The destruction of Syria looks as total as in any civil war of the last century: whole towns have been levelled, road and water links severed, schools and hospitals in ruins, millions of people killed or exiled and the $60 billion economy left for dead. Yet, with the conflict in its sixth year and bombs hitting government-controlled areas that previously were barely touched while air strikes pound neighbourhoods held by rebels, the prospect of rebuilding the country isn’t daunting Syrian real estate investor Waleed Zaabi. If only a peace settlement weren’t so elusive, he says. “Everything is easy once you have stability,” says Zaabi, 51, sipping Arabic coffee at the hotel he owns in Dubai. He described the negotiations taking place in Geneva, in which he’s been involved, as just “a movie.” “Once you start having growth and people start to work, you’re on the right track.”

Only the most optimistic diplomats see an imminent end to the war in Syria. But when it happens, the country will need wealthy Syrian emigres to bolster the reconstruction effort and jump-start the economy before foreign businesses consider any investment. With close to $200 billion estimated to restore the economy to its prewar size, the rewards could be huge, though so could the potential losses.

Several names come up as possibly playing a role in shaping the country, financially and even politically. Zaabi, a member of the High Negotiations Committee meeting with the United Nations and opposed to President Bashar al-Assad, is among them. There’s also Ayman Asfari, 57, the chief executive officer of London-based oil services group Petrofac, and Viennabased paper-manufacturing magnate Nabil Kuzbari, 79. Asfari has been an outspoken critic of Assad while Kuzbari once had business ties to the ruling family.