. To her, that set the tone of her value for hard work and business ethics.

Sima is an active member of many world organisations such as YPO and CEO. She is also the first female member in YPO to set up a regional chapter (YPO MENA STAR) that began with a vision of gender equality for its membership base. The chapter has achieved 52% female members, which is the highest in YPO globally.

Her compassion for underprivileged children led her to mentoring her teenage daughter, Sarisha Ved, to launch her own Athleisure brand F5 Global, where some of the profits go towards the education underprivileged children. She simultaneously mentored her eldest daughter Selina Ved and founded a new social commerce beauty platform NESSA.