He began his career in Oman as an engineer. That was in 1981, during the oil boom. Barely in his 20s, Asfari planned to use the job to fund an MBA. “I was earning 10 per cent of the profit, and by the age of 28, I had 2 or 3 million USD in my bank account. But I wasn’t building equity value for myself. The business wasn’t mine. It was like building a palace but the foundations were on sand,” he explained to Liz Bolshaw. “I always had big dreams.”
An MBA from Wharton and a couple of decades later, those dreams came true. After buying out the Texan oil services outfit Petrofac in 2001, Asfari became his own boss and swiftly made his first million for himself.
Moving to London, Asfari transformed Petrofac from a small business in the U.S. into one of the leading players in the oil market. Now known as Petrofac International, it has grown to more than 14,500 employees, expanding operations from a single plant in Tyler, Texas to a multinational with offices in China, Russia and across the Middle East. Not even the political turmoil across our region has slowed Petrofac down. Listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2005, it’s currently got a market cap of around 8 billion USD.
“I am just as hungry as I was 30 years ago, but I am driven by wanting to build this world-class entity,” he confided to Andrew Davidson. “It’s not the money that drives me now, I’ve got enough.” What does is Asfari’s goal to build a company that is “the most admired in its sector”.
Ambitious and successful, Petrofac may not (yet) be the sector’s most admired company but its reserved ceo has to be the most envied.
WHO Ayman Asfari
WHAT Petrofac International
WHERE Based in London but operating all over the world, with almost half of its offices in the Middle East
WHY At only 52 years of age, Aleppo-born Asfari is a notable Arab businessman and a role model for others who strive to make something of themselves.
