Fadi Ghandour

Fadi Ghandour was born in Beirut in 1958 to a Jordanian father and grew up moving between countries as his family navigated the region's instability, eventually studying in the United States. In 1982 he returned to Amman and, with two partners, founded a small courier company to handle international express deliveries in a region where reliable, fast shipping barely existed and most cargo moved slowly through state-run postal systems.

The early years were a struggle against unreliable infrastructure, sceptical customers unused to paying for speed, and the practical difficulty of moving parcels across borders in a politically fractious region. Ghandour built the company, Aramex, by focusing relentlessly on service quality and by forming a network of partner agents across the Middle East long before larger global carriers took the region seriously.

In 1997 Aramex became the first Arab company to list on the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York, a milestone that gave the firm credibility and capital to expand across the Gulf, North Africa and beyond, eventually employing tens of thousands of people. Ghandour later took the company private again before a further listing, remaining closely involved in its strategy for decades.

Beyond Aramex, he became known across the Arab world as an outspoken champion of entrepreneurship, helping to found organisations supporting start-ups and arguing publicly that the region's future depended on building companies and jobs rather than relying on oil wealth or state employment.