BADR JAFAR - PRESIDENT

Badr Jafar
Badr Jafar is the President of Crescent Petroleum and CEO of Crescent Enterprises. He is active in a variety of industries, and has additional responsibilities as follows:
  • Managing Director of the Crescent Group, , the parent company of both Crescent Petroleum and Crescent Enterprises;
  • Chairman of Gulftainer; the world’s largest privately-owned independent port operator with operations in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Iraq and the USA;
  • Chairman of Pearl Petroleum; a partnership between Crescent Petroleum, Dana Gas, OMV (Austria), MOL (Hungary), RWEST (Germany), MOL (Hungary) to exclusively appraise, develop, process, market and sell petroleum from the substantial Khor Mor and Chemchemal fields in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq;
  • Chairman of Gas Cities; a joint venture between Crescent Petroleum and Dana Gas PJSC to develop self-sustaining, industrial cities designed for the systematic and comprehensive utilization of natural gas as fuel and feedstock.
After completing his secondary education at Eton College, Badr earned his Master’s degree in Engineering from Churchill College, the University of Cambridge, and a postgraduate degree from the Cambridge Judge Business School.

In 2010, Badr founded the Pearl Initiative, a non-profit organisation committed to promoting a corporate culture of transparency and accountability across the Gulf Region of the Middle East, in cooperation with the United Nations Office for Partnerships. He is 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 Advisors of the International Rescue Committee (IRC).

Consistent with his interest in promoting social entrepreneurship in the MENA Region, Badr co-founded the Arab World Social Entrepreneurship Program (ASEP) with Ashoka and is a member of the Synergos Arab World Social Innovators (AWSI) Board of Governors. He is a Board member of Endeavor UAE, a network supporting high-impact entrepreneurship, and serves on the Board of Advisors for the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Centre (Sheraa) and Gaza Sky Geeks.

Badr is actively engaged with a number of higher education institutions both locally and internationally, serving as a member of the Advisory Board of Cambridge Judge Business School, the International Advisory Council of the American University of Beirut and the Business Advisory Council of the American University of Sharjah. He is the Founding Patron of the Centre for Strategic Philanthropy based at the Cambridge Judge Business School and the Strategic Philanthropy Initiative based at NYU Abu Dhabi.

Badr was recognised as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2011, is Co-Chair of the WEF Family Business Community, a member of the WEF’s Stewardship Board on New Economy and Society and the Stewardship Board on Digital Economy and New Value Creation. In addition, Badr is Champion of the World Economic Forum’s EDISON Alliance to advocate for inclusive access to digital services in the MENA region and beyond. He is a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Advisory Council.