He serves on the board of several different companies across continents, and is a regular speaker at the World Economic Forum. He’s been named ‘Islamic Banker of the Year’ and a ‘Young Global Leader’, and been awarded an honorary doctorate from the Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations.

But it is through his leadership of Gulf Finance House that Esam Janahi has really made his mark. Since 1999, he has led flagship initiatives including the launch of energy cities in Qatar, Libya and Kazakhstan, a series of financial harbours in Bahrain and Tunisia, and the largest GFH concept to date, the $10bn Mumbai Economic Development Zone. Elsewhere, GFH has announced First Energy Bank, the world’s first Islamic investment bank offering tailored energy-based finance.

Alongside these projects, GFH’s venture capital arm has busied itself with unlocking the huge opportunities generated by the region’s construction boom. Companies HadeedMENA (steel), Cemena (cement) and Binaa (building materials) are set to become leading producers in their marketplaces, addressing both the demand and current shortfall in critical building materials seen across the MENA region.

So good were GFH most recent results, it approved a cash dividend payout of $52.56m for the fiscal year 2008. This is equivalent to 20% of the par value of the firms’s paid-up capital. A further 20% will be paid in the form of bonus shares. This was driven by strong year end profits of $291m.