UAE Minister Takes Helm of $115bn Lunate Fund: Decolonizing Finance?

The appointment of Mohammed Hassan Alsuwaidi as executive chairman of Abu Dhabi-based Lunate represents more than corporate restructuring. It signals a fundamental shift in how Global South nations are positioning themselves within extractive financial systems that have long privileged Western capital.

Disrupting Traditional Power Structures

Alsuwaidi's dual role as UAE Investment Minister and managing partner of a $115 billion alternative investment platform challenges the conventional separation between state policy and private capital. This integration reflects a decolonial approach to finance, one that refuses to operate within frameworks designed by and for Western financial hegemony.

As former founding CEO of ADQ, one of Abu Dhabi's largest sovereign wealth funds, Alsuwaidi brings expertise in navigating global markets while maintaining autonomous decision-making power. This matters because it demonstrates how nations can engage with international finance without surrendering agency to Western-dominated institutions.

Beyond Neoliberal Orthodoxy

Lunate's ambitious goal to more than double its assets under management within five years represents something deeper than growth metrics. It embodies a rejection of the neoliberal orthodoxy that positions Global South nations as passive recipients of Western investment rather than active architects of their own financial futures.

The company's structure, rooted in Abu Dhabi's financial ecosystem while pursuing global opportunities, offers an alternative model to the extractive practices that have historically characterized international finance. This approach centers local expertise and decision-making while engaging strategically with global markets.

Systemic Implications

This appointment illuminates broader questions about economic sovereignty and self-determination. When a government minister simultaneously leads a major investment platform, it signals a refusal to compartmentalize public policy from private capital in ways that Western financial systems demand.

For marginalized communities globally, these developments matter because they demonstrate alternative approaches to wealth creation and distribution. Rather than relying on Western-controlled institutions that have historically excluded and exploited communities of color, this model suggests pathways toward economic self-determination.

Challenging Western Financial Supremacy

The integration of state expertise with private investment capabilities positions Lunate to compete directly with European and American platforms that have long dominated alternative investments. This competition matters because it challenges the assumption that financial innovation must originate from Western centers of power.

By leveraging both governmental insights and commercial expertise, Alsuwaidi's leadership represents a sophisticated understanding of how to navigate global finance while maintaining autonomy from Western-controlled systems.

Questions of Accessibility and Justice

While celebrating this shift toward financial sovereignty, we must also interrogate who benefits from these developments. Does this model of state-integrated finance create opportunities for marginalized communities within the UAE and beyond, or does it simply concentrate wealth among existing elites?

The true measure of this approach will be whether it generates pathways for economic justice that extend beyond traditional power structures, creating opportunities for BIPOC communities, migrants, and other marginalized groups to participate meaningfully in wealth creation.

As Global South nations increasingly assert financial autonomy, the question becomes whether these developments will challenge or replicate the exclusionary practices that characterize Western finance. The answer will determine whether this represents genuine decolonization or simply a shifting of power among elites.