Arif Naqvi

Arif Naqvi
Born Arif Masood Naqvi
July 13, 1960
Karachi, Pakistan
Alma mater Karachi Grammar School
London School of Economics
Occupation Founder and Group CEO of The Abraaj Group

Arif Masood Naqvi is the Founder and Group Chief Executive of The Abraaj Group, a private equity investor operating in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Middle East, Turkey and Central Asia. Naqvi founded the Group in 2002. It started with 60 million USD in assets under management and as of 2016, manages 10 billion USD.

Career

Naqvi began his career with Arthur Andersen in London and American Express in Karachi. In the early 1990s, he joined the Olayan Group in Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom’s largest trading company. In 1994 he started an investment firm in Dubai called Cupola with $50,000 of his own savings. Five years later, Naqvi bid for the Middle East business of the logistics company Inchcape Shipping Services. Cupola won the bid, buying Inchcape’s marketing interests for $116 million, making it the MENA region’s first leveraged buyout.[1]

The Abraaj Group

The Abraaj Group currently has more than 20 country offices including five regional hubs in Dubai, Istanbul, Mexico City, Nairobi and Singapore. Funds managed by the Group have made over 140 investments across 10 sectors including consumer, energy, financials, healthcare and utilities.

Philanthropy

In October 2012, Naqvi and Bill Gates, Co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, signed a five-year framework agreement on family planning and health in Pakistan. They will also explore further areas for collaboration to advance global health and development.[2]

In 2008, Naqvi and his family established the Aman Foundation, a local, not-for-profit trust in Pakistan, focusing on Health, Nutrition and Education through direct intervention.[3]

Recognition and Thought Leadership

In 2016, Arif Naqvi joined The B Team, a global nonprofit initiative co-founded by Sir Richard Branson and Jochen Zeitz that brings together a group of global leaders from business, civil society and government to catalyse a better way of doing business, that prioritises the wellbeing of people and the planet.[4]

In 2014, Interpol Foundation for a Safer World appointed Naqvi to its Global Board of Trustees.[5] In this role, Naqvi will lead the I-CHECKIT initiative, one of the Foundation's five global initiatives, aimed at protecting key industries that are particularly vulnerable to the threat of identity fraud, such as airlines, hotels, passenger shipping companies, banks and financial institutions.

In 2012, Naqvi was appointed to the Board of the United Nations Global Compact by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.[6]

Naqvi is on the Global Leadership Council of Columbia University, a Board Member of Endeavor Global,[7] and is the Chair of the Middle East Centre Advisory Board of the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Art in London.

Naqvi has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Oslo Business for Peace Award from The Business for Peace Foundation,[8] the highest form of recognition given to individual business leaders for fostering peace and stability through creating shared value between business and society.

In 2015 Naqvi was awarded with the BNP Paribas Grand Prix for Individual Philanthropy by BNP Paribas.[9] In 2014, Arif Naqvi received the High-Impact Entrepreneur of the Year from Endeavor Global.[10] He was also a recipient of the Kennedy Centre's Gold Medal in the Arts award [11] and the Sitara-i-Imtiaz, a prominent civilian honour awarded by the Government of Pakistan. In 2011, he was named as one of the 50 most influential people in the global private equity industry by Private Equity International.[12]

References

  1. ↑ "The New York Times". dealbook.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2015-12-02.
  2. ↑ "Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation partners with the Aman Foundation to transform family health - Aman Foundation | Transforming Lives". amanfoundation.org. Retrieved 2015-12-02.
  3. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-07. Retrieved 2016-02-28.
  4. ↑ Andeson, Richard. "Branson launches group to tackle short-termism in business". BBC. BBC.
  5. ↑ Nick McDonagh (18 November 2014). "INTERPOL Foundation for a Safer World Appoints Arif Naqvi, Founder of The Abraaj Group, to its Global Board of Trustees" (PDF). Retrieved 2015-12-02.
  6. ↑ "Abraaj's Arif Naqvi Appointed to UN Advisory Body Global Compact - Bloomberg Business". bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2015-12-02.
  7. ↑ "Arif Naqvi - Endeavor". endeavor.org. Retrieved 2015-12-02.
  8. ↑ "Unsupported Browser". businessforpeace.no. Retrieved 2015-12-02.
  9. ↑ http://www.philanthropyage.org/2015/06/29/dubai-entrepreneur-arif-naqvi-wins-philanthropy-award/
  10. ↑ http://www.endeavor.org/in-the-news/2014-endeavor-gala/
  11. ↑ "John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts announces the 2014 Recipients of Gold Medal in the ArtsUAE - The Official Web Site - News". uaeinteract.com. Retrieved 2015-12-02.
  12. ↑ http://www.peimedia.com/resources/PEO/PEI/100_most_influential_of_the_decade.pdf

External links

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