Me? I can't think of a thing, but if I rack my brain for a minute, I seem to recall a certain place called Gitmo. I just have no clue if the two are related. I just don't know. /s
Rockefeller history in Qatar.
http://www.cbq.qa/en/aboutus/our-history/pages/our-history-in-depth.aspx
The support of Chase Manhattan
The American banking giant Chase Manhattan Bank was selected for a management-services contract. Alan Mitchell, an Englishman fluent in Bedouin Arabic and a loyal friend to Hussain Alfardan, had worked with the founding board members on the establishment of the bank and joined Chase Manhattan to serve as Commercial Bank’s first General Manager.
Chase Manhattan provided training and general managers, including the American Donald Hayek, who succeeded Mitchell. At the time, Chase Manhattan, under the leadership of David Rockefeller, was pursuing an aggressive campaign of globalisation.
Rockefeller travelled to Qatar in his private jet, visiting both the Emir and the Bank itself, even financing a USD 350 million deal for four industrial projects, a coup later dubbed the ‘1977 Deal of the Year’ by Institutional Investor.
Developing a close working relationship that was cemented by means of fishing trips and private dinners, Alfardan recalled Rockefeller’s influence in a 2008 interview:
‘He taught me that one must be patient and must fight for what he wants and believes in. He also taught me that one must be strong and determined.’
Initially, the Bank focused on Wholesale Banking and Corporate Banking services, targeting local merchants. Sheikh Ali bin Jabor, the well-liked and respected founding Chairman who was also a keen poet, and Hussain Alfardan would visit the Bank daily, even vetting potential clients.
Today, Commercial Bank, still under Alfardan’s direction (he is fondly referred to as the ‘Godfather of the Bank’ by members of the board), occupies an ultra-modern 22-storey office plaza in Doha, a far cry from its humble beginnings.
Abed Aziz, the first staff member to be hired by the Bank, sheds valuable light on the astonishing rate of the Bank’s growth when he says, ‘I started with him [Hussain Alfardan] when he only had one shop. From 1 January 1975 for four months we stayed in his offices.’ At the time, the Bank had only one other employee.