Musaev Magomed

Musaev Magomed

Magomed Musaev is an international entrepreneur, venture capitalist and impact investor, philanthropist. Founder and President of the Global Venture Alliance (GVA) a world innovation ecosystem builder, founder and visionary behind Sapiens Impact - a global impact community, one of the founders of the ImpactFuture, a platform that focuses on finding and supporting innovative solutions to large-scale social problems. Musaev owns the Russian-language versions of Forbes and Harvard Business Review magazines. Magomed has also been styding and practicing the ancient Chinese philosophy of qigong (TaiChi) for over a decade.

Biography

Magomed Musaev was born on June 13, 1963 in Tlyarosh settlement of Dagestan ASS, into a family of hereditary doctors and teachers.

In 1985 he graduated from Dagestan State Medical University and received a diploma in dentistry.

In 1988 he moved to Moscow, where he headed the International Association of Medical Students, which he founded with other like-minded people.

In 1991 he enrolled in the post-graduate school at the First Moscow State Medical University I.M. Sechenov, where he received a PhD degree in medical sciences. (1994).

Beyond that, Musaev entered the Higher School of Privatization and Entrepreneurship, from which he graduated in 1999, and in 2000 he completed his studies at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics.

1988: International Association of Medical Students of the USSR

In 1988, he was one of the founders of the International Association of Medical Students of the USSR (after 1991 - Russia) and was its president until 1994. He was engaged in organizing Student Trainee Exchange Programme to Europe and Latin America.

1994: Russian-Arab University

In 1994, he headed the Russian-Arab University (Moscow) established by Government Order of the Russian Federation. The organization was engaged in interaction with the Middle East countries, held scientific conferences, implemented educational projects, thus strengthening cooperation with the countries of the Middle East.

1998: First Deputy General Director of the All-Russian Exhibition Center (VVC)

In 1998, a turning point in the life of Magomed Musaev began, which lasted more than 10 years. He noted that «Exhibition Center is the story that shaped me».

2001: Directorate and Executive Secretary of the National Organizing Committee for the Promotion of the candidacy of Russia as the organizer of EXPO-2010

In 2001, he was Directorate and Executive Secretary of the National Organizing Committee for the Promotion of the candidacy of the Russian Federation as the organizer of EXPO-2010 «Resources, technologies, ideas as a path to a unified world».

2004: General Director of the VVC

In the summer of 2004, Magomed Musaev became the General Director of the VVC. Between 2004 and 2009, he was actively advocating against privatization of the exhibition center's areas, he was heavily involved in the reconstruction process, since the infrastructure was worn out by 70-100%, was engaged in the restoration of the «Cosmos» pavilion and the construction of a new exhibition complex.

The VVC was the operator of Russian national exhibitions in a number of countries: Ukraine, Canada, Germany, France, China.

2003-2011: Participation in the work of Russian and international organizations related to exhibition activities

In different years, Magomed Musaev participated in the work of Russian and international organizations: he was a Delegate from the Russian Federation to the International Exhibitions Bureau (decision of the Government of the Russian Federation), he was a Commissioner-General of the International Exhibition of Youth Scientific and Technical Projects «EXPO-Science 2003» (under the auspices of UNESCO), Chairman of the Interstate Council for Exhibition, Fair and Congress Activities of the CIS.

Between 2009 and 2011 Musaev was Chairman of the Committee for Innovative Development and Exhibition and Congress Activities in Moscow.

2011

Establishment of the Institute of World Ideas Foundation

In 2011, Magomed Musaev with like-minded people established the Institute of World Ideas Foundation (IMI) to draw a roadmap that will allow to account for and prevent negative scenarios of the future.

Among the main tasks of the organization is to act as a mediator between the world of thinkers/scientists and the world of doers.

The Foundation cooperates with research centers, UN structures, the world expert community, translates specialized literature from English into Russian, conducts lectures «Innovative Russia - Answers to global challenges».

Global Venture Alliance (GVA)

In 2011, Magomed Musaev created Global Venture Alliance, an organization created to build and bring together leading venture funds, startup incubators, scientific and analytical structures working closely with a number of organisations in the Silicon Valley and globally. GVA was created to research global challenges, and create ecosystems which would support entrepreneurs with technologies to address them.

Under one brand, GVA creates accelerators to support and grow startups, conducts courses for entrepreneurs and investors and provides consulting and service support for corporations and various government bodies tasked with building innovation programs.

Over the last decade more than 2,000 startups graduated from GVA’s 41 acceleration programs. GVA also held more than 580 events for startups, top managers and investors.

GVA operates in six countries and has partners in more than 20 countries, unites more than 640 experts in venture and innovation space.

Corporate partners and clients include: PepsiCo, IKEA, IBM, Microsoft, TUI, Department of Science and Technology India, MTS, Severgroup, Faberlic, Sibur, and many other.

GVA also runs four funds in San Francisco (California), with a portfolio of 340+ companies including 11 «unicorns». Two funds are JVs with the world-renown Plug and Play Tech Center.

In 2019, GVA received a #1 Private Business Accelerator global award in Quatar presented by the leading international innovation rating and research organization - UBI Global. In 2021 at the Expo 2020 in Dubai, UBI Global again awarded GVA this time with the Triumph of Innovation award for the contribution to the development of the global innovation system during the pandemic.

2018

Forbes Russia

In August 2018, Magomed Musaev purchased the Russian version of Forbes from the ACMG media group.

Magomed’s reason for this decision was his long-term love for the magazine as a reader.

In his first meeting with the editorial team, Magomed stressed that he does not want to interfere in editorial policy and that the highly respected and loved return of the former team: Nikolai Uskov (who had been fired earlier from the post of editor-in-chief for defending clean editorial policy) was appointed editorial director, Nikolai Mazurin (who had been demoted to editor after a conflict with the ex-owner over the same issue) was appointed editor-in-chief. The conflict with the previous owner was resolved and Magomed personally supported Forbes helping it overcome a very difficult financial and reputational situation.

Construction of Luminary centers

The aspiration to make education accessible to all children and to help build more «global citizens» Magomed supported building modern education centers in remote villages in Dagestan region. In 2018, first Luminary center was built in the village of Khryug, and Magomed is currently sponsoring the construction of a similar center in his native village of Tlyarosh.

2020-2021: Sapiens Impact and ImpactFuture

In 2020, Magomed Musaev initiated the creation of Sapiens Impact, a global impact community with a main focus to amass and deploy $1 trillion worth of capital towards impact goals and solving the global challenges. The Sapiens Impact movement is based on 3 components:

• «hubs» – physical sites where community members gather;
• virtual platform that connects them;
• Fund of Funds that invests the money of all community members in other impact funds, thus creating an infrastructure for nurturing impact projects.

In September 2021, Magomed Musaev, jointly with entrepreneurs and investors David Gorodyansky and Ruben Vardanyan, announced the creation of the ImpactFuture investment company. Its mission is to solve large-scale social problems by private investors and corporations in an economically sustainable way.

Over the ensuing decade, large-scale investment in Russian and global companies is planned: there will be an annual competitive selection among private companies aiming to select an appropriate company with sufficient resources and capacity to engage as a contractor to implement the large-scale social project.

The first competition is dedicated to educational issues, namely, providing access to professional education and new skillsets for 100,000 people in the regions and giving them an opportunity to find highly-skilled jobs. The winner will receive over $1 million in investment and will also be provided with access to partners and clients and opportunities to enter foreign markets with the help of the partners and founders of the competition.

2021

Launch of the Philanthropist of the Year Award

Through work and insistence of Magomed, Forbes Russia established the Philanthropist of the Year award, conceived to promote the idea of private philanthropy. In May 2021, it was awarded to the patrons, founders and heads of the best private charitable foundations in Russia.

Harvard Business Review (HBR)

In the summer of 2021, Business Insight Media, owned by the family of Magomed Musaev, signed a license agreement with Harvard Business School Publishing to bring out the digital type of the Russian version of the Harvard Business Review magazine (HBR) (has been established by Harvard Business School since 1922, in Russia - since 2004) and to host Harvard Business Review conferences in Russia.

A number of new ambitious plans were set and the media has already shown a greatly improved performance since it came under the management of Business Insight Media. The editor-in-chief of the US edition of HBR, Ady Ignatius, supported these plans to expand the coverage and influence of this brand.

Worldview

In 2009, Magomed Musaev went to China, to Mount Tianzhu, where qigong, a special kind of spiritual practice based on the Taoist principles of the unity of the world and man, has been taught for more than 2000 years. Since then, Musaev has been a consistent adherent of this teaching he practices Tai Chi every day and likes to read a eastern and western philosophy.

Hobbies

Magomed enjoys skiing and tennis.

Family

Magomed Musaev is married to Zaira Abdulatipova, the couple has three children: a son and two daughters (as of 2022). His oldest daughter Amina is an entrepreneur that is currently running an impact startup focused on reducing waste created by the clothing industry through a smart reuse-rental model.