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HE Mr Hakim Hajoui
Ambassador at Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco In LondonHakim Hajoui was appointed Ambassador of His Majesty the King of Morocco to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on December 14, 2021. Previously, Hakim Hajoui held the position of Chief of Staff of the Chairman & CEO of the OCP Group. In this role, he also managed the public affairs of this phosphate mining and fertilizer world leader.
After joining OCP in 2012, he contributed to the expansion of the group in Africa and oversaw, in particular, the development of South-South cooperation partnerships in several countries such as Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal and Ghana. In 2015, he worked on the creation of the OCP Africa subsidiary and led operations in West Africa before being appointed Chief of Staff in 2016.
Hakim Hajoui started his career in 2007 in strategy and organizational consulting at Capgemini Consulting in Paris. During his five years in this firm, he worked on the transformation of large industrial and financial companies.
He is a graduate of Concordia University in Montreal, where he gained a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Engineering, and of Telecom Paris, where he achieved a Master of Science in Networked Computer Systems.
Born in 1983, Hakim Hajoui is married and a father of three children
The Rt Hon Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean
Chairman at ABCCThe Rt Hon Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean is a senior Labour member of the House of Lords and a business leader. Formerly Deputy Leader of the House of Lords, Baroness Symons was a Minister in the UK Government from 1997 until stepping down in 2005. Among her government posts she was Minister for the Middle East, Minister for International Trade and Minister for Defence Procurement, and the Prime Minister’s envoy to the Gulf.
Previously a trade union general secretary, she was an Equal Opportunities Commissioner and a governor of the London Business School. As well as working closely with DLA Piper, Baroness Symons is now involved with a number of other commercial organisations, including roles as a non-executive director of British Airways, and as an advisor to other companies, including those with strong Middle East links, and with a number of not-for-profit organisations, including the International Red Cross.
Mr Bandar Reda
Secretary General & CEO of ABCCMr Bandar Ali Reda joined the Arab British Chamber of Commerce, on 1st March 2019, as Secretary General and CEO, becoming the fourth person to lead the Chamber since its foundation almost five decades ago.
As CEO, Mr Reda contributes his expertise by drawing on his wealth of experience as a diplomat and extensive time spent in the private sector to ensure the Chamber moves to the next level.
Mr Reda has a distinguished professional career of more than a decade in banking and corporate industry at SABB HSBC Saudi Arabia, prior to senior positions in the diplomatic service of his country, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where he served as Commercial Attaché in the UK & Europe, based in London, and in Italy and as part of the Saudi delegation to the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) in Paris.
Mr Reda holds a BA in Economics and Business Administration from Orlando, USA. He has been an Executive Member of the Saudi-Italian Business Council, the Council of Saudi Chambers; a Member of the Business Youth Committee, Jeddah Chamber of Commerce; a Member of the Saudi Economy Association; and a Member of the Saudi Arabian legal accountants. Mr Reda has demonstrated his experience and abilities in his roles in both public and private sectors.
Since taking up his post, Mr Reda has successfully steered the Chamber throughout the difficult months of the pandemic and lockdown, a period which presented unprecedented challenges for international trade and the business community. Under Mr Bandar Reda’s guidance and leadership, the Chamber not only continued all its activities uninterrupted but extended its services during this period and has reinforced its reputation as the leading strategic business services organisation in the UK dedicated to strengthening Arab-British trade and building closer business co-operation.
Lamia Merzouki
Deputy General Manager at Casablanca Finance CityLamia Merzouki is Deputy General Manager at Casablanca Finance City Authority (CFCA), which she joined at its inception in 2010.
Before that, Lamia was part of AKWA Group, the largest private group in Morocco, within which she held the position of Director of Strategy and Organization for 7 years. She was also member of the executive committee and board member of 2 listed companies (Afriquia Gaz). Lamia led the merger between the AKWA Group and the Oismine Group (Amhal family) on various aspects: strategy, finance, tax, legal and organization.
Lamia worked on the Green Morocco Plan within the Ministry of Agriculture and on the development of the Souss-Massa-Draa region.
Lamia is a graduate of ESSEC Business School and Harvard Business School. She started her career at Arthur Andersen in Paris as a banking, insurance and industry consultant.
With a keen interest in green finance and sustainability, Lamia was appointed in 2020 as co-Chair of the Financial Centers for Sustainability Network (FC4S). Lamia is also board member of the 4C (Center for Competences in Climate Change).
Lamia is an executive coach, a member of the Choiseul 100 Africa and the co-lead of the Africa CEO Network in Morocco and the North African cluster of the Women Working for Change network, president of the We4She Morocco association and member of the CFA (Club des Femmes Administrateurs or the Female Directors Club). She also recently obtained a certificate on corporate governance.
In her journey to becoming a personal development coach, Lamia has herself been through more than 15 years of personal and spiritual development, meditation and overall sustainable lifestyle with an organic diet and eco-friendly habits. Lamia truly believes that sustainability starts at an individual level.
Christophe Bachelet
Managing Director of DLA PiperChristophe Bachelet specializes in cross-border mergers & acquisitions, private equity, corporate structuring & open bid processes with a particular focus in the real estate, energy, industrial, and consumer goods and retail sectors.
He is a member of the Moroccan Association of Private Equity Investors (AMIC) where he participates in drafting committees of legal reforms. He is a member of the legal committee of Casablanca Finance City. In addition, he is a member of the Elite Program in collaboration with the Casablanca Stock Exchange, assisting companies with their initial public offerings.
Zineb Lahlou
Senior Business Development Advisor at Casablanca Finance CityZineb Lahlou is a Senior Business Development Advisor at Casablanca Finance City Authority (CFCA), which she joined in 2014.
Over the last 8 years, Zineb has worked on numerous key projects within the Moroccan financial center, from the development of the CFC value proposition in collaboration with the relevant government stakeholders to the onboarding of numerous top notch international firms.
Prior to that, Zineb has worked several years in the Debt Capital Markets world as a corporate originator, first within SGCIB then CACIB and eventually at the BBVA Investment Bank Paris office.
Zineb is an EM Lyon Business School graduate which she entered following 2 years of intensive preparatory classes to the “French Grandes Ecoles de Commerce”.
Amin Hajji
Attorney at HAJJI Law FirmAmin HAJJI has since 1984 been Professor of Law at the Faculty of Law and Economics of Casablanca where his main expertise relates to international trade and finance law and to business law in general. He is the founding member of HAJJI Law Firm which he established in 1996. During the last two decades, the firm has worked as an independent Moroccan entity of Moroccan lawyers educated at the Kingdom’s universities. The firm provides legal services primarily to international investors in major investment projects under development in Morocco, including among others, the Tanger-Med maritime port, the renewable energy projects such as the Noor Ouarzazate solar plants or the Khalladi wind farm project. The firm is also involved in international financing of the Moroccan economy through the issuing of Eurobonds, with international private and public funds, for the financing or the refinancing of multiple aircrafts for Moroccan public and private airlines; and merger & acquisition transactions with companies undergoing restructuring. In addition, the firm represents its international clients before Moroccan courts and in national and international arbitral tribunals.
As a lawyer acting as a counsel or arbitrator in commercial litigation submitted to international arbitration, Amin Hajji along with other lawyers in 2020 founded the MIZAN Arbitration Centre which offers a fully digital platform. This platform works in Arabic, English and French languages and through the addition of an AI tool which is still under development. The Centre will focus on the African continent’s laws, Moroccan law, the laws of the 17 OHADA countries (Congo RD, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo) and laws of North Africa. MIZAN will offer a predictive legal tool facility for all users of the platform giving the public access to these laws. At present, Amin Hajji is the acting president of the MIZAN Arbitration Court.
In 2010 Amin Hajji became a founding member of the Aerial Network of African Lawyers which specializes in aircraft financing and holds regular seminars in various African cities with the participation of leading global practitioners within aircraft financing.
HAJJI Law Firm
28 Bld. Moulay Youssef, 20000 Casablanca, Morocco |
T: +212 522 48 74 74 F: +212 522 48 74 75 | www.ahlo.ma | a.hajji@ahlo.ma
www.mizan-adr.com