Early life

The eldest of 12 children, Mohamed Alabbar, comes from modest beginnings. Born in 1956 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, his father was the captain of a traditional trading vessel.

In the 1970s, Alabbar won a scholarship to study at Seattle University. He graduated with a degree in Business Administration and received an honorary doctoral degree in 2007.

Career

After completing university, Alabbar worked as a bank manager at the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates. He went on to work for the government as the founding director general of the Department of Economic Development, where he began a long-term professional relationship with Sheikh Mohamed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Ruler of Dubai. Alabbar later became one of the Sheikh’s chief economic advisers.

In 1997, Alabbar founded Emaar Properties, a real estate development company that is today the largest publicly listed real estate company in the UAE. It’s also the company behind landmark developments such as Dubai Marina, the iconic Dubai Mall, and Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.

These real estate projects transformed Dubai from a local trading hub into a global tourism destination and real estate hub. According to Alabbar, the driving ambition behind these developments wasn’t money, but the “wellbeing of my society.” Projects like Burj Khalifa and others became testaments to Dubai’s great potential capabilities.

Ultimately, it was Alabbar’s vision and determination that pushed these projects forward and substantiated Dubai as one of the most sought-after luxury destinations in the world.

Emaar Properties’s reputation soared due to its many local achievements, earning it international acclaim and commissions in 12 countries, mainly in the Middle East but also in India and the United States. Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah commissioned Alabbar to develop King Abdullah’s Economic City, one of the nation’s most ambitious projects. As a non-Saudi, Alabbar’s involvement was a historic first.

Mohamed Alabbar expanded beyond real estate into other fields such as hospitality, healthcare, retail, and more, both through Emaar Properties and other corporations.

Here are just a few of Alabbar’s initiatives:

• In 2005, Giorgio Armani S.p.A. and Emaar Hotels & Resorts signed a licensing agreement for the Armani Hotels & Resorts brand. The first hotels opened in Dubai (2010) and Milan (2011).
• He was Chairman of RSH, a Singapore-based company specializing in retail, marketing, and distribution of international fashion brands.
• He is the founder and Chairman of Africa Middle East Resources, which focuses on the mining and petroleum sectors in Africa and the Middle East.
• Alabbar is the founder (2014) and Chairman of Eagle Hills Properties, a real estate investment and development company in Abu Dhabi, which has developed luxury apartments and hotels in 10 countries.
• In 2015, he established Alabbar Enterprises, a UAE-based retail group that focuses on fashion.
• In 2016, Alabbar partnered with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) to launch Noon, a leading e-commerce platform in the Middle East, to rival Amazon, Carrefour UAE, and other digital marketplaces.
• He led the consortium that bought the fast-food company, Americana Group. When the group’s IPO launched in 2022, Alabbar reportedly netted nearly a billion dollars. According to Forbes, most of his fortune comes from his 33% stake in the publicly traded group.
• In 2020, after 20 years at the helm of Emaar Properties, Alabbar stepped down as Chairman but remained on as Managing Director.
  Alabbar is the founder and Chairman of Zand (established in 2021), Dubai’s first fully digital bank that serves both retail and corporate clients.

Notable Projects

Alabbar spearheaded the revival of Downtown Dubai, an area that includes the Dubai Mall and Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. Alabbar also masterminded Dubai Marina, an entirely man-made district of the city that can accommodate over 120,000. It consists of an artificially constructed canal over a two mile stretch of the Persian Gulf shoreline.

He had also initiated plans to build the Dubai Creek Tower, an observatory tower set to dwarf the Burj Khalifa, but building stalled due to COVID-19. The original plans were redesigned, and the plan is now for a shorter project, which Alabbar has titled, the “sister” or “female” Burj Khalifa.

As an avid golfer and sports enthusiast, Alabbar took on projects like the 18-hole championship desert course at Arabian Ranches, the Dubai Polo and Equestrian Club, and several world-class yacht clubs.

Mohamed Alabbar in the News

In October 2025, Eagle Hills, under Alabbar’s leadership, acquired the Castello di Antognolla complex in Italy for an estimated €150 million from Andrey Yakunin. The site will be redeveloped as a Six Senses resort and branded residences surrounded by an award-winning golf course and olive groves. Eagle Hills is also working with COIMA SGR on the €200 million restoration of the Grand Hôtel des Bains on the Venice Lido, reaffirming Alabbar’s growing footprint in Europe’s luxury hospitality market.

In July 2024, Eagle Hills signed a US $3 billion agreement with the Indonesian government to develop large-scale tourism and infrastructure projects across the archipelago—marking one of the UAE’s most significant private investments in Southeast Asia.

Earlier, in 2023, Emaar Misr, Emaar’s Egyptian subsidiary, announced the launch of the Mivida mixed-use development in New Cairo, a 500-acre project valued at approximately EGP 100 billion, expanding Alabbar’s presence in North Africa.

In 2022, Emaar Properties reported record property sales of AED 35.1 billion (≈US $9.5 billion), underscoring the company’s resilience and continued dominance in the UAE’s real-estate market.

Together, these milestones highlight Alabbar’s sustained international expansion and the tangible realization of projects across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

Mohamed Alabbar also revealed plans for an ecotourism development in Montenegro and what he has termed a “new Bali” in Madagascar.