Omar Ayesh

Omar Ayesh (born 1 November 1968) is a Canadian entrepreneur and chairman of real estate company Nobles Holding. Ayesh was the subject of the largest real estate scandal in the Middle East, which inspired him to create the Global Justice Foundation, an organization aimed at fighting commercial corruption in developing markets.
Ayesh was born into a Palestinian family in Gaza. He first studied industrial engineering in Turkey’s Bosphorous University before transferring to Ajman University in the United Arab Emirates in 1989. He began his career by establishing Andalus Automotive, a network of pre-owned vehicle showrooms in the UAE, which he eventually expanded into North America before turning to real estate development.
As the United Arab Emirates economy grew in the late 1990s, the Emirate of Dubai allowed foreign ownership of real estate. Ayesh started investing in real estate under the brand Tameer Holding Investment, a company that Gulf International Bank valued at USD$5.2 billion before the global financial crisis of 2007-08. Tameer’s early projects included properties like the Elite Residence, The Regal Towers, Abu Dhabi’s Tameer Towers, and The Princess Tower, the List of tallest residential tower in the world until 2015. 
Ayesh expanded Tameer's land bank, with Mediaquest’s The Gulf Marketing Review listing Tameer as third in regional brand value in May 2007. Ayesh's business drew him the attention of several regional and international awards, including the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Business Award, the Ernst & Young Middle East Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and others.
In August 2008, Ayesh formed Nobles Properties, with a project planned in Dubai’s Business Bay which was delayed by the Financial crisis of 2007–2008 global financial crisis. Nobles signed a partnership agreement with Qatar First Bank in 2009 to fund opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa. The venture’s first project was a US$500 million city under Libya’s Economic and Social Development Fund with plans for developments in Libya, Syria, and Iraq, once those countries are stable enough.
In 2017, Ayesh established Winfooz, a technology-enabled automotive platform. The platform aims to revolutionize the way vehicles are bought, sold, and transported. In 2018, Winfooz went live with a limited launch in Canada, offering features such as a marketplace for trading used and new cars, trucking on-demand services, and a virtual auction platform.
In 2017, Ayesh established Winfooz, a technology-enabled automotive platform. The platform aims to revolutionize the way vehicles are bought, sold, and transported. In 2018, Winfooz went live with a limited launch in Canada, offering features such as a marketplace for trading used and new cars, trucking on-demand services, and a virtual auction platform.
==== Tameer scandal and legal battle ====
When Ayesh established Tameer, he partnered with Saudi Arabia’s Al-Rajhi Investment Group, headed by Ahmed Suleiman Al-Rajhi. It initially purchased a 50% stake in the company in 2005, steadily increasing its shareholding to 75% in early 2008, at which point Ahmed Suleiman Al-Rajhi engineered a hostile takeover of the Al-Rajhi Investment Group, pushing Ayesh out as President and depriving him of assets estimated at US$1.16 billion. Ayesh sued the company on accusations of embezzlement, corruption, and the reallocation of assets to Rajhi-owned companies. The matter continued in the Legal system of the Dubai legal system for years until the Dubai Court of Cassation ruled in Ayesh’s favor; however, the political leverage of the Saudi banking clan has kept them from paying damages awarded as of January 2021. The matter has received considerable media attention, with some calling it the largest financial scandal in the history of the Middle East.
In November 2020, in a civil suit the Emirate of Dubai’s Court of First Instance found that Ayesh was indeed 25% shareholder of Tameer, and ordered Ahmed Al-Rajhi, the minister of labor in the Saudi government, to pay nearly US$600 million in compensation and damages (2.2 billion UAE dirhams). Al-Rajhi was found guilty of creating shell companies, devaluing Ayesh’s company, and illegally expropriating assets. The Gulf News reported that, “An experts’ report to the presiding judge suggested that the asset disposal was being attempted ‘at much lower prices’ than their market value in order to ‘empty the company assets.’”
Ayesh has sponsored the Global Justice Foundation (GJF), an organization designed to promote business ethics and standards of corporate governance in developing markets without the benefit of the rule of law. He states his experience with corruption, intimidation, and abuse in the financial dealings of companies and individuals, with the aid of government officials, led him to establishing GJF. The foundation is working with other victims of Middle Eastern corruption, “looking at ways to assist them in filing their own lawsuits and to amplify its message that the region must fight corruption more diligently.” The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners in their 2020 study on global fraud and abuse reported that the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia lead the region in instances of corruption.
==Social Responsibility and Philanthropy==
Ayesh is an active philanthropist and allocates significant amounts of his personal wealth and through the companies he holds shares in to support various social initiatives, including debt relief, refugee aid, microfinance, vocational training, scholarships, and medical support. 
In 2021, Nobles Investment offered 54 scholarships to the Al-Aman Fund for Orphans, an organization that supports the future of orphans in Jordan. Ayesh also signed a cooperation agreement between Nobles Properties and the Jordanian Hashemite Fund for Human Development (JOHUD) to support human development projects in the country.
==Awards and Achievements==
* Ayesh received the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Business Award for his excellence in real estate development.
* The Arabian Business Middle East Awards recognized him as the Best CEO in Property Development.
* Arabian Business magazine ranked him 32nd on its "Rich List."
* Ayesh received the Ernst & Young Middle East Entrepreneur of the Year award.
* He was featured on Forbes' list of the 50 richest businessmen in the Middle East.
Category:Canadian entrepreneur
Category:1968 births
Category:Business in Canada