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CFI Top 25 Most Powerful Individuals in Emerging Markets 2012

Few will argue about Vladimir Putin being the most powerful man in emerging markets this year. On the back of his long term track record of domestic economic success and foreign policy strengths, he will soon be re-elected as President of Russia. Russia’s has vast land with an abundance of resources, including commodities such as metals, oil and gas. Russia also has strong military power and also skilled elite scientists. These factors combined with a still centralized government with the President at the helmet, makes Putin the most powerful man.

The Chinese government and party representatives are well represented on the list because they hold powers over an enormous labor force, the world’s largest army, production capacity and natural resources (including rare earth) as well as cash and securities (denominated in foreign currency).

Also, India has a skilled and aspirational labor force and knowledge capacity. Thus, they are represented by their visionary entrepreneurs and experienced head of government. As a politically powerful economist Manmohan Singh is helping India fulfill its potential.

Some of the world’s richest men, including Carlos Slim, Lakshmi Mittal, Li-Ka Shing, Alisher Usmanov and the royalty from the Middle East, are on the list because they use their considerable capital not only to produce returns, but also as a power tool to advance their projects and agenda – all creating progress for mankind. Capital yields power to impact developments.

Some wield powers by producing ideas that move the world to impact our lives through persuative diplomacy (incl. Ban Ki-Moon,) and integrity (e.g. Dalai Lama) rather than military power (e.g. Kim Jong-il) or the capital wealth aforementioned.

Other heads of government, such as Dilma Rousseff (Brazil) and Recep Erdogan (Turkey) heads up successful countries on the way up and personifies that democracy and a sense of fairness are conducive to economic growth.

Table 1: CFI Top 25 Most Powerful Individuals in Emerging Markets 2012

Rank	Name, Title	Organization	Age
1	Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister	Russia	59
2	Hu Jintao, President	People’s Republic of China	68
3	Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud, King	Saudi Arabia	87
4	Sonia Gandhi, President	Indian National Congress	64
5	Dilma Rousseff, President	Brazil	63
6	Carlos Slim Helu, Chairman	Telmex	71
7	Wen Jiabao, Premier	People’s Republic of China	69
8	Zhou Xiaochuan, Governor	People’s Bank of China	63
9	Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister	India	79
10	Zhou Yongkang, Secretary of the Commission for Political and Legislative Affairs	People’s Republic of China	68
11	Ali Al-Naimi, Oil Minister	Saudi Arabia	76
12	Rostam Ghasemi, President	Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)	47
13	Lou Jiwei, Chairman	China Investment Corporation	60
14	Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Chief of Army Staff	Pakistan	59
15	Kim Jong-ul, Supreme Leader	North Korea	28
16	Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General	United Nations	67
17	Li Ka-shing, Chairman	Hutchison Whampoa Limited	83
18	Lakshmi Mittal, Chairman	ArcelorMittal	61
19	Recep Erdogan, Prime Minister	Republic of Turkey	57
20	Dalai Lama, Dalai Lama	Tibet	76
21	Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, President	United Arab Emirates	63
22	Ahmed Shuja Pasha, Director-General of Inter-Services Intelligence	Pakistan	59
23	Azim Premji, Chairman	Wipro Limited	66
24	Xi Jinping, First Secretary of the Secretariat of the Communist Party	People’s Republic of China	58
25	Alisher Usmanov, Oligarch	Ukraine	58