Saad Al Barrak was born in the Farwaniyah District of Kuwait, the seventh of eleven brothers and five sisters, the son of Hamad Al Barrak, a book keeper, for one of the prominent business men in Kuwait. Musallam Al-Barrak, ex MP, is a nephew of Dr. Saad Al Barrak (son of his brother, Mohammed Al-Barrak, also an MP, in the first Kuwaiti parliament of 1963).
He is best known for his role as the CEO of Zain Group, where he was instrumental for the growth of the company as well as its expansion into new markets. Saad Al Barrak started his career with a short stint at Kuwait Prefab Industries, during a short break in between his Bachelors and Masters Degrees. After completion of his Masters Degree, he taught at the Kuwait Institute of Applied Technology as a part of the conditions of the government scholarship that he was given.
Upon being persuaded by an old friend, he joined ITS as a Project Engineer. Within a year, he was put in charge of Project teams and sent on training courses to the UK and US. By the end of 1985 he was appointed as Systems Development Manager and in (months after that was promoted to Assistant Director General for Sales and Systems support. In 1987, he was appointed CEO of ITS, barely 4 years after he had joined them as a Project Engineer.
Dr. Saad, resigned from his position as CEO in 2001 and continued as Managing Director till 2002. MTC (Mobile Telecommunications Co. had just been divested by the government and been taken over by the Al Kharafi Group, and Dr. Saad, took on the position of Managing Director, of MTC which later re-branded as Zain in 2002 until he resigned in February 2010. Following his stint at Zain, he started ILA, an advisory firm in December 2010.
2003 - E-businessman of the year, Arabian Business e-achievement award 2007 - Lifetime achievement award, Comms MEA 2008 - Arab Ad man of the year, Arab Ad 2008 - International Investor award, Africa Investor 2008 - Telecom CEO of the year, CEO Middle East 2008 - Visionary award, Bespoke 2009 - Editor's Award for Individual Contribution to the telecoms industry, Global Telecoms Business 2012 - Kuwaiti Business Man of the year, Arabian Business 2012 - Outstanding contribution to Business, CEO Middle E.
