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.

Hikmat Abou Zeid
Born	1981 Beirut
Nationality	Lebanese
Education	Lycée Franco-Libanais Beirut Law degree from USEK Holy Spirit University
Occupation	Vice chairman at OMT Lebanon
Notable work	Founder of the Georgian-Lebanese Chamber of Commerce "La Révolution Institutionnelle au Liban" book "Les Artères de L'instant" book of poetry
Children	3

Early Life

As a high school student at Lycée Franco-Libanais Beirut, Abou Zeid was raised learning both French and Lebanese history, literature, and secular values.

He grew up during the period of Syrian occupation in Lebanon.

Abou Zeid founded a political debate club with friends, reflecting an early inclination for expressing opposing views and stimulating discussion about change.

During his time at Lycee Franco Libanais, Hikmat Abou Zeid was involved in mobilizing opposition among students against the Syrian occupation of Lebanon. This led to the formation of the Independent Student Movement (ISM), which brought together students from various prominent Beirut schools. The ISM provided a forum for students to debate Lebanese political issues and advocate for change.

Abou Zeid, as militant for rights and independence of Lebanon, distributed political flyers, which were forbidden at the time, that called for Lebanese independence and sovereignty.

He was detained for 48 hours at the Noura prison after being caught at a security checkpoint in Wadi Chahrour area.

After this experience, Abou Zeid continued to be politically active as a student.

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 USEK Holy Spirit University, specializing in Lebanese private law. This education provided him with knowledge of Lebanon's legal system that informed his later political activities.

In 2006, Hikmat Abou Zeid obtained a Master's degree in Management Studies from Institut Supérieur de Gestion in Paris, France. At the time, it was common for ambitious Lebanese youth to pursue higher education abroad due to the lack of freedom of speech imposed by the Syrian occupation of Lebanon.

Studying in France, provided Abou Zeid with exposure to global managerial practices and capital markets, forming the basis for his later work in finance.

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. In this position, he contributed to expanding Western Union's network in the Greater Toronto Area among Arab communities.

This early professional experience provided foundational learning about managing ethnic businesses and the money transfer industry.

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 this position, he managed a portfolio of active accounts and gained firsthand experience in capital markets during the 2008 financial crisis.

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. From 2009 to 2013, he led a restructuring plan for OMT that established the company as an influential player in Lebanon's financial services industry.

As part of the restructuring plan, OMT's services were expanded solely beyond money transfer to include a wider range of financial solutions for public and private sector clients.

This strategy helped build equity value for OMT and establish it as a growing national corporation.

Since 2019, Abou Zeid has held the position of Vice Chairman at OMT. In this role, he has contributed to digitizing OMT's business model to adapt for future challenges and market transformation.

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. During his tenure, Opel grew to become one of the fastest growing car brands in the market. In 2018, Abou Zeid negotiated the sale of Opel Lebanon to Abou Khater Group, owners of the Mazda brand in Lebanon, marking a milestone for the local automotive industry.

From 2017 to 2021, as part of his investment strategy focused on diversification and Lebanese de-risking, Abou Zeid was a board member of AstroBank in Cyprus, which was the country's fastest growing bank at the time. He contributed strategic insights during his board membership.

The Abou Zeid investment portfolio includes private equity ventures locally and internationally. One notable investment was in Maddict, a Lebanese mobile advertising startup. Under Abou Zeid's chairmanship from 2012 to 2018, Maddict expanded to the UAE by establishing a sales team to serve the GCC premium mobile advertising market.

In 2019, Hikmat Abou Zeid founded the Georgian-Lebanese Chamber of Commerce aimed at fostering economic ties and trade between the two countries Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, 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 addition to his business activities, Hikmat Abou Zeid has been engaged in Lebanese society through writing. In 2022, he authored the book "La Révolution Institutionnelle au Liban" (The Institutional Revolution in Lebanon), in collaboration with Edition Antoine, overviewed by the former minister of interior, Dr. Ziyad Baroud.

The work examines corruption in Lebanese politics over the past three decades and advocates for administrative decentralization. Abou Zeid argues that decentralizing Lebanese institutions is key to achieving social and economic equality by reducing sectarian monopolization of power.

The essay was acquired by several major French libraries including Bullac, Institut du Monde Arabe, Matignon and Sorbonne.

Hikmat Abou Zeid actively writes about Lebanese politics on his personal blog. His articles and studies aim to contribute thoughtful discourse on the country's socio-political development.

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 from 2002 to 2008 as well as more recent poems from 2020 to 2022.