Majid Jafar

Majid Jafar is the eldest son of Hamid Jafar, founder of Crescent Petroleum and chairman of the Crescent Group, and a grandson of Iraqi Dhia Jafar, a politician and cabinet minister in the last decade of Iraq's monarchy, during the reign of King Faisal II until 1958.[4] Jafar hails from a notable Iraqi family, that claims agnatic descent from Musa al-Kadhim.[5][6] He was born and raised in Sharjah.

Jafar attended Eton College and graduated from Cambridge University (Churchill College) with bachelor's and master's degrees in engineering (fluid mechanics and thermodynamics). He holds a master's degree[7] in international studies and diplomacy with distinction[8] from the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), and an MBA[7] with distinction[8] from Harvard Business School.[9]

Jafar worked for Shell in London.[10] In 2004, Jafar joined Crescent Petroleum[11] at their headquarters in Sharjah, UAE.[12] He became CEO in 2011.[13] Crescent's business and exploration focus lies in the MENA region[14] with a special focus on Egypt and Iraq/Kurdistan, where the Jafar family originally stems from.[15] In a 2018 licensing round Crescent Petroleum was awarded new development and production contracts for the Gilabat and Qumar gas fields in Iraq.[16][17]

Jafar has been named as one of the 25 most powerful people in the Middle East oil and gas sector.[18] In 2013 Jafar was elected vice-chairman of the Global Energy Initiative,[19] He was listed among the top 100 business leaders from the Middle East and was awarded as "Visionary of the Year" at the CEO Middle East Awards in 2013.[20] He was also awarded as Energy CEO of 2013 by Amwal[21] and has been named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum (WEF).[22][23] Jafar is on the Energy Business Council of the International Energy Agency (IEA), the advisory board of the Responsible Energy Forum, and the Stewardship Board of the Global System on Energy at the World Economic Forum (WEF).[24] Jafar was named as one of 100 inspiring leaders in the Middle East,[25] and was listed in the top 50 of Dubai's 100: Most influential people in the Emirate, by Arabian Business.[26] In 2017, Jafar co-chaired the WEF MENA Summit (together with other co-chairs like McKinsey's head and global managing partner Dominic Barton).[27][28]

Jafar has argued for an expansion of the private sector in natural resources and cited the Sharjah region, the UAE base of Crescent's operations, as role model for possible developments.[29][30][31]

Jafar has written columns for the Financial Times,[32] the Daily Telegraph[33] and HuffPost[34] and been interviewed on news channels like BBC[35] and CNBC.[36] In 2014, he was listed among the world's 100 most powerful Arabs and amongst the leading "Thinkers" by Arabian Business.[37] Jafar is the founding chair of the CEG Business Council.[38] He sits on the Middle East Advisory board of Carnegie Endowment[39] and Harvard Business School, and the board of the Queen Rania Foundation[40] and is a founding patron of the Prince's Trust International in the UK.[41] Jafar authored the opening chapter of Performance and Progress: Essays on Capitalism, Business and Society published in 2015 by Oxford University Press.[42]

He is a member of the board at the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) industry advisory council[43] and of the International Advisory Council of the Atlantic Council[44] and serves as accredited director of the Institute of Directors.[7] Jafar is a member of the board of the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce (UAE), the Sharjah Expo,[37] and the Iraqi-British Friendship Society.[45] He is a trustee of the Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED)[46] and a board member at the Iraqi Energy Institute,[7] a member of the Young Presidents Organisation[47] and of the panel of senior advisors of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) in London chaired by former UK Prime Minister John Major.[48]

The Jafar family has supported the Jafar Research Professorship of Petroleum Engineering at Cambridge University[49] and the Jafar Centre for Executive Education at the American University of Sharjah. In 2015, the Jafar Hall and the Jafar Gallery were opened by the Prince of Wales at Eton College.[50] Jafar also sits on the board of trustees at the Kalimat Foundation for Children's Empowerment.[51] He is the co-chair[52] of the Business Backs Education campaign,[53][54] which aims to motivate companies to increase their CSR spending.[55]

Jafar is the Co-founder[56] of the Loulou Foundation,[57] which he established together with his wife to address their eldest daughter Alia's rare disease (CDKL5 Deficiency Disorder).[58] In 2020 the couple also established an endowed scholarship at Harvard Medical School to support medial students from the Middle East region.[59] Jafar is a member of the Board of Fellows[60] and the Discovery Council of Harvard Medical School.[59]

He is married to Lynn Barghout Jafar, and they have three children (two girls and 1 boy).[61][62] His wife founded and manages High Hopes Dubai,[63] a pediatric therapy center, which was opened in November 2017 by Princess Haya bint Hussein.[64]