Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Analyzes the Numbers and Caters for the melodies
He is an economic innovator who has both wisdom and talent, with a piercing vision into the future, multi-tasked and with multiple visions. He holds several positions, such as the head of the Excellence and Civilization Encyclopedia committee in Riyadh, vice chairman of the UN Global Compact in New York, vice president of the decision making body at Evian in Geneva, and the president of Evian group in the Arab region.
He is also the vice president of the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development in New York, and among several other positions that he holds. This man is Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, the owner of the largest Arab group of companies that provides professional services in the area of accounting, management consulting, technology transfer, training, education and intellectual property, as well as legal and information technology services. Although his role is to analyze numbers, he often sponsors music. In addition to being named the leader of Arab accounting, he was also commemorated for his efforts in promoting intellectual property in the Arab area.
On April 4, 2007, he secured one of his greatest achievement by being appointed the vice president of the International Alliance, by the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki Moon, during the alliance’s meeting in at the United Nation’s headquarters New York.
Born in Jaffa, Palestine, on April 22, 1938, Talal Abu-Ghazaleh then moved to the Lebanese village Al-Ghaziyeh, in 1948, which is two hours away from the Lebanese coastal city of Saida. After completing his elementary and secondary education in Saida, he enrolled at the American University in Beirut on a full scholarship.
While being a university student, he also worked as a translator and a teacher, and then landed his first job at an auditing company upon graduation. In 1969, while attending the Time Warner convention in San Francisco, he listened to a speech about intellectual property, which inspired him to pursue a career in intellectual property in addition to that of accounting.
In 1972, he established two companies. The first was Talal Abu-Ghazaleh (NAGCO), specializing in accounting, and Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property (AGIP), which specialized in the area of intellectual property. Since then, he established a total of 14 specialized professional services companies functioning in diverse areas such as management, consulting, legal services, Information Technology, among many others.
Through the years, he managed to create solid partnerships with international organizations, such as the United Nations and the World Trade Organization. In June 2009, the United nations commissioned Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh as the president for economic and social affairs, of the international information and telecommunication technology and development alliance, which is part the United Nations. He also has a keen interest in music, and that is why he sponsored several international and regional festivals and musical conventions, such as the Second Hadatha convention, and the cooperation between Fairouz and Ziyad Al-Rahbani in Lebanon during 2006.
He also sponsored Arab symphonies, such as Walid Almiyeh, in 2006, and the special musical festival of Ramzi Yassin and Ghada Ghanem, in Cambridge, during 2004, as well as Paris’s Ish’aa National Opera committee, as of 2004 and up to date, as well as sponsoring the Opera of Paris since 2001, and the Salzburg musical festival since 1976.
Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh was awarded several awards, including the International Award for Innovation in Professional Life Achievements, in Dubai 2008, the Intellectual Property Hall of Fame in Chicago 2007, an honorary Doctorate in philosophy from Kanisius University in New York 1988, the Tunis Republic Medal in 1985, and the French Honor Medal, with a Knight’s ranking, in 1985.
http://www.albayan.ae/servlet/Satellite?c=Article&cid=1265974878858&pagename=Albayan%2FArticle%2FPrint&sType=save