He is known as Sultan Abu Sultan.<\/p>\n
Sultan\u00a0is\u00a0Chairman of\u00a0Duro Felguera\u00a0Middle East and Africa, former Chairman of Barclays Plc\u00a0MENA.\u00a0He oversees the strategic direction of the organization\u2019s operations in the country ranging from Corporate and Investment Banking to Wealth and Investment Management along with Retail and Business Banking.<\/p>\n
Sultan is also co-Founder and Managing\u00a0Partner of W Motors,\u00a0the first\u00a0supercar\u00a0originating from the Middle East. The manufacturing process of the\u00a0prestigious car (known as the\u00a0Lykan)\u00a0was supervised and monitored by Sultan and his founding partner who ensured that global state of the art technologies\u00a0were fully utilized\u00a0to produce the first highly exclusive\u00a0hypercar\u00a0from the region.<\/p>\n
How does a poor Bronx and Brooklyn boy, like\u00a0myself, get the opportunity to sit down with such a powerful man?\u00a0Well,\u00a0in my case he just happened to\u00a0have read my biography\u00a0Yankee Miracles<\/em>\u2014he picked up at an airport. \u00a0Sultan Abu Sultan had heard about the great mystique of the fabled\u00a0New York Yankees for years. One of the things that really\u00a0peaked\u00a0his\u00a0interest\u00a0was the great charity work done by\u00a0the legendary\u00a0Yankees owner, George Steinbrenner.<\/p>\n \u201cI saw his great\u00a0power in\u00a0the sport that he gave off and\u00a0such compassion and generosity for the common person,\u201d said Sultan and was\u00a0touched by this because he and his family are very involved in true charity work in Dubai, United Arab Emirates,\u00a0and around the world.<\/p>\n Our meeting took place\u00a0in the offices\u00a0of Alfred Zaccagnino\u00a0at the\u00a0headquarters of\u00a0Samarian Group\u00a0located on Madison Avenue in NYC overlooking St. Patrick\u2019s Cathedral. \u00a0 Zaccagnino and me\u00a0have been pals\u00a0and business colleagues\u00a0for many years,\u00a0and he also knows the importance of\u00a0philanthropy and\u00a0giving back. Alfred and\u00a0Samarian Group have\u00a0sponsored the Christmas party for the Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club for over 10 years. Kips Bay is the club\u00a0in the Bronx\u00a0where many of my nieces and nephews had attended for years. It is also the club that nurtured the talent of Jennifer Lopez. It is one of the main\u00a0charities\u00a0that I support along with the Hanks Yanks Baseball program.<\/p>\n Through\u00a0business dealings in the United Arab Emirates and Africa, Zaccagnino\u00a0met Sultan\u00a0many years ago\u00a0while he was Chairman of Barclays Bank for the United Arab Emirates and Middle East.\u00a0During Sultan\u2019s last visit to New York for business discussions with Samarian Group, Sultan made\u00a0Alfred\u00a0aware of\u00a0his reading of\u00a0the book Yankee Miracles<\/em>, and\u00a0Alfred told\u00a0him that\u00a0not only did he know one of the authors,\u00a0(Sally Cook is co-author with me) \u00a0but he was\u00a0one of his best friends!<\/p>\n Thereafter,\u00a0Sultan insisted on meeting me, and because of philanthropic discussions that were ongoing,\u00a0he\u00a0wanted to get together with the head of the Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club, Daniel Quintero. Before our meeting I\u00a0\u201cgoogled\u201d Sultan\u00a0to see what he looked\u00a0like;\u00a0what\u00a0he wore,\u00a0and\u00a0things like that. Daniel and I\u00a0wore suits\u00a0and ties. When Sultan\u00a0walked into the office he was wearing jeans,\u00a0sneakers and a\u00a0United Arab Emirates branded\u00a0baseball cap.\u00a0I was\u00a0expecting him to be in his local Emirate attire that I had seen in photos on the internet.\u00a0While I was adjusting to his smooth accent,\u00a0I immediately found that\u00a0he was a very down-to-earth individual,\u00a0very charismatic,\u00a0and I was very happy with how great the Sultan and Daniel were getting along. They\u00a0were exchanging notes on how they\u00a0could\u00a0make the world better for the\u00a0children both here in the United States, the United Arab Emirates, and Africa.\u00a0Sultan and Daniel\u00a0agreed to stay in touch\u00a0with one another\u00a0in order to make it happen.<\/p>\n Zaccagnino and I\u00a0added that Samarian Group projects should\u00a0formalize a plan where positive revenues\u00a0from qualified projects have a carried\u00a0interest in\u00a0favor of philanthropy,\u00a0to\u00a0include\u00a0the Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club of the Bronx as a benefactor, and Daniel and Sultan of course agreed.\u00a0I felt so lucky to witness the meeting between these two great men\u00a0who were\u00a0talking about\u00a0together\u00a0combining positive forces and\u00a0changing the world.<\/p>\n At the end of the\u00a0meeting I told\u00a0Sultan Abu Sultan\u00a0that\u00a0the\u00a0only other\u00a0Sultan that I knew\u00a0about was a great American sports\u00a0hero known as \u201cThe Sultan of Swat\u201d, Babe\u00a0Ruth. \u00a0 We all laughed, then Sultan\u00a0\u00a0added:\u00a0\u201cEven\u00a0in Dubai,\u00a0we have heard of\u00a0the Sultan known as\u00a0Babe Ruth.\u201d<\/p>\n Ray Negron is a sports executive with over 40 years of experience in baseball. His first job came from a chance encounter with George Steinbrenner as a youth. He has become an American film producer, a best-selling author, and a philanthropist. His memoir is entitled, \u201cYankee Miracles: Life with the Boss and the Bronx Bombers.\u201d He also writes for NEWSMAX. To read Ray\u2019s archive, Go Here Now<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" He is known as Sultan Abu Sultan. Sultan\u00a0is\u00a0Chairman of\u00a0Duro Felguera\u00a0Middle East and Africa, former Chairman of Barclays Plc\u00a0MENA.\u00a0He oversees the strategic direction of the organization\u2019s operations in the country ranging from Corporate and Investment Banking to Wealth and Investment Management along with Retail and Business Banking. Sultan is also co-Founder and Managing\u00a0Partner of W Motors,\u00a0the … <\/p>\n