# Majid Jafar

Majid Hamid Jafar (Arabic: مجيد حميد جعفر; born 1976) is an Emirati businessman of Iraqi descent. He is the CEO of Crescent Petroleum, vice-chairman of the Crescent Group, and managing director of Dana Gas.

## Early life and education

Majid Jafar is the eldest son of Hamid Jafar, founder of Crescent Petroleum and chairman of the Crescent Group, and Sawsan Al-Fahoum Jafar. He is the grandson of Iraqi Dhia Jafar, politician and cabinet minister who served in the last decade of Iraq's monarchy, during the reign of King Faisal II until 1958.
Jafar attended Eton College and graduated from the University of Cambridge (Churchill College) with bachelor's and master's degrees in engineering (fluid mechanics and thermodynamics). He holds a master's degree in international studies and diplomacy from the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

## Career

In his early career Jafar worked for Shell in London until 2004 when he joined his father's company Crescent Petroleum at their headquarters in Sharjah, UAE. He became CEO of Crescent Petroleum in 2011.
Crescent Petroleum's business and exploration focus lies in the MENA region with a special focus on Egypt and Iraq. In a 2018 licensing round Crescent Petroleum was awarded three concessions for gas fields in Diyala province and as well as the Khidhr Al Mai exploration block in southern Iraq.
In 2021, Jafar announced that Crescent Petroleum became one of the first companies in the oil and gas industry to achieve carbon neutrality across its operations after completing a series of projects to reduce carbon intensity and offset remaining emissions. In December 2023, Jafar also committed Crescent Petroleum as a signatory to the Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter (OGDC), a global industry Charter dedicated to achieveing net-zero operations by 2050 at the latest, and achieving near-zero upstream methane emissions and ending routine flaring by 2030. In 2021 Jafar was named as one of 100 inspiring leaders in the Middle East, and was listed in the Dubai's 100: Most influential people in the Emirate, by Arabian Business. In 2023 & 2024, Forbes Middle East magazine named him among the Middle East Sustainable 100 list.

## Other work

Jafar has written columns for the Financial Times, and HuffPost and been interviewed on news channels like CNN and CNBC.
Jafar has been on the Middle East Advisory board of Carnegie Endowment and Harvard Business School, and the board of the Queen Rania Foundation. Jafar authored the opening chapter of Performance and Progress: Essays on Capitalism, Business and Society published in 2015 by Oxford University Press. Jafar is a member of the board of the International Advisory Council of the Atlantic Council, trustee of the Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED) and a board member at the Iraqi Energy Institute, a member of the Young Presidents Organisation and of the panel of senior advisors of British think tank Chatham House. In 2017, Jafar co-chaired the WEF MENA Summit together with EU Commission President Usula von der Leyen and McKinsey managing partner Dominic Barton). He was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum (WEF). Jafar's father, Hamid Jafar, supported the Jafar Research Professorship of Petroleum Engineering at Cambridge University. In 2015, the Jafar Hall and the Jafar Gallery at Eton College was supported by the Jafar's family and was opened by the Prince of Wales .
Jafar is the Co-founder of the Loulou Foundation, which he established together with his wife Lynn to address their eldest daughter Alia's rare disease (CDKL5 Deficiency Disorder). In 2020 the Jafars also established an endowed scholarship at Harvard Medical School to support medical students from the Middle East region. Jafar is a member of the Board of Fellows and Co-Chair of the Discovery Council of Harvard Medical School.

## Personal life

Jafar is married to Lynn Barghout Jafar, daughter of businessman and philanthropist Bassam Barghout, who was awarded the Order of the Cedar with rank of Knight by the President and Prime Minister of Lebanon for his services to the country. Her grandfatherKhalil Al-Hibri served as a member of parliament, Chairman of the Water Board of Beirut, Minister of Public Works and then Prime Minister of Lebanon in 1958, heading the transitional government in response to the Lebanon Crisis. Her great-grandfather was Sheikh Toufik El-Hibri, a founder of the Scout movement in Lebanon and across the Arab World.
Majid and Lynn Jafar have four children (two girls and two boys). Lynn Barghout Jafar founded and manages High Hopes Dubai, a pediatric therapy center, which was opened in November 2017 by HRH Princess Haya bint Hussein. and further expanded in March 2023. Majid and Lynn Jafar are patrons of the Dubai Collection for Art.