ALGERIA CANDIDATES, PD STRATEGY FOR PRESIDENTIAL

UNCLAS ALGIERS 001085 SIPDIS STATE FOR S/P - GREG BEHRMAN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON EAID PREL SOCI AG SUBJECT: ALGERIA CANDIDATES, PD STRATEGY FOR PRESIDENTIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP SUMMIT REF: STATE 112468 ¶1. Embassy submits the following candidates for the Presidential Entrepreneurship Summit: Issad Rebrab - Conglomerate Magnate -------------- Rebrab is one of Algeria's industrial titans. Born in 1944 near Tizi Ouzou, the largest city in the Berber area of Northern Algeria, Rabrab is CEO of the Cevital group, Algeria's largest manufacturer, which has 12 subsidiaries involved in food processing, construction materials, prefab housing, and electronic appliances. Now employing 15,000 people, his group plans to expand and invest USD 12 billion by 2012 and create 10,000 new jobs. Rebrab began as a teacher of business and accounting. He entered business in 1971 by buying 20 percent of the steel company Sotecom. He then formed two new steel companies (Prifilor in 1975, Metal Sider in 1988). In 1998, he formed the Cevital group, whose main activity is food processing but which has diversified and opened three new plants: one producing flat glass for construction, the second (CEVICO) specializing in prefab housing, and the third producing electronic appliances in partnership with Samsung. Cevital has a work force of 15,000. Rebrab's other holdings are the French-language daily newspaper "Liberte" and the Hyundai Motors branch in Algeria, of which he is the President. In addition, Rebrab is the executive representative of Korean Samsung Electronics in Algeria with his subsidiary Samha. He is the major participant in the Desertec project for the production of solar energy in the Algerian desert with German and other European companies, including ABENGOA Solar, Deutsche Bank, HSH Nordbank, MAN Solar Millennium, Munich Re, M+W Zander, and SIEMENS. He is also the Algerian representative of car rental company Europcar. Rebrab has plans to develop a USD 20-billion project in Cap Djenet in Boumerdes called Cap 2015, which is to include a large industrial zone with a deep-water container port. Issab Rebrab would bring to the Entrepreneurship Summit the experience of large industrialist active across multiple sectors - including renewable energy - and selling to both domestic and foreign markets. He has been in the forefront of moving Algeria away from its post-independence socialist tradition dependent on oil revenue and hostile to private enterprise and toward an environment open to entrepreneurship. Slim Othmani - Cross-Border Entrepreneurial Networking, Corporate Governance-Social Engagement -------------- -------------- Slim Othmani is CEO of a canning company (New Algerian Can Company - Nouvelle Conserverie Algerienne - NCA),a family business. He was born in 1957 in Algeria but grew up in Tunisia where he received his higher education and graduated in computer science from the faculty of Sciences of Tunis. He also has a degree from the South Mediterranean School of Business in Tunis. After several years in Canada, he returned to Algeria in the mid-1990's. In 1999, he took over from his father as CEO of NCA. Othmani is working to develop a partnership with entrepreneurs from Tunisia and Morocco to cut through government impediments and achieve cross-border private investment in the Maghreb - across Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya. He is also an active member of the business entrepreneurs' think-tank Center for Enterprise Action and Thought (CARE). He chaired the government task force that drafted the Algerian Corporate Governance Code. Othmani is an active member in the premier Algerian Forum of Heads of Enterprises (FCE) and is driving the FCE to deepen relations between universities and the corporate world. He has run for chairman of the FCE. Nationalist economic policies in North Africa create enormous obstacles to entrepreneurship seeking to bridge national barriers. Othmani would bring to the summit the perspective of an entrepreneur working to form networks of entrepreneurs across borders. From his work in CARE, he would also bring to the table his experience in promoting good corporate governance and corporate social engagement. Sofiane Chaib - English Language Training -------------- Chaib is the Managing Director of IN-tuition Ltd, an Algeria-based language training business established as a direct response to the changing needs of professional adult learners. The company provides high-quality programs and is one of the leading private-sector providers of business English language training in Algeria. In less than five years, Chaib and his wife have brought this fledgling start up to a thriving organization with 15 full-time staff members and over 65 teaching consultants working throughout the country. The center sends over 150 students a year overseas for short specialized language courses, academic year-abroad programs, and other activities. They are making significant advances in the growing field of English language training in Algeria. There is a strong demand, and they have filled a void with a quality product. In 2006, the U.S. Embassy in Algiers recommended that the center become the first language centre in Algeria to offer the Internet-based TOEFL examinations and the Internet TOEIC examination of behalf of Educational Testing Services. Currently, In-tuition has an average of two scheduled testing administrations a month, and tests over 200 students a year. Earlier this year, the business moved into a new facility in the elite business district of Hydra in Algiers, and they are planning to open another training facility. By the end of 2010, the center plans to open locations in major cities in both the eastern and western regions of Algeria. Mr. Chaib is bringing to his country significant advances in English language training, one of the most glaring deficiencies in business both here and throughout the Middle East. We recommend Mr. Chaib for the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship for filling a void with a quality product for which there is a high demand. Ali Haddad - Construction -------------- Haddad is the President and CEO of Algeria's largest private sector construction company, ETRHB (Etablissement de Travaux Routiers Hydrauliques et Batiments - Establishment for Road, Hydraulic and Building Construction),which was formed in the mid 1980's. Mr. Haddad is a pioneer in his field, running a private firm generating hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues yearly. Under the leadership of Mr. Haddad, ETRHB has completed numerous projects throughout the country including road construction and maintenance, dams, ports, buildings, and water pipelines. Mr. Haddad is a cool-headed business leader receptive to American solutions and equipment. He is from Algeria's younger generation of business leaders and is known for his prudent business decisions, which have been a key to ETRHB's success over the years. Mr. Haddad originates from Azzifoun in Algeria's Berber region. Algeria has a cash-rich state but an infrastructure-poor economy that will be tendering large infrastructure projects in the next several years. In the past, most such contracts have gone to foreign firms. Embassy recommends Ali Haddad for the Entrepreneurship Summit as one of Algeria's few construction entrepreneurs whose company stands to win some of these contracts and fill Algeria's huge infrastructure gap, thus expanding construction management expertise in this country. Dalila Nadjem - Publishing -------------- Nadjem is the founder and owner of the publishing house Maison d'Edition DALIMEN. She first moved to Algeria from France in 1984 to pursue what she viewed as wide-open opportunities in a relatively undeveloped market. For several years, she worked for various companies and institutions, including the Algerian Ministry of Commerce. In 1994, she became president of the non-governmental organization El AZHAR, which assists needy Algerian families. In 1996, during the height of Algeria's domestic conflict with terrorism, she founded the company PCCOM (Communications Agency, Publishing, Layout, and Design), where she is currently the CEO with 22 employees. Major clients of her firm include companies in the hydrocarbon and transportation sectors. Building on her success, in 2001, she founded la Maison d'Edition DALIMEN, a publishing house focused on cultural heritage topics and children's books, which currently has approximately 85 titles in print (see www.dalimen.com for details). She has also established two bookstores in the greater Algiers region. In recognition of her success and influence in the publishing and arts communities, in 2008, the Algerian Ministry of Culture tapped her to help rejuvenate the arts and named her commissioner of the annual Algiers International Comics Festival. Under her leadership and with the close cooperation of international partners (including the U.S. Department of State),Algiers has hosted two highly successful festivals to date and drawn attention from around the world to the reopening of the Algerian artistic community. The Public Affairs Section of Embassy Algiers worked closely with Mrs. Nadjem on the Festival, and we found her to be a consummate entrepreneur who commands the respect and affection of her professional colleagues. At a time when most saw Algeria as an undeveloped country torn by civil unrest, she returned from Europe to seize the opportunities she saw to build, grow, and heal a nation through economic progress and celebration of culture. We nominate Mrs. Nadjem to attend the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship in Washington because she serves as a role model through her extraordinary skills and inspiring work. Sonia Ziamni - Developer, Woman Entrepreneur -------------- Ziamni is Project Manager for the Algerian Medina Project, a billion-dollar sea-front real estate development project. Ms. Ziamni is the most successful young woman entrepreneur known to the Embassy's Commercial Section. She obtained her Baccalaureat with honors and majored in accounting and finance at the Algiers School of Commerce and the University of Economic and Management Science of Algiers. Upon completion of her studies, Ms. Zianmi worked in a variety of fields, including for Air Algerie, for a medical association called l'Ordre des Medecins, and for the construction company Arabian General Engineering. In her current capacity as Medina Project Manager, Ms. Zianmi has key responsibilities in executing commercial partnerships, coordinating production of architectural plans for the project's commercial center, and ensuring the timely progress of construction of the project. In addition, Ms. Zianmi is putting in place visitor access control systems and communications, and has a leading role in the formation of a business plan for the project's food court and business center. The Embassy recommends Ms. Zianmi because of the big-project organizational talent that she would bring to the Summit and her drive that highlights the energy women entrepreneurs can provide in the Islamic world when given the opportunity. Ali Kahlane - Information Technology -------------- Kahlane is the key information, communications, and technology contact of the Embassy's Commercial Section. He is President of Algerian firm Satlinker, a cutting edge Internet, video-conferencing, and Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol (VOIP) technology firm. Mr. Kahlane's vision and energy helped break Algeria out of its IT backwardness earlier this decade. Playing a leading role in TOUIZA, an association of 12 Algerian Internet Service Providers, Mr. Kahlane helped shape Algerian telecommunications and Internet policy, and promoted adoption of information and communication technology in a country where statist economic traditions make leaders reluctant to adopt new technology. Mr. Kahlane studied in Algeria at the National Institute of Computer Science (Institut National d'Informatique) and the National College of Computer Science (l'Ecole Superieure d'Information) and received his PhD in Computer Science from Uxbridge University in England. Mr. Kahlane has contributed in many ways to technology adoption in Algeria, including by introducing digital information technologies to the Algerian military, working as editor in chief of the Algerian computer science journal "L'Ordinateur," serving as president of the Association of Internet Service Providers, and sitting on the Ministry of Post's Committee of Research for the Development of Information Technologies. Mr. Kahlane is a bright and engaging business leader whom the Embassy recommends for the Entrepreneurial Summit as someone experienced in introducing information technology into a business culture. Hind Ben Miloud - Business Law -------------- Miloud is the single most important female business lawyer in Algeria. For the past 20 years, she has run her law firm, Ben Miloud and Partners, which now has nine other lawyers. Ms. Ben Miloud has played a leading role in pressing for adoption of business-friendly franchising laws and procedures in Algeria. She also advises dozens of leading companies in Algeria in other areas of business law including banking law, maritime law, intellectual property rights protection, fraud prevention, and media relations. Ben Miloud and Partners is the only firm in Algeria that specializes in law covering information technology. Ms. Ben Miloud provided extensive consultations to the U.S. Department of Commerce's Division of Commercial Law Development in the adoption of business-friendly laws in Algeria. She also provided valuable legal expertise in support of the United States' largest investment outside of the hydrocarbon sector - the Hamma desalination plant, built and managed by General Electric. Ms. Ben Miloud is an articulate and engaging expert in her field, and she has played a major role in supporting U.S. business interests during challenging times in Algeria. Embassy recommends Ms. Hind Ben Miloud for the Entrepreneurial Summit. She would bring to it an intimate knowledge of legal hurdles to doing business and legal reforms that are needed in the overly statist business environment common to much of the Arab and Islamic world. Saddedine Mohand - Innovative Construction Technologies -------------- -------------- Saddedine is a young entrepreneur who manages a family business, Aluver Construction. He graduated from the National Institute of Fabric Technologies and Textile (Ministry of Labor),and studied accounting and management between 1995 and 1998. For two years he was responsible of quality control of a public textile company. In 2002, he became the manager of EGTB SADDEDINE Construction Company. In 2008, he founded his own company, Aluver Construction, which uses new technologies in construction such as aluminum and reinforced glass components. He opened a new workshop in Baba Ali for the manufacture of window glass and wall aluminum. Saddedine is 35 and is one of Algeria's most promising young managers Saddedine Mohand would bring to the Entrepreneurship Summit the perspective of the young, start-up business owner manufacturing items for which there is a huge demand in this country plagued by a chronic housing shortage. Kaci Ibrahim - Beverages -------------- Ibrahim is CEO of IFRI Waters, which produces bottled water, juice, and soft drinks. He created the company in 1986, starting small with a single production line, and later growing into one of the largest beverage companies in the country. In 1995, the company obtained a permit to exploit a prime water source in the valley of Soummam, which became the company's main source for the spring water it bottled. In 1998 Brahim extended the activities of IFRI and developed new production lines for mineral water, soft drinks, and juice. This entrepreneur could bring to the Entrepreneurship Summit the perspective of a fast growing industry whose products are consumed by a large majority of the population. Summit PD Strategy -------------- ¶2. Post's pre-Summit PD strategy is to host a press roundtable with the Summit attendees, the PAO, and Pol-Eon Chief to discuss the objectives of the Summit and expected outcomes. We will also use our contacts to get the Algerian participants at the Summit on both Arabic and French language morning radio shows. A representatives from the Embassy will accompany them to each program and be available to provide more specific information about the Summit's objectives. JORDAN