Translated by Tamara Barakat

Talal Abu Ghazaleh was born in Jaffa in 1938. After the Nakba, he moved with his family to Sidon, Lebanon, and completed his high school education there. He attended the American University of Beirut, which offered him a full scholarship.

While attending school, he worked in a candy factory and a music instruments store, and during his undergraduate studies, he worked as a teacher and translator. After graduating, he worked at an audit firm. In 1972, he established two companies: the Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Company (TAGCO) that specializes in audit services and the Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property (AGIP) that specializes in the protection of intellectual property.

Since then, Abu Ghazaleh founded 14 companies that provide specialized professional services in a variety of fields, such as management, consultancy, legal services, and IT.

Over the years, Abu Ghazaleh succeeded in creating strong partnerships with international organizations, such as the United Nations and the World Trade Organization. On April 04, 2007, the Secretary-General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon, appointed Abu Ghazaleh as the deputy chairperson of the UN Global Compact during its second meeting held at the UN headquarters in New York.

In June 2009, the UN appointed him as the Chair of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs’ Global Alliance for ICT and Development. He succeeded the CEO of Intel, Craig R. Barrett.

Recently, the Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Company won a contract to audit the UNDP’s projects in 15 Arab states, in a competition against other large international audit firms held in New York a few months ago.

The Talal Abu Ghazaleh Organization is a group of firms specialized in audit services, financial and managerial consulting, training, recruitment, human resource development, and protection of intellectual property. It provides its services for clients from the private, governmental, and non-governmental sectors, as well as to international organizations.

It employs 2,500 people, the majority of whom are Palestinians. It has 85 branches worldwide and 150 representative offices. Moreover, the Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Graduate School of Business in Jordan, the Talal Abu-Ghazaleh University College of Business in Bahrain, and the Abu-Ghazaleh Cambridge IT Skills Center in Amman, are all affiliated with the Talal Abu Ghazaleh Organization.

During his career, Abu Ghazaleh held several posts, chaired various organizations, and received many honorary doctorate degrees and medals. He was honored by various parties and presidents, the most recent of which was his honoring by the Chinese president, in recognition of his efforts in improving and developing the Arab-Chinese relations.

Dr. Abu Ghazaleh’s life was not easy and was filled with difficulties, and yet, he was able to make all of these achievements. He always emphasizes that all youth have the ability to be like him, if not even better and more successful, without having to wait for the support of any government, since the role of the government is only to provide infrastructure. He believes that each person is responsible for drawing the path of their life, and this cannot be achieved without knowledge, which is the foundation of success, improvement, and wealth.

He has recently published an autobiography that reveals some snippets from his personal life in both Arabic and English, titled “Blankets Become Jackets.” The book includes stories from his life, starting with becoming a refugee during childhood to turning into one of the world’s leading businesspeople. He started as a child wearing the jacket that his mother made for him from one of the refugee blankets and grew up to become an international figure that employs all his capabilities to serve the world around him.

(Palestine Economy Portal)