Discipline builds a career. Family builds a life. Three decades in the UAE, building both
1971
Born January 1, 1971 in the Syrian Arab Republic
1997
Founded Al Ramz Shares and Bonds Company with partners.
1994
Traveled to UAE and kick started my career
2005
Holding a major share to become one of the strategic partners.
About me
I was born in Syria in 1971. In 1994, I moved to the United Arab Emirates, a country that gave me the chance to build something real, and one I’ve called home ever since.
Today, I serve as Group Managing Director of Al Ramz Corporation for Investment and Development PJSC. I consider myself a self-made businessman, every step of that journey was earned, not given.
Alongside that career, I’ve built a family I’m equally proud of: five children, two sons and three daughters, raised here in the UAE. If my career is the story of what I built, my family is the story of why.
This page is where I share both, the journey, the milestones, and the beliefs that have shaped them.
My Journey
My first job in the UAE was as a junior broker in the currency and gold market, work that taught me discipline before it ever paid me a real living. I learned early that markets don’t reward talent alone; they reward patience, honesty, and the willingness to keep showing up when things are uncertain.
When the UAE’s stock markets were established in 1997, I saw an opportunity most hadn’t yet recognized. Together with partners, I founded a small shares and bonds brokerage, the beginning of what would become Al Ramz. Within two years, we’d grown it into one of the largest brokerage firms in the country, built on the same principle that guided me from the start: earn trust before you ask for capital.
In 2005, I became a strategic partner, and from there I worked to grow the company into what it is today, Al Ramz Corporation for Investment and Development PJSC, listed on the Dubai Financial Market with a capital of AED 540 million, known for structuring major acquisitions across banking, insurance, and healthcare.
But the UAE gave me more than a career. It gave me a home to raise a family in, and that mattered just as much to me as anything I was building professionally. Across those same three decades, I was raising five children, two sons and three daughters, and trying to instill in them the same values that shaped my own path: patience, integrity, and the belief that anything worth having is worth earning properly.
Looking back, I don’t see two separate stories, a business one and a family one. I see one story, built on the same principles, applied in two directions at once.
Key Current appointments
Managing Director of Al Ramz Corporation
Investment & Development PJSC, a UAE domiciled public joint-stock company with paid-up capital of AED 540 million. Since inception.
Member of the Financial and Professional Services Working Group
Member of the Financial and Professional Services Working Group of the United Arab Emirates and United Kingdom Business Council. Since 2019
Member of the Financial Industry Council
Member of the Financial Industry Council by Securities & Commodities Authority. Since 2017
Previous appointments
Board Member of Union Insurance PJSC
Board Member of Union Insurance PJSC, a UAE domiciled public joint stock company with paid up capital of AED 331 million. 2013-2019
Member of the Investment Committee
Member of the Investment Committee of AXA Green Crescent Insurance P.J.S.C., a UAE domiciled public joint-stock company with paid-up capital of AED 200 million. 2018-2019
What I Believe
On discipline: Discipline beats excitement. The best decisions are rarely the exciting ones; they’re the patient, well-considered ones. I started as a junior broker with no shortcuts and no safety net, and everything I’ve built since, professionally or at home, has been built the same way: step by step, earned rather than assumed.
On trust: Trust is the real currency, in markets and in life. I’ve never believed a deal or a relationship built on shortcuts lasts, the ones that endure are built slowly on consistency and honesty. I try to lead the way I’d want to be led, and to earn trust in small moments rather than grand gestures.
On patience: In 1997, I didn’t rush into the UAE’s newly formed stock market, I studied it, understood it, and only then committed fully. I’ve tried to raise my children the same way: let understanding come before action and let patience outperform urgency.
On home: The UAE gave me a home when I needed one, and I’ve never taken that for granted. Three decades later, I still feel a responsibility to give back to this place, in whatever way I can, in how I invest, how I lead, and how I raise my family.
On family: Nothing I’ve built professionally comes close to what I’ve built at home. Every milestone at Al Ramz has felt secondary to watching my five children grow. My children are my legacy, far more than any title or achievement.
A Personal Note
Three decades in, I don’t think of this as a finished story. There’s more I want to build at Al Ramz, more I want to give back to a country that gave me my start, and most of all, more I want to watch my five children become. If there’s one thing I’d want anyone visiting this site to understand about me, it’s that everything ahead still matters as much as everything behind.