Badr Jafar

Badr Hamid Jafar (Arabic: بدر حميد جعفر‎) is an Emirati-Iraqi business executive and social entrepreneur based in the United Arab Emirates. He is the Chief Executive Officer of Crescent Enterprises, a diversified global business with operations in several sectors including ports and logistics, power and engineering.

Badr Jafar
بدر جعفر
Badr Jafar at the United Nations in 2010
Born (1979-08-09) August 9, 1979
Sharjah, UAE
NationalityUnited Arab Emirates
Alma materEton College
Cambridge University
Spouse(s)Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak
RelativesMajid Jafar (brother)
Dhia Jafar (grandfather)
Websitebadrjafar.com

Jafar is also the President of Crescent Enterprises' sister company Crescent Petroleum, a privately-owned oil and gas company headquartered in the United Arab Emirates. He is Chairman of Pearl Petroleum, a five-member international consortium for the development of natural gas assets in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and Chairman of the Executive Board of Gulftainer, a global ports and logistics company.[1]

He launched the Pearl Initiative in September 2010 at the United Nations, a private sector-led initiative to promote corporate governance, accountability and transparency within the Gulf region of the Middle East.[2][3] In 2011, Jafar was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum[4][5][6] and is co-chair of the Forum's Family Business Community, a member of their Stewardship Board on Economic Progress.

In May 2015, Badr Jafar was appointed by the United Nations Secretary General onto the High Level Panel on Humanitarian Financing, formed "to address the increasing gap between resources and financing for the world's ever-increasing humanitarian needs."[7][8] In September 2019, he was appointed to UNESCO’s Future of Education International Commission.[9] The Commission aims to re-examine and reimagine how knowledge and learning can contribute to humanity.

He was named one of the 100 most powerful Arabs Arabian Business in 2019.[10]

Early life and education

Jafar was born to Hamid Jafar, son of Iraqi statesman Dhia Jafar. Jafar hails from a notable Iraqi family, that claims agnatic descent from Musa al-Kadhim.[11] He was born and raised in Sharjah.

Education

In 1994, he continued his education at Eton College, and graduated in 1999 from Cambridge University with a master's degree in engineering and additional studies in astrophysics. In 1996, Harvard University awarded Jafar the Harvard Book Award, presented to students who "display excellence in scholarship and high character, combined with achievements in other fields." Jafar subsequently attended the Cambridge Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge.[12]

Jafar serves as member of the Advisory Boards of Cambridge University Judge Business School, American University of Beirut[13] and American University of Sharjah. He is an appointed Foundation Fellow of Eton College.

Entrepreneurship

Badr Jafar is Chairman of Endeavor UAE,[14] and is on the Board of Advisors for Sharjah Entrepreneurship Centre (Sheraa)[15] and Gaza Sky Geeks, the leading startup accelerator and technology education hub in Gaza.[16]

In 2014, Jafar launched the Arab World Social Entrepreneurship Program in partnership with Ashoka, a social entrepreneurship organisation, to identify and help scale the region's most promising social businesses.[17][18]

Social initiatives

In February 2011, Badr Jafar launched the Middle East Theatre Academy (META), a non-profit theatre academy to provide a platform to nurture young actors, directors, and producers from the Middle East, and help them to showcase their talent internationally.[19] In May 2011, Jafar and music producer Quincy Jones produced a charity single titled Tomorrow/Bokra,[20] featuring 26 Arab artists, to raise funds for educational arts projects for displaced youth in the Middle East.[21] The proceeds went towards the development of arts programs for over 430,000 disadvantaged children in partnership with Save The Children.

In 2014, the Kennedy Centre honoured Jafar with a Gold Medal in the Arts in recognition of his efforts with cultural diplomacy to build closer ties between nations and regions.[22] He is now an appointed member of Kennedy Centre's Centennial Circle.[23]

In May 2018, Badr Jafar joined The Giving Pledge, a philanthropic initiative launched by Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, and Warren Buffett.[24]

Launched in 2020, Badr Jafar is the Founding Patron of the Centre for Strategic Philanthropy based at the University of Cambridge, which is dedicated to enhancing the impact of strategic philanthropy both within and from the world’s fastest growing economies.[25]

Jafar serves as a member of the Board of Overseers of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and the advisory board of the US-based Milken Institute for Strategic Philanthropy.[26]

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References
  1. Hope, Bradley (3 December 2009). "Crescent's Badr Jafar has world at his feet". The National. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
  2. "Badr Jafar named Young CEO of the Year 2009". MENAFN. MENAFN Press. 29 September 2009. Archived from the original on 18 May 2011. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
  3. "Biography of Mr. Badr Jafar". Growth Gate Capital Corporation. 2007. Archived from the original on 16 March 2014. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
  4. "Middle East Gulf Region Governance Initiative Launched at UN". MarketWatch. MarketWatch. 20 September 2010. Retrieved 7 October 2010.
  5. "Badr Jafar". Pearl Initiative. 20 September 2010. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 7 October 2010.
  6. Zopf, Yann (9 March 2011). "World Economic Forum Announces Young Global Leaders 2011 (Middle East/North Africa)". World Economic Forum. Archived from the original on 11 April 2011. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
  7. "Badr Jafar on UN committee". The National. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
  8. "UN appoints panel to address humanitarian funding gap". Arabian Business. Arabian Business. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
  9. "UAE based Badr Jafar appointed to the UNESCO's Futures of Education International Commission". Gulf News. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  10. "Revealed: World's Most Powerful Arabs". Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  11. Raʼūf, ʻImād ʻAbd al-Salām (2001). Dhia Jafar: Sirah wa Muthakarat [Dhia Jafar: Biography and Memories] (in Arabic). Baghdad, Iraq: Matba'at al-Adib al-Baghdadiyah al-Mahdooda. p. 1.
  12. "Badr H. Jafar". Bloomberg. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  13. "International Advisory Council (IAC)". American University of Beirut. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
  14. "Badr Jafar". Endeavor. Retrieved 1 Jun 2016.
  15. "Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival gets underway". Gulfnews. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  16. "Gaza Sky Geeks About Us". Gaza Sky Geeks. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  17. "Ashoka launches Gulf platform for social entrepreneurship". 2014-04-09. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  18. "In Pictures: 100 under 40: The world's most influential young Arabs 2016". Gulf Times. Archived from the original on 2016-04-20. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  19. Rachel Lee (6 February 2011). "Kevin Spacey Plans Middle East Academy". New York Times. Retrieved 25 February 2011.
  20. "Quincy Jones and UAE entrepreneur form joint venture". LA Independent. 7 March 2011. Archived from the original on 13 July 2011. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
  21. "Kennedy Centre Honours Quincy Jones, Badr Jafar for "Bridging Cultures"". UAE Interact. Archived from the original on 14 February 2015. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  22. "Kennedy Centre honours Quincy Jones, Badr Jafar for "bridging cultures"". eSeoulpost. 2014-04-04. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  23. "Expansion Project". Kennedy Centre. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
  24. "UAE businessmen donate half their wealth to Bill Gates' Giving Pledge". ArabianBusiness.com. Retrieved 2018-06-04.
  25. "Centre for Strategic Philanthropy". Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  26. "Executive Committee". Retrieved 15 June 2020.
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