{"id":22822,"date":"2021-04-11T05:43:57","date_gmt":"2021-04-11T05:43:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/damacofficial.com\/hussainsajwani\/?p=22822"},"modified":"2025-06-23T06:24:58","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T06:24:58","slug":"the-uae-is-home-to-these-11-billionaires-more-than-any-other-middle-east-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/damacofficial.com\/hussainsajwani\/the-uae-is-home-to-these-11-billionaires-more-than-any-other-middle-east-country\/","title":{"rendered":"The UAE Is Home To These 11 Billionaires\u2014More Than Any Other Middle East Country"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Forbes\u2019 World\u2019s Billionaires 2021 ranking features 25 billionaires from across the globe that reside in the Middle East. Of these, 11 are living in the UAE, making it the Middle Eastern country with the highest number of billionaires.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Three Emirati families, one Emirati businessman, and seven expats make up the UAE\u2019s rich list. Together, their total net fortune is $43.4 billion.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These are the 11 billionaires that call the UAE their home.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>1| Pavel Durov&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Net worth:$17.2 billion&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pavel Durov is the founder and owner of&nbsp;messaging&nbsp;app Telegram, which has more than 500 million users worldwide.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>2| M.A. Yusuff Ali&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Net worth:&nbsp;$4.8 billion&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Middle&nbsp;East\u2019s retail king M.A. Yusuff Ali presides over $7.4 billion (revenue)&nbsp;LuLu&nbsp;Group International, with 193 stores in the Gulf and elsewhere.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>3| Majid Al Futtaim &amp; family&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Net worth:&nbsp;$3.6 billion&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Majid Al Futtaim founded retailing and entertainment giant Majid Al Futtaim Holding, known as MAF, in 1992.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>4| Abdulla bin Ahmad Al Ghurair &amp; family&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Net worth:&nbsp;$2.8 billion&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Abdulla Al Ghurair founded&nbsp;Mashreqbank, a leading U.A.E. bank, in 1967. He stepped down as chairman in October 2019, but he remains a board member.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>5| Micky Jagtiani&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Net worth:&nbsp;$2.8 billion&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Middle East retail magnate Micky Jagtiani drove a taxi in London before moving to Bahrain and starting a baby products shop in 1973.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>6| Ravi Pillai&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Net worth:&nbsp;$2.5 billion&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Indian-born farmer\u2019s son, Ravi Pillai migrated to Saudi Arabia after his small construction business in his native Kerala went bust.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>7| Hussain&nbsp;Sajwani&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Net worth:&nbsp;$2.4 billion&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sajwani&nbsp;is the chairman of Dubai-based luxury real estate developer&nbsp;Damac&nbsp;Properties, which he founded in 2002.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>8| Abdulla Al Futtaim &amp; family&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Net worth:&nbsp;$2.2 billion&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Abdulla Al Futtaim owns conglomerate Al Futtaim Group, run by his son Omar, who is vice chairman.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>9| Thaksin Shinawatra&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Net worth:&nbsp;$2 billion&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister of Thailand, has been living in self-imposed exile in Dubai for more than a decade.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>10| Saket Burman&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Net worth:&nbsp;$1.7 billion&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Saket Burman is the sixth-generation member of the storied Burman clan that founded Dabur, India\u2019s fourth largest consumer goods company.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>11| Sunny Varkey&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Net worth:&nbsp;$1.4 billion&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Son&nbsp;of Indian expat teachers, who migrated to Dubai in 1959, Sunny Varkey controls GEMS Education, the world\u2019s largest operator of K-12 schools.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Forbes\u2019 World\u2019s Billionaires 2021 ranking features 25 billionaires from across the globe that reside in the Middle East. Of these, 11 are living in the UAE, making it the Middle&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22422,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The UAE Is Home To These 11 Billionaires\u2014More Than Any Other Middle East Country - Hussain Sajwani<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The UAE Is Home To These 11 Billionaires\u2014More Than Any Other Middle East Country - Hussain Sajwani\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Forbes\u2019 World\u2019s Billionaires 2021 ranking features 25 billionaires from across the globe that reside in the Middle East. Of these, 11 are living in the UAE, making it the Middle&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/damacofficial.com\/hussainsajwani\/the-uae-is-home-to-these-11-billionaires-more-than-any-other-middle-east-country\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hussain Sajwani\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-04-11T05:43:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-23T06:24:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/damacofficial.com\/hussainsajwani\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Hussain-Sajwani.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1680\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"656\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"v-salman@damacgroup.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"v-salman@damacgroup.com\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/damacofficial.com\/hussainsajwani\/the-uae-is-home-to-these-11-billionaires-more-than-any-other-middle-east-country\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/damacofficial.com\/hussainsajwani\/the-uae-is-home-to-these-11-billionaires-more-than-any-other-middle-east-country\/\",\"name\":\"The UAE Is Home To These 11 Billionaires\u2014More Than Any Other Middle East Country - 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