Al-Waleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud

Born: 7 March 1955 (age 61) Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Residence:Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Nationality:Saudi Arabia

Alma mater: Menlo CollegeSyracuse University

Occupation: Chairman & CEO of Kingdom Holding Company

Year’s active: 1979–present

Net worth:Increase US$32 billion (April 2016)

Religion:Islam

Spouse(s):Dalal bint Saud bin Abdulaziz (divorced) Eman bint Naser bin Abdullah al Sudair (divorced)Ameera al-Taweel (divorced)

Al-Waleed Bin Talal bin Abdulaziz al Saud was born on 7th March 1955 and is a Saudi businessman, Chairman, CEO and humanitarian. Al-Waleed is also a member of the Saudi royal family a she’s a nephew of the late Saudi King Abdullah.

In 2008, Waleed was listed as one of Time magazine’s Time 10, a list of the hundred most influential people in the world.

Mr. Waleed is a founder, CEO and owns 95 percent of the Kingdom Holding Company, a Forbes Global 2000 company with several investments in various companies within multiple sectors such as tourism, sports, healthcare, entertainment, retail, farming, technology, mechanics, real estate and much more. The Kingdom Holding has a market capitalization of over $18 billion in 2013. He’s also Citigroup’s largest individual shareholder, the second-largest voting shareholder in 21st Century Fox and is also the owner of Paris’ Four Seasons Hotel George V and part of the Plaza Hotel.

As a result of his success in the business world, he was acknowledged by Time as the “Arabian Warren Buffett”. Al-Waleed was also listed as the 34th-richest man in the world in 2015, by Forbes with a net worth estimated to be US$28 billion.

In 2015, Waleed announced that he would donate his entire fortune to charity, but a date wasn’t given. He hopes to assist and empower women, as well as fostering their cultural understanding.

Early life and education

Al-Waleed Bin Talal bin Abdulaziz al Saud was born on March 7th, 1955 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. His father is Prince Talal and his mother, Mona Al Sohl is the daughter of Raid Al Solh, Lebanon’s first Prime Minister. His parents got divorced when he turned 7 and he joined his mother after she decided to move to Lebanon. However, young Waleed hated it in Lebanon and preferred to attend military school back in Saudi Arabia.

In 1977, Waleed received a bachelor’s degree from Menlo College in California, where he studied business administration. He also received a master’s degree in social science with honors from Syracuse University in 1985.

Philanthropy

Above all, Waleed is also an active humanitarian as he’s engaged in a lot of charitable activities in the field of educational initiatives, as well as women empowerment. He also wants to bridge the gaps between Western and Islamic communities. Waleed has contributed immensely towards education by funding a number of centers for American studies in universities in the Arab region.

On July 1, 2015, Prince Alwaleed held a press conference in which he announced his intention to donate $32 billion to philanthropic causes. He said that the funds will be used for humanitarian projects such as the empowerment of women and youth, as well as disaster relief, disease eradication and building bridges of understanding across cultures.

In July 2015, Prince Al-Waleed held a press conference wherein he announced to donate all of his wealth to philanthropic causes.

“The philanthropic pledge will help build bridges to foster cultural understanding, develop communities, empower women, enable youth, provide vital disaster relief and create a more tolerant and accepting world,” his statement said.

Awards

The Order of Izzudin bestowed upon HRH by the President of theMaldives, Mohamed Nasheed,

The Dwight D. Eisenhower Award for Innovation by the State of Palestine in 2009

In 2012, he received the Bahrain Medal of the First Order, the country’s highest honorary medal in late May

The Nepalese Honorary Medal of the Third Order “Mahaujjval Rastradip Manpadvi”, in August 2012.

An Honorary Companion of the National Order of Merit of the Republic of Malta in 2013

Assets

Al-Waleed owns the 65th largest private yacht in the world, the 85.9-meter (282 ft) yacht Kingdom 5KR, which was originally built for Adnan Khashoggi as the Nabila for Saudi arms dealer in 1979/

Prince Al-Waleed has also ordered a new yacht called the New Kingdom 5KR, which will be about 173 meters (567 ft) long and is worth over $500 million. The yacht is rendered by Lindsey Design and the design was delivered in late 2010.

Aliko Dangote: Businessman, Hero, Muslim Brother

Bio

Born: April 10, 1957 (age 59), Kano, Nigeria

Net worth: 18.3 billion USD (2015) Forbes

Education: Al-Azhar University

Organization founded: Dangote Group

Children: Halima Dangote

Siblings: Sani Dangote

Aliko Dangote is Nigerian billionaire, CEO, and Founder if the Dangote Group which specializes in commodity production. The company has its main headquarters in Nigeria and has branches in South Africa, Togo, Cameroon, Zambia, and Tanzania.

In January 2015, he was ranked as the 67th richest person in the world by Forbes, with a net worth of $18.6 billion. Dangote is also richest African in 2013 as he surpassed Hussein Al Amoudi by over $2.6.

Early life

Aliko Dangote was born on 10th April 1957 in Kano Nigeria to a very wealthy family. Since he was a child, he had an interest in business and wanted to make a change. According to him, Dangote used to buy cartons of sweets and sell them to make a profit. He attended Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt where he later graduated with honors and then returned to his homeland to establish a business.

Business career

President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has given reasons why his pan-African conglomerate is building the continent’s largest petroleum refinery

In 1977, Dangote established a small trading firm called the Dangote Group. The company at that time was small-scaled, but has managed to transform into a multi-trillion naira company and has extended its operations to several African countries such as Ghana, Benin, and Togo. The company now specializes in cover cement manufacturing, cover food processing, and freight. They are also the main leaders in sugar production in Nigeria.

In July 2012, Dangote managed to purchase an abandoned piece of land from the Nigerian Ports Authority in order to build a factory that would specialize in flour production. During the 1990’s, he requested the Central Bank of Nigeria to allow his transport company to manage their fleet of staff buses because it would be cheaper and favors both parties.

The Dangote Group currently is the main sugar provider in Nigeria and their refinery business supplies up to 70% of the country’s soft drink companies, breweries, and confectionaries. The Dangote Group provides over 800,000 tons of sugar annually which makes them the largest refinery in Africa and the 3rd largest in the world.

The company also has salt factories and flour mills and is a major importer of fish, rice, cement, pasta, and fertilizer. Profits are also made as they export cashew, cocoa, sesame seed, cotton and ginger to several neighboring countries, and abroad as well. The also the largest industrial conglomerate in West Africa as they’ve employed over 11,000 people.

Dangote has also shifted his attention to telecommunications and has started building 14,000 kilometers of fiber optic cables to serve the whole country. Due to his innovations, he was honored as the leading provider of employment in the Nigerian construction industry in early 2009.

“Let me tell you this and I want to really emphasize it…nothing is going to help Nigeria like Nigerians bringing back their money. If you give me $5 billion today, I will invest everything here in Nigeria. Let us put our heads together and work.” Dangote said.

Awards & achievements

Forbes Africa Person of the Year 2014

Conferred Honorary Citizenship of Arkansas State by Governor Mike Beebe

Profile : Azim Hashim Premji

Azim Hashim Premji is a business man and an Indian billionaire, investor and humanitarian. He is also the chairman of the Wipro Limited which is commonly regarded as a Czar of the Indian IT industry.

Born: July 24, 1945 (age 70), Mumbai, India

Net worth: 17.5 billion USD (2015) Forbes

Spouse: Yasmeen Premji

Children: Rishad Premji, Tariq Premji

Organizations founded: Azim Premji University, Mission10X, Azim Premji Foundation

Education: St. Mary’s School, Mumbai, Stanford University

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Azim Hashim Premji was born on July 24th, 1945 in India and is a tycoon, philanthropist, and an investor. Azim supervised the Wipro foundation for over four decades of growth and excellence, which finally transformed into one of the global leaders in the Software Industry. Azim Hashim Premji was voted among the top 20 most powerful men in the world in 201 by Asiaweek. Mr. Premji has been listed twice to be among the 100 most influential people by Time Magazine, and 2004 and 20011 respectively. He possesses up to 73% of Wipro and also has a private equity fund called Prejilmvest, and manages his $2 billion worth of personal portfolio. Azim donated 25% of his personal wealth to charity and has also promised to donate the rest of the 25% in the next 5 years.

Career

During the1940’s, Muhammed Hashim Premji introduced Western Indian Vegetable Products Ltd, located in a small town in the Jalagaon district of Maharashtra called Amalner. The company used to manufacture cooking oil under the brand name Sunflower Vanaspati, as well as laundry soap, which is a byproduct of the Sunflower oil manufactured. Azim attended the Stanford University in 1967, where he studied engineering in order to lead Wipro.

Wipro at that time was called Western Indian Vegetable Products as they specialized in hydrogen oil manufacturing, but Aim later helped the company allocate their resources towards the production of bakery fats, baby toiletries, lighting products, cosmetics.

During the 80’s, young Azim had the vision to emerge the IT field and take advantage of the vacuum left behind by the expulsion of IBM from India, which made his change the company name to Wipro. Headed by such an innovational and brilliant mind, the company managed to penetrate into the high-tech sector by manufacturing minicomputers through a joint corporation with an American company called Sentinel Computer Corporation

Pledges

Mr. Premji has become the first Indian to sign up for The Giving Pledge, a cooperation led by the richest people including Bill Gates and Warren Buffet to make a pledge and donate most of their riches for magnanimous causes.

“I strongly believe that those of us, who are privileged to have wealth, should contribute significantly to try and create a better world for the millions who are far less privileged”— Azim Premji (AP)

Awards and achievements

First Indian recipient of the Faraday Medal

In 2005, the Government of India honored him with the title ofPadma Bhushan for his outstanding work in trade and commerce.

In 2011, he has been awardedPadma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award by the Government of India.

In 2013, he received theET Lifetime Achievement Award.

In 2012, France bestowed upon him the “Legion of Honor” and Forbes India honored him with its inaugural “Outstanding Philanthropist of the Year”.

He was honored with the Asian Business Leaders Award by Asia House (UK) in October 2013 for his “impressive business credentials and his significant efforts to inspire a commitment in others to improving society.”

Profile : Iskander Makhmudov

Iskander Makhmudov is a Russian businessman and a great humanitarian. He’s regarded as “One of Russia’s most prominent and civically involved industrialists” who has contributed immensely towards society, courtesy of Yekaterinburg News.

Born: December 5, 1963 (age 52), Bukhara, Uzbekistan

Spouse: Margarita Makhmudova

Net worth: 3.3 billion USD (2015) Forbes

Education: Tashkent University of Information Technologies

Board member of: Transmashholding

Early life

Iskander Makhmudov was born on December 5, 1963, a town called Bukhara, Russia. He spent most of his childhood in Tashkent. His father was a constructor and his mother was a teacher at the university he attended. During his years as a freshman, he managed to learn multiple languages with the help of his mother.

At that time, the Faculty of Oriental Studies of the Tashkent University emphasized and associated mostly with military organizations, and trained their staff to work in The East, where the Soviet Union supplied weapons.

Shortly after graduating from the university, he moved to Libya then Iraq in search of greener pasture. Whilst he was in Libya, he worked at an organization called the Principal Engineering Directorate which was based in Iraq and specialized in construction works.

Career

Iskander Makhmudov graduated with honors from the Tashkent University and acquired a degree in oriental Studies. He is also a good linguist as he translator by educational background.

During the 1980’s, the U.S military ran an operation called El Dorado Canyon in Tripoli. The U.S forces launched 60 tons missiles and bombs on Libya’s military facilities which initiated a war. During the war, a number of Russian government specialists were stationed in Tripoli. They sat out their balconies and watched as the clashes unfolded. Iskander was one of those men during the bombing campaign as he served as an Arabic-Persian translator.

Mr. Makhmudov has spent a lot of time working for various Soviet military organizations in Libya and Iraq.

Various business positions he’s worked for:

1991-1994 Deputy Marketing Director, JSC Alice

1994-1996 Director, JSC Industrial-Financial Company Meta Service.

1996 CEO, Ai (mining and processing plant)

In 1999, he created UMMC.

Currently, Mr. Makhmudov is the main owner of Uralskaya Gorno-Metallurgicheskaya Kompaniya (UGMK) Holding, which is the fourth largest non-ferrous metallurgical company in the Soviet Union and Russia’s second-largest copper producer in terms of output.

Charitable Giving

Mr. Makhmudov has a charity foundation that funds clinics that have expanded their operations to cater for only the children of UMMC employees, but also disabled children, orphans and children from disadvantaged families in the community for absolutely free. He has donated over a billion dollars toward making sure those less fortunate have the social amenities they need for a better life they couldn’t afford.

Business Activities

Mr. Makhmudov has budgeted almost 60 billion rubles in 2013 for investments. “We’re signing contracts for next year and have started budgeting. The average copper prices will be around $8,000 a ton in 2012. We’re hoping it stays at that level next year. We’re also planning the same investment program as this year – 60 billion rubles,” said his business partner.

Personal Life

Iskander Makhmudov was born to an ethnic Uzbek Muslim family. He is married and a father of one.

Top 10 Richest Muslim Businessmen You Should Know About

Business is one of the pre-prophetic vocations. The Holy Prophet (The peace and blessings of God be upon him and his family) was doing business alongside his uncle when he was young, and much later with a lady who would eventually become his first wife –Khadijah.

Some of the Prophets closest associates and family members were also involved in business activities. From the great and first caliph Abu Bakr to Abdur Rahman Bin Awwaf, most of them earned their living through trade. So business is nothing alien to the narrative and ethos of Islam, in fact it has helped finance major events that shaped the very destiny of the faith and has served as a means for the spreading of the religion; for its well-known that many regions became Muslim because of merchants, most notable amongst them is West Africa through the Sahara trade routes.

However, business continues to thrive ever on among Muslims and here is a list of 10 of the Wealthiest and Richest Muslim businessmen you should know about.

#1. Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal – Net Worth $26.1 Billion

He is the founder and CEO of Kingdom Holding Company which has investments in hotels, banking, mass media and petroleum to name a few and also founded the Rotana media group. A member of the Saudi royal family as well, his net worth is $26.1 billion as of 2015.

#2. Aliko Dangote – Net Worth $18.3 Billion

A Nigerian businessman worth $18.3 Billion who owns the Dangote Group, which has interests in commodities. The company operates in Nigeria and other African countries, including Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, South Africa, Togo, Tanzania, and Zambia.

#3. Azim Hashim Premji – Net Worth $17.5 Billion

He is the chairman of the Wipro Limited, which started out as a hydrogenated cooking fat company. Now it’s worth billions, with Mr. Premji worth a whopping $17.5 billion.

#4. Mohammed al-Amoudi – Net Worth $11 Billion

Worth $11 billion, the Arabian/Ethiopian businessman invested heavily in gold mines and oil refineries in Ethiopia and acquired 63% of the sole tire manufacturer of Ethiopia (Addis Tyre) and has invested substantially in cement production.

#5. Mohammad Bin Issa al-Jaber – Net Worth $8.7 Billion
Muslim Business men

Worth $8.7 billion, Mohammad Bin Issa al-Jaber is the chairman and CEO of MBI International and Partners. This group comprises of JW Hotels and Resorts around the world.

#6. Shahid Khan – Net Worth $4.5 Billion

A Pakistani-American billionaire businessman who is worth $4.5 billion. He is the owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL), the English Football League Championship team Fulham F.C., and automobile parts manufacturer Flex-N-Gate in Urbana, Illinois.

#7. Iskander Mukhmodov – Net Worth $3.3 Billion

An Uzbek-born businessman worth $3.3 billion. He is one of the main owners of the fourth largest non-ferrous metallurgical company in Russia and the second largest copper producer in terms of output.

#8. Najib Mikati – Net Worth $3.2 Billion

Najib Mikati, worth $3.2 billion, acquired a major portion of his wealth from a telecoms company Investment. He is considered the richest man in Lebanon. Mikati was also a one time Prime Minister of Lebanon but resigned after 3 years due to tensions with Syria. He sold his stake which he acquired through a holding company he ran with his brother to MTN for cash and stock before entering into politics.

#9. Sulaiman Kerimov – Net Worth $3 Billion

Worth $3 billion, this Russian businessman acquired most of his wealth through investments in airlines and the banking industry. He is also a politician and has represented his native Dagestan in the Federation Council of Dagestan since 2008. He made his money by becoming a creditor to utility companies which rebounded well when the Russian economy picked up in the 90s.

#10. Syed Mukhtar al-Bukhari – Net Worth $2.1 Billion

Worth $2.1 billion, Syed Mukhtar al-Bukhari has investments in a variety of businesses which includes power generation, transportation and logistics, property development. Born into humble beginnings he never attended university and made his way up in the business world by taking over his father’s meat packing business that was failing at the time due to the impact of foot and mouth disease. He is the 8th richest Malaysian as well.

We hope we were able to add to your knowledge of Muslim businessmen and inspired you to follow some of the leading men listed here. 

Notable Muslim Entrepreneurs In Real Estate

Even though the real estate industry is one that people usually charge excessive interest (Riba), which is unlawful (haraam) in Islam, there are Muslims who are thriving in that sector without disobeying Allah by charging excessive interests for their properties.

#1. Mohamed Anwar Hadid

He is Palestinian-American and a real estate developer, usually dealing with luxury hotels and mansions. He entered the real estate business in the 1980s and purchased  the Ritz-Carlton hotels in New York and Washington for  US$150 million then out-schemed Donald Trump and bought the Aspen, Colorado Ritz property. He’s had a lot of successful projects and one of the leading dealers in real estate. Now he works mostly in Beverly Hills, in Los Angeles County, California.

#2. Nasir Schon

Like Malik Riaz Hussain, Schon is a Pakistani business tycoon who got his wealth from the real estate industry. He is the CEO of Schon Properties. He is also the Honorary Consul-General of Sierra Leone in Karachi.

#3.Malik Riaz Hussain

He’s a man of all trades- Pakistani business mogul, philanthropist and a real estate investor. He was born into a poor family and made his way up the ladder with hard work and determination. He landed a job as a clerk at 19 and from there, established his own business called Bahria town.

#4. Abdul Razzak Yaqoob

Yaqoob was one of the wealthiest business tycoons in Dubai. He was the proprietor of ARY Group of Companies, which he established in 1972. Yaqoob was appointed the lifetime head of the World Memon Organization. He died on the 21st of February 2014 but his legacy shall forever remain.

#5. Sharif El-Gam

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Sharif decided that formal education wasn’t for him and dropped out of university. He first entered the real estate market in the 1990s but then re-directed his interest to commercial real estate sales and re-entered the industry back in 2002 when he received his real estate broker’s license.

He started purchasing properties in 2007 and has since then had many successes in the real estate world. Currently, he is the chairman and chief executive officer of Soho Properties, a real estate company in Manhattan.

These Muslims made it in the real estate industry despite the odds. They are definitely worth emulating.

She’s Female, African and Muslim. Find out more about this super successful Entrepreneur

Magatte Wade is a young lady, born 80 kilometres south of Dakar, in a small town called m’bour in Senegal. she moved to Germany at around seven years old, where she attended school for the first time then after two years, moved to France where she completed both high school and business school and finally moved to San Francisco, where she kick-started her entrepreneurial career with an African-inspired beverage company called Adina World Beverages. This company was the first of its kind, selling African drinks all over the United States. The success of that company also changed the perception that almost all Americans had of Africa, being extremely under-developed and incapable of success.

Her passion for entrepreneurship and creating high-retail brands based on indigenous and diverse African resources lead her to the forming of her second company , a state of the art skin care product line based on Indegenous Senegalese ingredients and recipes called Tiossan. Her products are distributed via www.tiossan.com , a few high-end boutiques, and of course, Nordstrom. As the CEO of Tiossan, Magatte dedicates at least ten percent of Tiossan’s profits to the establishment of entrepreneurial schools in Senegal to develop the next generation of Senegalese geniuses.

Aside from being a super successful entrepreneur, Magette is a frequent speaker at business conferences and well-known college campuses including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, MIT, Dartmouth, Brown, Wharton, etc. She also writes for the Guardian, The Huffington Post and Barron’s.

Magatte has defied the odds by being African, Muslim and female and making it in America. She serves as a role model for millions of Muslims, Africans, and Females all over the world. She has received numerous awards including one from “leading Woman in Wellness” from the Global SPA and Wellness Summit, the chief international organization that assembles leaders and futurists to positively influence and form the future of the global spa and wellness industries. In addition, she was recently included in Forbes’“20 Youngest Power Women in Africa” and tagged a Young Global Leader by the Davos Global Economic Forum. She has been also featured on the cover of Forbes magazine as the most positively influential francophone person.

With all these successes, one would think it doesn’t get better than this but it’s Magatte Wade we’re talking about guys and it certainly does. She serves on the Advisory Board of the Whole Planet Foundation, the private foundation of the Whole Foods Market. To add to that, she’s a member of the board of ASNAPP and the SEED Academy (Sports for Education and Economic Development), a private school in Senegal that develops young people academically and athletically so that they can attain NCAA basketball scholarships in the U.S.

Russian, Muslim and Billionaire: Find out more about this Super Successful Entrepreneur

Suleiman Kerimov is the emblem of controversial businessmen. He has been ranked as the 6th richest Muslim man and termed “Russia’s richest civil servant”. Here’s more about Kerimov…

suleiman kerimov

He was born in Dagestan, where he grew up and was educated. He graduated from high school in 1993 and proceeded into the Civil Engineering Department at Dagestan Polytechnic Institute in 1984, which he had to terminate after a year to fulfil the mandatory military service for the Soviet Army. He resumed his formal education at the Dagestan State University after the completion of military service in 1986 and acquired a degree in financial accounting and economics in 1989.

A little after his graduation, landed a job as an economist at the Eltav electrical plant in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan where he was being paid 150 roubles (roughly $250 dollars) a month. He got promoted to Deputy Director General at Eltav and started investing during the fall of the Soviet Union.

From then on, he kept investing in numerous stakes and made a career of capitalising in troubled companies. He founded his own diversified investment company, Nafta Moskva, in 1992 and somewhat luckily for him, sold almost all of his Russian properties just before Russia’s economic crisis in 2008. Nevertheless, he still lost billions because he had borrowed heavily to buy stakes in Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank among others.

After the depression, he acquired loans from VTB Bank and resumed investing in the Russian market by purchasing a stake in Polyus Gold, Rostelecom, a leading telecom company; and billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev’s stake in Uralkali. The CEO of Uralkali was arrested in August 2013 for embezzling funds and abusing power and Kerimov was forced to sell his stake to billionaires Mikhail Prokhorov and Dmitry Mazepin.

Despite the numerous business controversies and investigations his entrepreneurial career has landed him into, this Muslim Billionaire also happens to be a prominent politician in Russia. He acquired a seat in parliament with the Liberal Democratic Party but not before becoming a member of the State Duma of the 3rd Convocation-the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia for 4 years (1999-2003) and, at the same time, a member of the State Duma Committee for Security. During his status as a member of the Committee for Security, he was also a delegate of the 4th Convocation and Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee for Physical Education, Sports and Youth. Currently, the Russian billionaire is serving as a member of the Federation Council of the Federation Assembly of the Russian Federation — the upper house of the Federation Assembly— and represents the Republic of Dagestan which he has been doing since 2008.

Kerimov has been described by Forbes Magazine as one of the most private Russian billionaires, probably due to the fact that he hasn’t granted a single interview to anyone for over 20 years in his entrepreneurial career.

Profile: Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, One Of The Richest Muslim Businessmen

Bio

Born: July 10, 1954 (age 61), Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Parents: Abdulla Al Ghurair

Education: California Polytechnic State University

Organization founded: Mashreq

Siblings: Essa Ghurair

Grandparent: Ahmad Al Ghurair

NET WORTH: $1.8 BILLION

Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair was born on July 10th, 1954 (age 62) in the UAE, is a billionaire and currently the CEO of the publicly traded Mashreq Bank. Since 2011, his net worth was estimated to be $2.7 billion, courtesy of Forbes which makes his the 420th richest people in the world.

Mr. Ghurair is the current Chief Executive Officer of Mashreq Bank, a leading U.A.E commercial bank founded by his uncle Majed Ahmed AlGhurair during the Gulf’s first oil boom in the early 1960’s.

Although banking seemed to be the best way to invest in that era, however, his family shifted their attention and resources in real estate, cement, residential care, contracting and petrochemicals. His brother, Essa Ghurair headed the food division holdings including the Middle East’s second-largest flour mill and ubiquitous Masafi mineral water. Al Ghurair is also a chairman of the Arab Business Angels Network, an organisation who’s main objective is to match angel investment funding with startups by Arab entrepreneurs.

Mr. Ghuraur is also a former Speaker of the Federal National Council (FNC) in the U.A.E from 2007 to 2011.

As the CEO of Mashreq Group, the bank’s assets have risen to AED 72.6 billion as of June 2007—a 50.3 percent increase from 2006, just under 17 years.

Al Ghurair is also an industrial engineer and acquired an honors degree from the Polytechnic State University, California. In 1977, he joined Mashreq as he operated various capacities till 1998 and led the bank’s international operation, setting up branches in Egypt, New York, London, Bahrain, Qatar India and Pakistan

Mr. Ghurair also chaired his investment corporation known as the Al Ghurair LLC, which is a diverse industrial cooperation with the main focus on Foods, Commodities, Construction and Properties as well as Energy, Printing, Education, and Retail. As mentioned earlier, Al Ghurair is also on the Board of Directors of the Dubai International Financial Centre, Emirates Foundation and Dubai Economic Council.

Mr. Ghurauir is a current activist empowering unfortunate kids through several charitable organisations and initiatives in both local and international arenas like UNICEF, UNESCO, Planet Finance and the UAE Disables Sports Federation.

Due to his numerous contributions towards society, has been honoured with a special Lifetime Achievement Award, at the CEO Middle East Awards.

Profile: Sulaiman bin Abdulaziz bin Saleh AL RAJHI

Bio

Born: 1920

Residence: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Nationality: Saudi Arabia

Education: Elementary School

Occupation: Chairman of National Agricultural Development Company (NADEC)

Net worth: $7.7 billion (2011)

Religion: Islam

Awards: King Faisal International Prize

Sheikh Sulaiman bin Abdulaziz Al Rajhi was born in 1920 and is a Saudi Arabian corporate figure and billionaire. Since 2011, his net-worth was estimated be $7.7 billion, courtesy of Forbes, which makes him the 120th richest person in the world.

AL Rajhi has received several awards including the King Faisal International Prize in 2012 for donating half of his wealth to charity, starting an Islamic Bank and supporting charity work and implementing national projects.

Biography

Al Rajhi was born in Al Bukairayah, located in Al-Qassim province in Saudi Arabia, and later grew up in the Nejd desert where he and his brother decided to launch their business at the age of 10, by charging pilgrims who rented their camel caravan to pass across the desert to the cities of Medina and Mecca. In 1945, he managed to pool enough capital to open a grocery store and later open a currency exchange agency. His hard work and dedication led to the co-founding of one of the world’s largest Islamic Banks in the late 1950’s called Al Bank with his brothers Abdullah, Saleh, and Mohammed. He was a major shareholder of the bank up until July 2013, when he sold his 19.7% shareholdings ( estimate worth $5.5 billion as of July 2013).

Mr. Raji is now focused on philanthropy and initiated his own foundation known as the Sulaiman Bin Abdul Aziz Rajhi Charitable Foundation dedicated to educational, social, health-related, religious and human services-related causes. In May 2911, he announced that he was giving a reported half of his wealth to charity and the other half to his children. Al Rajhi still holds positions in Saudi Arabia-based publicly listed companies; as Chairman of National Agricultural Development and Vice Chairman of Yanbu Cement.

AL Rajhi and his brothers managed to grow and expand their corporation, The Al Rajhi brothers, by taking advantage of the flood of immigrant workers to Saudi Arabia during the 1970’s oil boom. In the early 1980’s, Al Rajhi along with his brothers were given clearance to open Saudi Arabia’s first Islamic bank, one that would observe religious tenets such as a ban on interest

Al Rajhi is a father of at least 23 children.

Works (Philanthropy)

His family is considered to be Saudi Arabia’s wealthiest non-royals, and among the world’s leading philanthropists.

Mr. Rajhi built a university called the Sulaiman Al Rajhi University in his hometown, a non-profit university that offers scholarships to less fortunate students. The university’s main focus is on health and Islamic banking but contains other faculties as well.

He announced that he was donating half of his fortune to charity in May 2011.