--- title: Irfaan Ali: TIME100 Next 2025 description: Find out how Irfaan Ali is shaping the future and defining the next generation of leadership. canonical: https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2025/7318842/irfaan-ali/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-09-30T10:54:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-03T00:55:07.711Z article:section: World og:title: Irfaan Ali Is on the 2025 TIME100 Next og:description: Find out why Irfaan Ali is on this year’s list og:url: https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2025/7318842/irfaan-ali/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd93e1466d20e0960/6998ca07a97fc063dda74b07/t100-next-2025-Irfaan-Ali.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Irfaan Ali Is on the 2025 TIME100 Next og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Irfaan Ali Is on the 2025 TIME100 Next twitter:description: Find out why Irfaan Ali is on this year’s list twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd93e1466d20e0960/6998ca07a97fc063dda74b07/t100-next-2025-Irfaan-Ali.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Sep 30, 2025 # Irfaan Ali by [Ian Bremmer](https://time.com/author/ian-bremmer/) ## Ian Bremmer  Courtesy Irfaan Ali In recent years, Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali has contended with news extra­ordinarily good and bad. On the positive side, this country of over 800,000 people has one of the world’s fastest-­growing economies, thanks to a discovery of offshore oil that has produced $7.5 billion from sales and royalties since 2019\. On the negative, Guyana lives next door to ­Venezuela, which claims part of that oil-rich territory despite its international recognition as a part of Guyana. Ali was re-elected to a second presidential term in early September in large part because, over the past five years, his government has used the massive windfall to build roads, schools, and hospitals. Over the next five, he wants to invest in diversifying to avoid over­dependence on oil prices. But he’ll need all his diplomatic skill to keep tensions with Venezuela at a simmer. The strong mandate he just won from Guyana’s voters signals how much he’s already ­accomplished. _Bremmer is a TIME editor­-at-large and president of ­Eurasia Group and GZERO Media_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2025/7318842/irfaan-ali/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2025/7318842/irfaan-ali/"},"headline":"Irfaan Ali","datePublished":"2025-09-30T10:54:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:55:07.711Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2025/7318842/irfaan-ali/","keywords":["TIME100 Next","sponsorshipblock","t100nextleaders25"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd93e1466d20e0960/6998ca07a97fc063dda74b07/t100-next-2025-Irfaan-Ali.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ian Bremmer","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/ian-bremmer/"}],"creator":"Ian Bremmer","articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd93e1466d20e0960/6998ca07a97fc063dda74b07/t100-next-2025-Irfaan-Ali.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time100-next/","name":"TIME100 Next"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2025/7318842/irfaan-ali/","name":"Irfaan Ali"}}]}] ```