Finance Transformation by Ahlam Al Marzooqi Earns Top Honors at Excellence Awards 2025: Enabling Finance Strategy Recognized
Ahlam Al Marzooqi, the Director of Finance at the Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation (PCFC), is making a significant impact in the finance industry. With over 14 years of experience in investment markets, banking, and government entities, she is focused on further integrating finance as a strategic enabler in government transformation projects, aligned with Dubai and the UAE's long-term economic vision.
At PCFC, Al Marzooqi has been instrumental in transforming the finance department. Once primarily compliance-focused, the finance function now plays a proactive role as a strategic business partner. She achieved this by shifting its focus from regulatory oversight to contributing directly to business decisions.
Key best practices employed by Al Marzooqi include redefining finance's role within the organization to align with broader business objectives, building cross-departmental collaboration, promoting a culture of forward-looking financial analysis, and leveraging data and technology to enhance decision-making capabilities.
However, this transformation was not without challenges. Al Marzooqi had to overcome entrenched perceptions of finance as a purely compliance-driven function, ensure finance professionals developed strategic business acumen alongside technical skills, and integrate new processes without disrupting regulatory and operational requirements.
Al Marzooqi's approach demonstrates how finance can evolve into a proactive, value-creating partner, helping organizations like PCFC drive efficiency and strategic growth. Her efforts have led to the finance division now playing an integral role in long-term sustainability and strategic alignment.
In addition to her professional achievements, Al Marzooqi is also a champion for women in finance. She believes that women often face unconscious bias, limited mentorship, and self-doubt, and her advice to them is to invest in their knowledge and speak up. She attributes her own success to continuous learning, translating complex data into actionable insights, and maintaining a strategic mindset.
In 2025, Al Marzooqi received the Excellence in Finance - Best Strategic Financial Planner award at the Excellence Awards, recognising her significant contributions to the finance industry.
Looking to the future, Al Marzooqi envisions a future where finance leads value creation through advanced analytics and sustainable models that drive innovation across sectors. She values credibility built not only by technical competence but also by fostering trust and aligning finance with organizational strategy. Her focus on fostering inclusive leadership in the finance sector is aimed at overcoming challenges such as unconscious bias, limited mentorship, and self-doubt.
Al Marzooqi's journey in finance required determination, innovation, and a belief in the power of finance to shape meaningful change. Her transformation of the finance function at PCFC serves as a testament to her vision and commitment to the industry.
- Ahlam Al Marzooqi, the Director of Finance at the Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation (PCFC), has been recognized with the Excellence in Finance - Best Strategic Financial Planner award in 2025, reflecting her significant contributions to the finance industry.
- In addition to driving efficiency and strategic growth at PCFC, Al Marzooqi is also a champion for women in finance, offering advice to women in the field to invest in their knowledge, speak up, and overcome challenges such as unconscious bias, limited mentorship, and self-doubt.
- In the future, Al Marzooqi envisions a role for finance that leads value creation through advanced analytics and sustainable models, driving innovation across sectors and emphasizing credibility built through trust and strategic alignment.
- With over 14 years of experience in investment markets, banking, and government entities, Al Marzooqi has successfully integrated finance as a strategic enabler in government transformation projects, aligning with Dubai and the UAE's long-term economic vision.
