FARBOD DOWLATSHAHI
Farbod Dowlatshahi was born on January 19th, 1963, in Tehran, Iran. His family relocated to Paris, France in 1978 due to the Iranian Revolution.
Through his early childhood he displayed passion for sports whether it was participating in tennis, football or sports at school. Soon his active lifestyle and interests in history brought him closer to the cultural scene in Paris and led him to start collecting at the young age of 18.
He attended Dauphine University where he obtained a Masters in Business Administration. He started the Delwood Group in 1991 which expanded its offices from Paris to Geneva, Tehran and Dubai. Delwood Group started in the oil and gas industry and eventually diversified into water distribution, the internet and real estate.
Seeing the development of the UAE he moved to Dubai in 2004 where he opened the Dubai branch of his company named Delwood Consultancy Services.
Farbod is a firm believer that the most important thing to sustain a developing country is education. His belief is that education has three core areas; academics, sports and art & culture. Due to his early interest in sports and arts, DCS would focus on the latter two.
Delwood created the first senior tennis tournament in the UAE and is the sponsor of a few leading golfers in the world such as Henrik Stenson.
His interest in art and culture has grown exponentially over the years, where as a collector, amongst his first purchases are 18th century French furniture and impressionist paintings.
Delwood is also a Diamond patron for the Dubai Community Theater & Art Centre, which encourages children to practice different forms of art.