Forbes Middle East has announced its 30 Under 30 list for 2025, and five Egyptian women have made the cut. These women aren’t just standout names on a regional list — their work is shaping culture, industry, and innovation far beyond national borders. From Cairo to global stages, design labs to digital platforms, the women featured in the Middle East’s 30 Under 30 for the year of 2025 reflect a generation determined to transcend borders and reshape what’s possible.
Sarah Abouelkhair – Cofounder of 2oolameme
Sarah Abouelkhair is redefining how play and culture intersect in the Arab world. As the cofounder of 2oolameme — featured alongside her cofounder and husband — she helped turn a locally grounded idea into one of the region’s most recognizable social gaming brands.
Founded in 2020, the company builds games that speak directly to shared cultural references, humor, and language often missing from mainstream gaming. Under her leadership, 2oolameme has sold over one million games across eight countries, spanning both commercial releases and custom games developed for major brands, including Maybelline.
With dozens of original titles and brand collaborations behind her, Abouelkhair’s work shows how culturally specific ideas, when executed well, can scale without losing their soul.
Layla Ghaleb – Director & Choreographer
Layla Ghaleb’s choreography lives at the intersection of movement, identity, and spectacle. An Egyptian director and choreographer with a global reach, her work has appeared on some of the world’s most visible stages, including the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 halftime show, continental tournament ceremonies, and high-profile campaigns for brands such as Versace.
She began her career at Ghaleb Production House, where she spent five years leading creative direction and large-scale executions for global brands. That foundation shaped her ability to translate concept into kinetic storytelling. Across every scale, Ghaleb treats the body as a site of expression, power, and collective rhythm.
Laura Ayoub – Musician, Part of The Ayoub Sisters
Laura Ayoub represents a new wave of Egyptian musicians reshaping how classical music is experienced. As one half of The Ayoub Sisters, she has helped bridge classical training and contemporary sound, bringing instrumental music to global audiences without diluting its technical depth. The duo has performed in some of the world’s most prestigious venues, including the Royal Albert Hall, while their recordings have reached millions of listeners worldwide.
Beyond performance, Ayoub is committed to access and education. Through collaborations with leading music institutions, she has delivered workshops in Egypt, including at the Grand Egyptian Museum, connecting international music pedagogy with local cultural spaces. Her work underscores a quiet but powerful belief: classical music is living, adaptable, and meant to be shared.
Malak Elleithy – Founder & CEO of YOUTH
Malak Elleithy is building systems for a generation navigating education, work, and opportunity in real time. Through YOUTH, the student-focused platform she launched in 2024, Elleithy created a centralized space offering tangible benefits — from brand discounts to mentorship and career access — for students across Egypt.
Serving students from more than 50 universities, YOUTH has already reached tens of thousands nationwide. Through YOUTH-Careers, the platform extends beyond savings into professional development, partnering with universities and youth-led summits to deliver mentorship and guidance. Elleithy’s work is rooted in practicality and scale, addressing everyday student needs while laying the groundwork for regional expansion.
Nuhayr Zein – Founder & CEO of Leukeather
Nuhayr Zein is pushing material innovation forward from an Egyptian perspective. As the founder of Leukeather, she leads a company transforming regional plant life into a next-generation, plant-based leather alternative designed for the luxury design industry. With patent-pending technology and recognition from leading incubators, Leukeather has been showcased at major global design and fashion platforms.
Zein’s work challenges conventional ideas about sustainability, proving that ethical material innovation can emerge from the region itself rather than being imported. By grounding her process in local ecology and global design standards, she positions Egypt as a contributor to the future of luxury, not just a consumer of it.
Conclusion
As Egyptian women working across vastly different industries, they are building systems, languages, and platforms that didn’t previously exist. They show how Egyptian perspectives — layered, resilient, and deeply contextual — can travel, resonate, and endure. These women are actively shaping what comes next.
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