Iraq-born financier Nemir Kirdar has come a long way since he escaped from Iraq in 195 by hiding in a rolled-up carpet in the back of a truck.

The founder, executive chairman and CEO of the global investment group, Investcorp, which operates out of New York, London and Bahrain, Kirdar began his banking career in New York in 1969. Following two years of credit training, he covered South East Asia and Japan for Allied Bank International. In 1974 he joined the Chase Manhattan Bank, New York, as vice president. Between 1976 and 1981 he served in the Arabian Gulf and was responsible for overseeing and directing Chase’s banking network in the region.

He founded Investcorp in 1982. The firm specialises in offering alternative investments on both sides of the Atlantic. These include private equity, hedge funds, real estate, technology investments and Gulf growth capital.

The firm’s mission is to act as a bridge between surplus funds in the Gulf and non-traditional investment opportunities in the USA and western Europe. Its 330 staff comprise some 38 nationalities.

Kirdar graduated in economics from the University of the Pacific in California and holds an MBA from Fordham University in New York. He has also completed Harvard Business School’s senior management programme.

Kirdar has notched up almost as many honourary qualifications as academic awards. He has received honorary doctorate in humane letters from Georgetown University, Washington DC; in laws from the University of the Pacific, California; and in economics from Richmond, the American International University in London.