Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber

Capital projects supported by the MBI Al Jaber Foundation include the MBI Al Jaber Building at Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford; The MBI Al Jaber Grand Hall at the University of Westminster; and to enable the relocation of the London Middle East Institute at SOAS amongst others. A donation to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine for their epidemiology research centre was announced in May 2020.

Since its launch, The MBI Al Jaber Foundation has provided a wide range of academic scholarships in order for students from the MENA regions to continue their education at some of the world’s leading universities.

The MBI Al Jaber Foundation is a leading supporter of Connecting Cultures, an intercultural educational program that creates close ties and greater understanding between young people of varying backgrounds. Connecting Cultures has been cited by the UN Alliance of Civilisations as one of the world’s leading civil society initiatives.

The MBI Al Jaber Foundation works closely with UNESCO on a number of issues and projects, including: support for the Euro-Arab Dialogue Initiative; Educational reform in countries such as Algeria and Yemen; and the Kitab fi Jarida ‘a book in a newspaper’ project. In 2005, MBI Al Jaber was nominated by the UNESCO Director General as their personal representative for "education, human rights, tolerance, and cultures to build peace and democracy."

Al Jaber was listed as a billionaire in March 2013 by Forbes and in May 2014 featured in The Sunday Times Rich List at number 13, the highest entry for an Arab. Arabian Business's 2013 rich list 'The world's richest Arabs' puts Al Jaber at number 2 with $12.66bn. Bloomberg Billionaires gives his net worth as $7.19BN as of August 2018.

Between 2013 and 2015 the MBI Al Jaber Foundation spent approx £1.2m; it spent £114,000 in 2016; and less than £40,000 in 2017.

In 2013 the MBI Al Jaber Foundation launched a Media Training Institute in Sana'a, Yemen; with a view to promoting a free press, the institute offered free courses in all types of journalism and broadcasting. This and a number of other projects have currently been paused due to the ongoing volatility in the region.

In April 2011, Al Jaber announced that he owned 80% of the Group and mentioned a 300 million euro profit for the year 2010.

In May 2011, Al Jaber publicly denounced a defamation campaign by Austrian Media which had sought to imply financial difficulties in some of the companies that Al Jaber had invested in. He accused the newspapers of reporting a one-sided version of events.

In 2009, MBI Al Jaber released his first book, 'Yes, the Arabs can too' (Arabic 2009, English 2013, German 2015). The book provides a contemporary Arab view on the changes that are being wrought both economically and socially across the region.

In 2009, MBI Al Jaber was cited as a leading exponent of good philanthropic practices in the Centre for Social Cohesion's publication, A Degree of Influence: Simcox, Robin (2009). A Degree of Influence. London: The Centre for Social Cohesion. p. 78, 86 & 114. ISBN 978-0956001337. MBI Al Jaber's personal views on philanthropy can be found in an interview in Philanthropy Age magazine.

In January 2008, Portuguese press revealed that Al Jaber is expanding his business in the Algarve and investing about €200 million to buy the Hotel Dona Filipa in Vale do Lobo, the golf course San Lourenzo in Quinta do Lago, the Hotel Penina and its 3 golf courses from Starman (a joint-venture between the Lehman Brothers bank and Starwood Capital Group). Other assets in the regions are the Pinheiros Altos Golf Resort and the Formosa Hotel. In 2013 JJW Hotels and Resorts took over the management of the Penina Hotel and Golf Resort, and also announced plans for a major refurbishment of the Dona Filipa. Mohsen MBI Al Jaber, son of Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber, has held the role of Vice President of the Portugal sector of the MBI Group since October 2015.

In the beginning of 2008, Al Jaber proposed to help the financially troubled Austrian Airlines with investments through taking a 20% stake in the company. However, he withdrew his offer in May 2008 after the company published its negative quarterly results, based on the grounds that the company intentionally withheld the actual level of trouble faced. Auditor Herbert Heiser, who was called by the court to consult in the legal dispute between AUA and Al Jaber, agreed with Al Jaber’s conclusions. He states in his report that rather than its officially declared profit of €3.3 million, the AUA should have revealed a hefty loss – of around €235 million.

In July 2008, Al Jaber took a 60% stake in Kneissl Holding GmbH, an Austrian manufacturer of sports equipment. JJA Beteiligungsverwaltungs GmbH bought the entire company in December 2012 for €1,98 million and subsequently let it lapse into insolvency because he did not inject funds he had committed earlier.

In 2008 Vienna's Trialog Institut named Al Jaber 'Man of the Year' for his work in promoting inter-cultural understanding. Presenting the award, Karl Blecha, former Federal Minister of the Interior and of the Austrian-Arabic Association, praised Al Jaber for his work towards building bridges through education and understanding and his support of peace, tolerance and democracy.

In October 2008, it was announced that the Group planned to acquire a number of hotels in France from the Starwood Capital Group for $2billion but the deal was not concluded.

In 2007, Al Jaber agreed to invest 10% in the building of the Vienna Tourism University (Modul University Vienna), a project handled by the Vienna Economic Chamber and provided scholarships for students there both personally and through his Foundation.

Also in 2007, JJW signed an agreement for the takeover and the expansion of the Palace Schwarzenberg Hotel in Vienna, along with Magnat Real Estate. However, delays to the project led to its cancellation. The Austrian press noted in this regard that numerous payment commitments of Al Jaber had remained unfulfilled and had led to recriminations and threats of lawsuits.

In 2007, Al Jaber expanded the portfolio of the Guernsey-based JJW Hotels & Resorts group by acquiring The Eton Collection hotels for a reported £70 million.

Al Jaber is married and has three children. His children are all Trustees of the MBI Al Jaber Foundation. In 2007, Al Jaber obtained Austrian nationality.

In October 2006, Al Jaber bought the Palais Corso, Vienna's premier luxury shopping and office complex from Generali Versicherung, for about €70 million.

MBI Al Jaber was co-founding patron of the Olive Tree Programme at City, University of London, which ran from 2004 to 2016. The programme brought Israeli and Palestinian students together to study in London. Olive Tree Alumni include Stav Shaffir, who became the youngest female Knesset member in Israel's history.

In 2003, Al Jaber opened negotiations to purchase J.A. Jones Construction, a US subsidiary of Philipp Holzmann construction group. However, the negotiations were not completed.

In 2003, Al Jaber's Dorrat Al Jadawel residential compound in Riyadh was one of those targeted in an Al Qaeda attack.

In September 2003, Al Jaber took over the management of Quinta Vale Da Gondra Hotel e SPA (Unipessoal) Lda.

In 2003, MBI Al Jaber donated SR21 million to Dar Al-Hekma University for women in Jeddah.

In 2002, Al Jaber acquired the famous Grand Hotel, Vienna from the Japanese airline All Nippon Airways. He later acquired the premises of a former bank on Kärntner Ring and converted the building to the boutique Ring Hotel.

MBI Al Jaber is the founder, sole patron and Chairman of the MBI Al Jaber Foundation, founded in 2002, which is a UK registered charity governed by a Board of Trustees chosen for their areas of expertise in the Middle East, which have included Lord Young of Graffham, Sir Tim Lankester and Professor Peter Jones. The MBI Al Jaber Foundation operates in the fields of education, cultural dialogue and good governance.

The Group opened their first office in France in 1991.

The hotel empire of Al Jaber was initially started in France in 1988 and expanded to over 35 hotel properties in France and almost 80 in Europe.

In 1982, Al Jaber founded Jadawel International Construction & Development. In 1989, JJW Hotels & Resorts was established in Portugal; it currently operates 60 hotel and leisure resorts in Europe and the Middle East. In 1992, AJWA Group for Agro and Food Industries, a company of which Al Jaber is a shareholder, commenced operations following the construction of the largest rice storage and processing facility in Saudi Arabia at Jeddah Islamic Port.