Omar Kutayba Yusuf Alghanim is an experienced CEO and impact investor with strong leadership positions in best practice and governance for the success of family businesses.
He is Chairman of The Family Business Council in the Gulf and a board director at the Family Business Network International, the largest worldwide network of family businesses with a membership of more than 4,000 families and 16,000 individuals across 50-plus countries.
Omar is also Founder and Chairman of YAKOA, an impact investment fund that seeks to bring about positive change in the GCC. YAKOA pursues a strong set of values, developed and nurtured over four generations of the Alghanim International family business.
Previously Omar held a number of senior positions, including CEO of Alghanim Industries and Chairman of Gulf Bank, where he oversaw double-digit growth for seven years in a row.
Beginning with his first job as an M&A analyst with Morgan Stanley, Omar has developed a leadership style founded on meritocracy, ensuring careers progress based on performance and successful ideas, rather than social connections. His approach is captured by a Harvard Business School MBA case study.
He is co-founder and board member of INJAZ-AL ARAB, a non-profit organization that prepares youths for work and business life across the Arab world that has educated and trained 3m young people to date.
Omar also gives back to his alma mater, Harvard, by serving on the Leadership Council of its Kennedy School Centre for Public Leadership as well as the Business School Board of Dean’s Advisors and MENA Advisory Board. He previously served as the World Economic Forum’s Chair of the MENA Regional Business Council.
