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Azeem IbrahimChief Executive and Investment Manager |
Professional
Azeem Ibrahim has been described by his peers as a brilliant young scholar, financial wizard, and gifted entrepreneur. He is one of the UK’s youngest and fastest-growing multi-millionaires and was inaugurated onto The Sunday Times Scots Rich List at the age of just 31, with an estimated fortune of US $106 million.
In 2007, Azeem became the youngest member of the Bank of Scotland Asian Power 100. This list, produced by Carter Anderson, described him as one of the most influential and highest-achieving people in Britain. In the same year, Azeem entered the Observer Courvoisier Future List – a definitive list of what the Observer newspaper describes as the country’s most forward-thinking and brightest young innovators.
In December 2007, a Scottish Parliament motion signed by a number of MSPs congratulated Azeem and his contribution to the country and in April 2008 Azeem accepted the Lloyds TSB and KPMG Business and Commerce Excellence Jewel Award. His achievements have attracted considerable recognition around the globe and over the last few years Azeem has met and advised a number of world leaders, including the Prime Minister of Turkey and leaders in the Gulf States.
Azeem is the Chief Executive and Investment Manager of ECM Investment, a private equity hedge fund that has outperformed many of the big institutions, netting over 40 percent a year on investment. Backed by a start-up team awash with Oxbridge and Ivy League MBAs and PhDs, the fund has succeeded despite world credit problems. ECM Investment Fund is just one of Azeem’s successful ventures. Azeem also owns the European Commerce and Mercantile Bank, a private online bank specializing in commodity trading; ECM Asset Management, a Swedish-registered credit union building society; and ECM Clearing House, a Panamanian-registered financial clearing house licensed to trade in currencies, precious metals, and commodities.
For seven years until early 2006, Azeem was a reservist in the IV Battalion Parachute Regiment – the British army's elite airborne infantry reserve where they are trained to be inserted by parachute behind enemy lines at short notice. A keen scholar and former member of the elite British Parachute Regiment, Azeem is said to bring his academic mind, strategic thinking, and love of military planning to his business dealings.
Much of Azeem's time is now devoted to his own charities. The Benevolence Fund sponsors high-achieving Bosnian students onto postgraduate education in Europe, which they use to rebuild their communities. In developing countries, PURIFI aims to provide clean drinking water. Closer to home, Azeem established Unity Family Services, a Scottish marriage counseling and family solutions charity. The Ibrahim Foundation, his most recent venture, was established in 2008 and endowed with his own holdings. It will provide funding to pioneering community projects after inviting applications from the public.
Education
MBA, European Business Management School, University of Wales
M.Sc.(Econ), Strategic Studies and Research Training , University of Aberystwyth
PhD, Geopolitical Strategy, University of Cambridge
Research Fellow, International Security Program, JFK School of Government, Harvard University
Memberships & Affiliations
- Member, Dean’s International Council, Harris School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago
- Director and Policy Board Member, United Kingdom National Defence Association
- Senior Research Scholar, European Centre of Advanced Defence and Strategic Studies
- Research Fellow, International Security Program, JFK School of Government, Harvard University
- Elected Member, Institute of Directors, Independent association of individual company directors founded by Royal Charter in 1903
- Corporate Member, International Institute of Strategic Studies
- Member, Royal Institute of International Affairs
- Member, Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies
- Associate Member, Evidence Network
- Council Member, International Trade Committee, London Chamber of Commerce
- Member, Entrepreneurial Exchange
- Chairman and Trustee, Ibrahim Foundation
- Chairman and Trustee, European Benevolence Fund
- Chairman and Trustee, PURIFI, UK
- Chairman and Trustee, Unity Family Services, UK
- Trustee, Asia-Pacific Children’s Fund, UK
Personal
A citizen of both the US and the UK, he is a fitness fanatic keen on marathon and fell running, and speaks four languages.
"They Grew Up Half an Hour Away from Each Other," The Sunday Herald (Scotland), December 20, 2008.
"Islamist terrorism goes freelance," Chicago Tribune, December 3, 2008.
"From a Glasgow council house to dinner at the White House," The Herald (Scotland), June 28, 2008.
