Naranjan R Naidoo - Short Biography
Naranjan R. Naidoo’s grandfather came from the Pondicherry region in Southern India to South Africa late in the 1800s, where he founded a business empire that Naidoo has since taken from strength to strength.
With its global headquarters based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, Naidoo’s business interests extend across India, China, the Middle East and Africa, and involve governments, ruling families, investors and institutions across the globe. Naranjan himself holds the positions of CEO and Chairman of Gulf Pacific and commutes regularly between Europe, the Middle East and Africa overseeing his business interests. The company is active in the trade of minerals and metals, as well as in energy and mining. Though these are the company’s main business focus, it also has interests in property and private equity.
As well as being an exceptionally successful businessman, Naranjan R. Naidoo is also a concerned citizen who is dedicated to serving the community. As a member of the UN Global Compact, he promotes an environment in which large businesses are also socially responsible, acting for the benefit of the entire society. He has also remained loyal to his African connection and is personally active in various organizations striving to improve the impoverished conditions in Africa.His involvement in the UN Global Compact entails joining discussion groups and meetings that help resolve the current Middle East situation as well as today's humanitarian issues in Africa.
With a shared vision of taking care of the world’s children, Naidoo and his wife spend money and invest time in Save the Children. The foremost independent organization looking after the well-being of all children seeks to provide protection and survival to needy children. The participants work through local communities and national governments to inspire changes that will benefit children’s daily needs as well as offer them the security and safety needed to develop into happy, healthy and productive adults.
Naranjan Naidoo was born in 1959 in Durban, South Africa. Political upheaval in South Africa in the 1960s sent the Naidoos to the United Kingdom, where Naranjan attended school in London. His father’s premature death required Naranjan to take on responsibility for the family business, and forego a higher education.
Notwithstanding his busy schedule and international business interests, Naranjan is a devoted husband and father. He religiously makes time for his family, and his own personal activities that include playing squash and jogging on the beach. Naidoo and his wife have a daughter who has already started out on her business career, and a son still at university. The couple lives in Dubai.
