Badr Jafar

Badr Jafar (Arabic: بدر جعفر‎) is an Emirati businessperson. He is chief executive officer of Crescent Enterprises, a conglomerate headquartered in the United Arab Emirates. He is President of Crescent Enterprises' sister company Crescent Petroleum, Chairman of Pearl Petroleum which develops natural gas in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and chairman of the executive board of port operator Gulftainer.
In 2011, Jafar was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and is a member of its Stewardship Board. He was listed in '100 most powerful Arabs' by Arabian Business and Gulf Business in 2019, 2021 and 2023.
Early life and education
Badr Jafar was born and raised in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. In 1994, he continued his education at Eton College and graduated from the University of Cambridge with a master's degree in engineering and additional studies in astrophysics. Jafar subsequently attended the Cambridge Judge Business School.
Jafar is a member of the advisory boards of the Cambridge Judge Business School, the American University of Beirut, the American University of Sharjah, and a member of the Board of Trustees of Zayed University. He is a Foundation Fellow of Eton College.
Other work
Jafar is the Founder of the Pearl Initiative, an non-profit organization launched in 2010 at the United Nations, that promotes corporate governance within the Gulf region.
He is Chairman of Endeavor UAE. He is also on the Board of Advisors for Sharjah Entrepreneurship Centre (Sheraa) and Gaza Sky Geeks.
In 2011, he partnered with music producer Quincy Jones to create Global Gumbo Group to develop music and arts ventures in the Middle East. The group launched Dubai Music Week in 2013. They produced a charity single together titled Tomorrow/Bokra (Arabic: بكرا) to raise funds for educational arts projects for displaced youth in the Middle East.
In 2014, the Kennedy Centre honored Jafar with a gold medal in the Arts "in recognition of his efforts with cultural diplomacy to build closer ties between nations and regions".
Jafar is on the board of advisors of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), the Milken Institute for Strategic Philanthropy, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Middle East Institute, and the Board of Directors of the International Peace Institute.
In September 2023, he was appointed as COP28 Special Representative for Business and Philanthropy, and chair of the COP28 Business & Philanthropy Forum.
Philanthropy
In 2011, Jafar launched the Middle East Theatre Academy (META), a non-profit theatre academy.
In 2014, he launched the Arab World Social Entrepreneurship Program in partnership with Ashoka.
In 2015, he was appointed by the United Nations Secretary General to the High Level Panel on Humanitarian Financing, formed "to address the increasing gap between resources and financing for the world's humanitarian needs". He was subsequently appointed to UNESCO’s Futures of Education International Commission.
In 2018, Jafar and his wife joined The Giving Pledge, a philanthropic initiative launched by Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, and Warren Buffett.
Jafar is the Founding Patron of the Centre for Strategic Philanthropy based at the University of Cambridge, launched in 2020. In September 2021, Jafar announced the launch of the Strategic Philanthropy Initiative at New York University Abu Dhabi to promote philanthropy within the MENA region.
Personal life
He is married to Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, the managing director of the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi and the current President of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). They have two children together.
References
External links
Living people
1979 births
People from the Emirate of Sharjah
Emirati businesspeople
Emirati chief executives
Emirati people of Iraqi descent
Alumni of the University of Cambridge
21st-century philanthropists
People educated at Eton College