Who Is ISA Gold and Who Owns It? The Complete Founder Story

For investors researching precious metals companies, one of the most common questions is simple: who owns ISA Gold? Zunaid Aziz Moti, ISA Gold founder, CEO, and the driving force behind the group since 2008, is the answer. But the story behind that answer spans nearly two decades of business building, long before the first gram of gold was ever traded.

Understanding the people behind a business is an important part of due diligence, particularly when investing in physical gold and silver. This article traces that journey, from Dubai’s commodities exchange floor to the founding of ISA Bullion in 2008, and explains the vision that has guided the company for more than seventeen years.

The ISA Gold group operates two complementary businesses serving investors across different markets. ISA Gold South Africa provides South African investors with access to the country’s iconic gold coin, the Krugerrand. ISA Bullion, based in Dubai, serves international investors with access to  UAE Good Delivery (UAEGD) gold and silver bullion bars through a DMCC-regulated trading platform. For specific investor questions, see our ISA Gold FAQ page.

A Fourth-Generation Businessman

Zunaid Aziz Moti was born in South Africa and is a fourth-generation businessman. His family’s roots in business stretch back across generations, and from an early age he was immersed in the practical realities of running and building companies, long before he ever set foot in the gold markets of Dubai.

What stands out across his career is not a single industry, but a consistent pattern: identifying a market opportunity, building the operational discipline to run it properly, and moving toward markets with greater scale and structure as his experience grew. That pattern runs from motor vehicles to building materials to manufacturing to commodities and eventually to the precious metals and brokerage markets of Dubai.

The Founding Vision Behind ISA Bullion

By 2008, two things had become clear to Zunaid Aziz Moti. First, he understood the mechanics of Dubai’s commodities markets from the inside, how exchanges, clearing, and liquidity actually worked. Second, decades of building businesses across very different sectors had taught him what ordinary investors actually needed: a straightforward, transparent way to own a real, physical asset without the complexity or opacity that surrounded much of the gold trading industry at the time.

The founding vision: To give individual investors, not just institutions, direct, transparent, two-way access to physical precious metals, priced competitively and backed by real, allocated metal rather than a paper promise.

This is the vision that became ISA Bullion.

The Founding of ISA Commodities FZCO t/a ISA Bullion – Dubai, 2008

In 2008, Zunaid Aziz Moti founded ISA Commodities FZCO in Dubai, regulated by the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre. The business that would become known as ISA Bullion was built around a simple proposition: give clients a platform with the ability to access physical precious metal markets in a cost-efficient manner, with two-way pricing that allows investors to both buy and sell competitively, rather than facing the wide spreads and limited liquidity that made physical gold inaccessible to many investors at the time.

As CEO, his work in building the platform involved dealing directly with clients, opening accounts, negotiating with bullion banks and vaulting partners, devising trading strategies, and managing the dealing room itself. Every part of the operation was built from direct, practical experience, not theory.

Seventeen years later, ISA Commodities FZCO, trading as ISA Bullion, has grown into a recognised Dubai-based bullion platform serving clients internationally. To understand exactly how the platform works today

ISA Gold South Africa and ISA Bullion Dubai, Two Businesses, One Group

As the vision behind ISA Bullion matured, it extended naturally back to South Africa , the market where Zunaid Aziz Moti’s business career began. ISA Gold South Africa was established to give South African investors direct access to the country’s own iconic gold coin, the Krugerrand, applying the same principles of transparency and accessibility that had defined ISA Bullion in Dubai.

One group, two platforms: South African investors seeking exposure to the Krugerrand, South Africa’s most recognised gold coin, are served through ISA Gold SA. Investors seeking internationally traded bullion bars to institutional standards are served through ISA Bullion in Dubai.

ISA Gold South Africa, Krugerrands

First minted in 1967, the Krugerrand was the world’s first gold bullion coin intended for private ownership. It remains one of the most widely traded gold coins globally and holds particular significance for South African investors as a domestically produced store of value backed by South African gold.

For South African investors, the Krugerrand offers:

• Direct exposure to the gold price in a familiar, locally recognised format
• A long track record as a trusted store of value
• Global liquidity; Krugerrands are bought and sold in markets worldwide
• Multiple denominations: 1oz, half oz, quarter oz, and tenth oz

ISA Bullion Dubai, Dubai Good Delivery Bullion Bars UAE GD

ISA Bullion deals in Dubai Good Delivery (UAE Good Delivery (UAEGD) gold and silver bullion bars, the standard established and maintained by the DMCC for internationally traded physical bullion. UAE Good Delivery (UAEGD)bars must meet strict requirements for gold content, weight, dimensions, assay certification, and refinery accreditation, giving investors confidence that the metal meets internationally recognised quality standards.

Through the platform, investors can buy UAE Good Delivery (UAEGD)bullion bars at live spot prices, store them in DMCC-approved third-party vault facilities, insure their holdings at no extra cost, monitor positions in real time, sell instantly, and request worldwide physical delivery.

Leadership Team

Zunaid Aziz Moti, Founder and Chief Executive Officer

A fourth-generation businessman born in South Africa, Zunaid Aziz Moti built his career across motor vehicles, building materials, manufacturing, and commodities before entering Dubai’s brokerage markets in 2005 and founding ISA Commodities FZCO in 2008. He has led the ISA Gold group’s growth ever since.

Aziz Moti, Chief Operating Officer

Aziz Moti, son of the founder, is responsible for operational management and the continued development of the group’s client-focused services and trading infrastructure across both platforms.

Anwar Habib, General Manager

Anwar Habib supports the group’s day-to-day management and operational execution, bringing specialist expertise in precious metals compliance and market dynamics.

ISA Gold Group Mission

The mission that began taking shape in 2005 on the floor of the DGCX, and was formalised with the founding of ISA Commodities FZCO in 2008, has remained consistent ever since:

Our mission: To make physical precious metals ownership, whether South African Krugerrands or internationally traded UAE Good Delivery bullion bars, accessible, secure, and transparent for investors around the world, backed by real operational experience rather than financial theory.

Final Thoughts

For investors asking who owns ISA Gold, the answer is rooted in a story that goes back further than a single founding date. The ISA Gold group, comprising ISA Gold South Africa (Krugerrands) and ISA Bullion Dubai (UAE Good Delivery (UAEGD) bullion bars), was founded by Zunaid Aziz Moti, a fourth-generation South African businessman who built his career across multiple industries before establishing one of Dubai’s recognised DMCC-regulated bullion platforms.

That depth of operational experience, building, running, and scaling businesses long before ISA Bullion existed, is the foundation the company continues to be built on.

Images used across the ISA Gold blogs are AI-generated for illustrative and creative purposes only. They do not represent the exact appearance, specifications, or final quality of actual ISA Gold products.