Mohamed Al Jaber: The Arabs and Technology

Mohamed Al Jaber, born in Jeddah in 1959, is a UNESCO special envoy who likes constructive dialogue and so do we. He believes in building bridges between the Middle East and the wider world and we applaud him for this too.

As chairman and CEO of MBI International, Al Jaber has made a fortune from the development of hotel and resorts most of which are located in Europe. As is the case with many business leaders from this part of the world, he has diversified his portfolio and the MBI Group has food processing and oil service interests and has developed compounds for expatriate accommodation in Saudi Arabia. Al Jaber is the majority shareholder in a business valued in excess of $7 billion.

Our billionaire Middle East Hero is a prominent philanthropist who set up the very well organised MBI Al Jaber Foundation in London and has endowed a chair in Middle East studies at the capital’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). Last year the Foundation sponsored UNESCO’s Euro-Arab Dialogue Conference held in Vienna.

“It’s about time for the Arab world to be a contributor in the world of technology – and one day to be an exporter of technology.  I think it has all it needs to be a player… The challenge now is to move fast.”

The Foundation offers sponsorships for graduate students from the Middle East to study in Europe and anyone who is familiar with these programmes will confirm that young people from the region become the most effective ambassadors of their respective countries. Al Jabr likes to connect cultures through wilderness expeditions and there is little doubt that bringing young people together in this way breaks down the barriers very quickly. He is a strong backer of female education.

Through the generosity of Mohamed Al Jaber, restoration of mosques and manuscripts destroyed recently by militant Islamists in Mali is taking place. We are pleased to see that in more spheres than one Al Jaber is fighting back against senseless extremism.

CFI

Recent Posts

Orchestrating the Transition: enso Group Builds the Enabling Structures for Reliable Clean Power

From Austria’s hydropower tradition to African grid-scale platforms, enso’s “system orchestrator” model fuses technology, finance…

2 days ago

Angola’s Transport & Infrastructure Evolution: Rebuilding a Nation, Rewiring a Region

Few African countries have pursued infrastructure renewal on Angola’s scale or under comparable historical pressure.…

2 days ago

Eaglestone Management: Experience Forged in Global Infrastructure Finance

Eaglestone’s leadership team reflects the firm’s positioning at the intersection of banking discipline and real-economy…

2 days ago

The Pivot: Unlocking the Central African Republic’s Substantial Resource Frontier

The narrative of the Central African Republic (CAR) has long been confined to the periphery…

5 days ago

From Penetration to Inclusion: How CRC Credit Bureau Is Re-Engineering Nigeria’s Credit Ecosystem

Nigeria’s journey towards broad-based financial inclusion has accelerated markedly in recent years, with credit penetration…

1 week ago

The Middle Power Dilemma: The UK and the Sovereignty Paradox in a Tri-Polar World

The hypothesis is simple. In a trade system increasingly shaped by the United States, China…

2 weeks ago