Sara Akbar
Sara Hussein Akbar () is a Kuwaiti chemical petroleum engineer, women's rights advocate, and co-founder and former chief executive officer of Kuwait Energy. Akbar is recognized as a "national hero" due to her involvement in the Kuwaiti oil fires which were later depicted in the Academy Award nominated documentary Fires of Kuwait. For her firefighting efforts, she was awarded the Global 500 Roll of Honour from the United Nations Environmental Program. Akbar is one of the first women oil sector company executives from the Arabian Peninsula. She served as the director of the Society of Petroleum Engineers in 2007. Early life and education Akbar grew up in a large Kuwaiti family of Iranian descent, including her mother and father, as well as nine brothers and sisters. Her father was an oil driller. She earned her bachelor's degree as part of Kuwait University's first graduating class of Chemical Engineers in 1981. Career Akbar began her career working in departmental offices before attaining a position as a petroleum engineer for Kuwait Oil Company. She subsequently worked there in fire-fighting operations, as superintendent of petroleum engineering, and as R&D specialist. Between 1981 and 1999, Akbar worked in the oil sector at Kuwait Energy,