Badr Jafar

Badr Jafar is the CEO of Crescent Enterprises, a diversified business operating across six industry sectors in 18 countries, and President of Crescent Petroleum, the first independent and privately-owned petroleum company in the Middle East. He also serves as Chairman of Gulftainer, the largest privately-owned container port operator in the world, and as Chairman of Pearl Petroleum, the largest natural gas producer in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

In 2010, Badr founded the Pearl Initiative, a non-profit venture in cooperation with the United Nations Office for Partnerships to promote a corporate culture of transparency and accountability across the Gulf Region of the Middle East.

He serves in a number of advisory positions in the humanitarian and development sectors, as a member of the United Nations Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on Humanitarian Financing, a member of the UNESCO International Commission on the Futures of Education, and a member of the Board of Overseers of the International Rescue Committee (IRC).

Through his advocacy for social entrepreneurship in the MENA Region, he is Chairman of Endeavor UAE; an initiative encouraging high-impact entrepreneurship, is a member of the Synergos Arab World Social Innovators (AWSI) Program Board of Governors and serves on the Board of Advisors for both the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Centre (Sheraa) and Gaza Sky Geeks.

Badr is active with higher education institutions, serving as member of the Advisory Boards of Cambridge University Judge Business School, MIT Legatum Centre for Development and Entrepreneurship, American University of Beirut and American University of Sharjah.

As an ardent believer in the essential role of the arts in innovation economies, Badr founded the non-profit Middle East Theatre Academy in 2011 to encourage young people in the Region to express their talents through writing, directing, producing and acting. In the same year, he co-founded the Global Gumbo Group with esteemed music producer Quincy Jones to bridge cross-cultural divides through entertainment. He is a member of the Guggenheim Middle Eastern Circle, the Artistic Director’s Circle of The Old Vic Theatre Trust, Kennedy Centre’s Centennial Circle and founder of the Middle East Theatre Academy. In 2014, Badr was awarded the Gold Medal in the Arts by the Kennedy Centre International Committee on the Arts for his work to bridge cultures through music and theatre.

Badr has been a member of the Young Presidents’ Organisation since 2005, and served as Chair of the YPO Emirates Chapter. Badr was recognised as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2011 and is Co-chair of their Family Business Community and is a member of the Stewardship Board on New Economy and Society and Stewardship Board on Digital Economy and New Value Creation.

Badr's personal blog can be found on badrjafar.com and Twitter feed @BadrJafar.