Robert Fadel studied at the Grand Lycée Franco-Libanais in Beirut until 1982, when the Israeli invasion forced his family to flee the country, making their new home in France. Here, after taking the Baccalaureate, Fadel attended the Institute of Political Science of Paris, before joining the National School of Administration (ENA). He chaired the School's Confederation of Alumni Associations, which oversees all ENA's international alumni associations, and helped to establish an ENA school in Lebanon. Fadel returned to Lebanon in 1995, and joined ABC, a retail group run by his father. A few years later, he was offered a job as a strategic consultant by the management consulting firm Monitor Group. Fadel took up the offer and relocated to the company's headquarters in Massachusetts, USA. Fadel moved back to Beirut in 2003, and rejoined ABC. He was promoted to the role of general manager, and in August 2009, became the CEO of the ABC Group. Fadel was elected as a representative of Tripoli in the 2009 Lebanese election. He stood as an independent candidate, on the platform of the March 14 alliance, a coalition of political parties united by their opposition to the Syrian regime. During his time in parliament, Robert Fadel has served on the Finance and Budget Committee and the Economic Committee. In 2006, Fadel founded Bader, a non-governmental organisation which supports young Lebanese entrepreneurs. In the same year, his wife Hala established the MIT Arab Business Plan Competition, which also supports start-up projects throughout the Arab world. In 2010, Robert and Hala Fadel launched the Maurice Fadel Prize (in memory of Robert Fadel's father, who died in 2009), which aims to motivate entrepreneurs in Northern Lebanon by awarding an annual prize for the best business plan submitted.
Subscribe to MENA Opportunities and get more...
