Arif Naqvi

Arif Naqvi

Arif Naqvi is the CEO of Dubai-based investment bank Abraaj Capital, the leading private equity firm in the Middle East and Northern Africa. He has spent 27 years in the banking, finance and investments industry.

Arif Masood Naqvi earned his BSc Economics in 1982 from the London School of Economics and is originally from Karachi, Pakistan.
In 1982, Naqvi began his career with Arthur Andersen in London. Later, he went back to Pakistan to join the American Express Bank and helped create Pakistan's first investment banks. He launched a private equity firm called Cupola.
Over the years, Naqvi has also overseen the acquisition and exit of Aramex International, Inchcape Middle East the first and largest leveraged buyout transaction in the region, and the privatisation by the Government of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan of Jordan Aircraft Maintenance Company (JorAMCo). This is in addition to the acquisition of a significant stake in the leading supermarket chain in the Middle East – Spinneys, and the total acquisition of Septech, a controversial waste water treatment company.
Naqvi was vice-president of business development for the Olayan Group, Saudi Arabia's largest private trading company.
Naqvi currently serves on the Board of Directors of Endeavor, an international non-profit development organization that finds and supports high-impact entrepreneurs in emerging markets.

Notable achievements

In 2006, Mr. Arif Naqvi was awarded Sitara-i-Imtiaz, Pakistan's Third Highest Civilian Award.
Naqvi is the only non-Arab member serving in the Arab Business Group established by the World Economic Forum.
He served as Young Presidents Organization, Emirates Chapter Chairman in 2002-2003
Designated "New Asian Leader" by the World Economic Forum in 2003-2004.

Arif Naqvi is the founder and Group Chief Executive of Abraaj Capital, based in Dubai. Abraaj Capital is the largest private equity firm in the MENASA region. He is a member of the Young Presidents' Organization, where he was the Emirates Chapter Chairman from 2002-03. He is a member of numerous think tanks and policy groups, including the WEF Arab Business Council.
Mr. Naqvi received his education at the London School of Economics. He was born in 1960 and is a citizen of Pakistan.

Arif Naqvi

Abraaj Capital, Founder & Group Chief Executive Officer

Arif Naqvi is Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer of Abraaj Capital. Abraaj is the largest private equity group in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia (MENASA) with paid-up capital of US$1.5 billion. Since its inception in 2002, it has raised about US$7 billion and distributed nearly US$3 billion to its investors. Abraaj has been associated with some of the region’s most notable transactions and has won numerous awards including "Middle East Private Equity Firm of the Year" from London-based Private Equity International (PEI) five years in a row since 2005.

Mr. Naqvi is a member of the Young Presidents Organization, where he was the Emirates Chapter Chairman from 2002 to 2003. He was designated a New Asian Leader by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in 2003/ 2004, and is a member of numerous think-tanks and policy groups such as the WEF Arab Business Council. He is a board member of the Pakistan Human Development Fund and the recipient of the King Abdullah II Award for Youth Innovation & Achievement in Jordan. He is also a member of the Advisory Council of the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association, the IMD Foundation Board, and the Advisory Board of the Columbia University Middle East Research Center.

In 2007 and 2008, PEI identified Mr. Naqvi as one of the 50 most influential people in the global private equity industry. In 2006, he was awarded the highest civilian honor in Pakistan, the Sitari-e-Imtiaz, by the republic’s president. Mr. Naqvi is a graduate of the London School of Economics and previously worked with Arthur Andersen & Co, American Express Bank, Saudi Arabia’s Olayan Group, and The Cupola Group, which he founded in 1994. Mr. Naqvi is married with two children.

Abraaj Capital