Zaya S. Younan is CEO and owner of El Septimo, which he acquired in 2019 through the Younan Collection and stewards as El Septimo Geneva. Born in Tehran, he emigrated alone to the U.S. as a teenager, studied mechanical engineering at the University of Illinois, and built Younan Company—a Los Angeles private-equity and real-estate platform spanning commercial property, European château hotels, Bordeaux vineyards, and luxury consumer brands. That capital base funded the brand’s U.S. retail expansion after years as a European and Middle Eastern luxury marque founded by Gilles Botquin in 2005.
Younan’s public role is ownership and scale: collection-driven releases, trade-show presence, and lifestyle branding (accessories, lounges, related spirits) while production remains in Costa Rica. On the map he is the person edge for El Septimo—an outside capital principal rather than an Estelí master-blender founder—keeping the brand connected when factory disclosure is incomplete.