ABSTRACT
Where did Ebtehaj get the ideas and outlook which differentiated him so starkly from most of his Iranian contemporaries? The answer to such a question for any great political figure or entrepreneur is never easy, lying as it does in the complex interaction between family and cultural background and external circumstances. This chapter attempts to understand how Ebtehaj's views and character evolved by looking at his family background, and his first career as an employee of a British-owned bank in Iran. By 1936, when he left the British bank, he had still to make a great mark on his country's affairs, yet many of the skills and ideas which were to flourish in subsequent years were already in place.
