DAVE ALEXANDER CENTER FOR SOCIAL CAPITAL

Business isn’t just business for Payam Zamani, CEO of private equity group One Planet Group. He tries to infuse every deal with “spiritual capitalism.” “I’m going to be very clear that I’m not a socialist, I’m not a communist,” says Zamani. “I want to build very successful businesses, but I want these businesses to be created with a profit in mind but with no loss to humanity. So, it can only help humanity.” His focus on giving back — shaped by his youth, when he was smuggled out of Iran as a teenager because of religious persecution — includes what he calls “sacrificial giving.” Read about it in “From Adversity to Achievement, Payam Zamani has Created an Oasis of Success for Others.”