Souad Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah was born in 1942 in Kuwait as a member of the ruling family. She graduated from the Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences at Cairo University in 1973, and obtained a doctorate in economics from Sari Guilford University in the United Kingdom in 1981. Al-Sabah is director of the Kuwait Stock Exchange and is a member of the Higher Council for Education, the executive committee of the World Muslim Women Organization for South East Asia, and the board of trustees and executive committee of the Arab Intellect Forum. Her literary publications include Wamdatt Bakira [Early Blinks] and Lahathat min Umri [Moments of My Life]. Her scientific works in English include Development Planning in an Oil Economy, Role of the Woman, and Kuwait: Anatomy of a Crisis Economy.