Raza Jafar

Raza Jafar is a serial entrepreneur and a philanthropist with over 28 years of diversified international work experience. His focus is on investments with a fervent pursuit of economic, environmental and social sustainability. He is a strong advocate of the need for corporations’ success to be measured based on the triple bottom line concept and to establish criteria to measure their social impact. Raza is a founder and shareholder of Emirates Investments Group (EIG), a leading group of companies based in the United Arab Emirates which have built up over $2 billion in value for their portfolio of companies in under 10 years. EIG’s track record includes the establishment of Emirates Global Islamic Bank (merged with Al Baraka Bank in 2010), Empire Aviation Group (managing the largest fleet of private business jets in the MENA region), ENSHAA PSC (a private joint stock company developing premium-quality commercial, residential and hospitality projects including Palazzo Versace Hotels and Condominiums with a total asset value of over $1.2 billion). Amongst other notable acquisitions, Raza in his capacity as Chief Executive Officer of ENSHAA, acquired a majority stake in Kele Contracting and Signature Clubs International. Kele is a large scale construction company with more than $2 billion in current projects. Signature Clubs International has established prestigious Business and Family Clubs in major cities of the Middle East such as the Capital Club Dubai and Capital Club Bahrain and is also establishing additional clubs in the North Africa, Levant and South Asia region. Raza also advises on family office investments through the European based operation, LMD Capital. Prior to his accomplishments with EIG, Raza served in the public sector as an advisor to the Government of UAE - Sharjah Ports and Customs and Sharjah Freezone Authority. He was also appointed as the Honorary Investment Counsellor to the UAE by the Government of Pakistan. Dedicating a substantial part of his life to philanthropy and impact investment, Reza has special interests in education, sustainability, healthcare, and abolishing slavery and trafficking. In addition to a multitude of appointments, he advises and serves on the boards of a number of foundations. He uses the skills and knowledge he attained in the corporate world to strategically advise nonprofit organizations on efficiency and effectiveness so as to maximize impact in their relevant field of philanthropy.