Draft:Hikmat Abou Zaid

Hikmat Abou Zeid
Hikmat Abou Zeid is a Lebanese public figure. Over the course of his career, he has worked as an entrepreneur and businessman across multiple sectors. He has also been involved in Lebanese politics and social causes as an activist. Abou Zeid is a writer who provides commentary on various issues. Abou Zeid was born in 1981 in Beirut. He is married and a father of three children.

Over the course of his career, Hikmat Abou Zeid has been involved in business, political activism, and writing. His professional activities have included entrepreneurship, business leadership, political commentary, and publishing both administrative essays and poetry.

Early Life
In the early 2000s, Hikmat Abou Zeid was part of the Studentship resistance movement, which spoke out against the Syrian occupation of Lebanon and advocated for Lebanese sovereignty and independence.

Education
In 2004, Abou Zeid completed a law degree from Holy Spirit University, specializing in Lebanese private law.

In 2006, Hikmat Abou Zeid obtained a Master's degree in Management Studies from Institut Supérieur de Gestion in Paris, France.

Career
After completing his Master's, Abou Zeid moved to Toronto where he took on a role as an Arab ethnic sales representative at Western Union Canada.

After returning to Lebanon, Hikmat Abou Zeid began working in capital markets rather than joining the family business OMT SAL agent of Western Union in Lebanon.

He took on a role as a relationship manager at Fidus, the wealth management division of SGBL bank.

In 2009, Abou Zeid founded the Ahli Investment Group (AIG) in partnership with Ahli International Bank in Lebanon. AIG operated as a capital market financial services provider with the central bank approval, serving local and Arab clients.

In March 2009, Hikmat Abou Zeid completed an executive education program in Strategic Banking Management at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.

Abou Zeid was appointed as an executive board member at OMT SAL. , a financial solutions company in Lebanon.

Since 2019, Abou Zeid has held the position of Vice Chairman at OMT.

Additionally, since 2015 Abou Zeid has led the family office managing the Abou Zeid family portfolio that holds 50% stake in OMT SAL. This includes overseeing investments across sectors such as waste management, mobile advertising, real estate, and banking in Lebanon and internationally.

Hikmat Abou Zeid was Chairman of Opel Lebanon, the German automotive brand, from 2013 to 2018. In 2018, Abou Zeid negotiated the sale of Opel Lebanon to Abou Khater Group, owners of the Mazda brand in Lebanon.

From 2017 to 2021, Abou Zeid was a board member of AstroBank in Cyprus.

The Abou Zeid investment portfolio includes private equity ventures locally and internationally. One investment was in Maddict, a Lebanese mobile advertising startup.

In 2019, Hikmat Abou Zeid founded the Georgian-Lebanese Chamber of Commerce aimed at fostering economic ties and trade between the two countries, Abou Zeid organized two conventions in 2019 and 2020 that connected Georgian and Lebanese SMEs. The events also included Lebanese and Georgian government officials signing MOU’s in the service of Lebanon products (wine, food and beverage, general trade and tourism).

Publications
In 2022, Abou Zeid authored the book "La Révolution Institutionnelle au Liban" (The Institutional Revolution in Lebanon), in collaboration with Edition Antoine.

In 2022, Abou Zeid published a book of poetry titled "Les Artères de L'instant" in collaboration with Edition Antoine (5). The collection includes poems written during his time as a business school student in Paris.