For Nawal Al-Hosany, there are a lot of similarities between climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and overcoming the obstacles faced by the alternative energy industry.

"You can always do better and challenge yourself," said Al-Hosany, director of sustainability at Masdar, a State-owned renewable energy company in the United Arab Emirates.

Al-Hosany was named one of the 40 most influential people who have helped shape the UAE and she is one of the first two women from the country to have climbed Kilimanjaro, the highest free-standing mountain in the world.