Translated by Tamara Barakat

Talal Nassereddine, or “Abu Kathem” as he likes to be called, is the CEO and Chair of Board of Directors of the Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company. He is from Jerusalem, and he is married and has two daughters.

Nassereddine graduated from the Collège des Frères in Jerusalem and he was one of the school’s distinguished students. He dreamed since childhood to work in the pharmaceutical industry.

He attended Birzeit College during the summer of 1968, and due to his academic excellence, he was accepted into the Medical education program at the American University of Beirut. However, his passion for chemistry drove him to change his major two weeks after his acceptance and pursue a degree in Chemistry.

After graduating from AUB, he worked as a teacher there. At that time, Birzeit University (BZU) was in the process of changing from a college into a university. Nassereddine was asked to join Birzeit University and provide his help during this interim period. In September 1974, he became an instructor there, teaching inorganic chemistry courses to fourth year students.

He taught at Birzeit University until 1984, and introduced three new courses to the Chemistry Department. However, due to the large burden and responsibilities placed on him after having been appointed as the general manager of the Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company, he had to resign from his post as an instructor at Birzeit University.

Currently, Nassereddine holds several positions. He serves as the chair of the Board of Directors of the National Bank (TNB) and the chair of the Board of Directors of Al-Takaful Insurance, and he is the general manager and founder of the Palestinian Mineral Lube Oil Company (Petropal).

Upon completing his university studies in 1974, Nassereddine started working at the Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company. He worked at the company’s drug control laboratory. At that time, the company had 22 employees only. Nassereddine moved between the company’s different departments, including the drug analysis, procurement, and production departments, which equipped him with the knowledge and experience in all of the company’s operations, and allowed him to learn all the details concerning the production, analysis, and distribution of the company’s drugs.

After that, he was appointed as the laboratory manager and the vice general manager of the Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company. In 1984, he was appointed as the general manager of the company, after which the company started to witness quick growth and achieve great accomplishments.

Nassereddine always made sure to support local universities through grants and scholarships for students to study abroad. Lately, he has been providing scholarships for the children of his company’s employees. He also assisted many schools by providing them with the needed infrastructure, courts, and walls. And he financially supported many sports and cultural teams, with a budget that exceeds hundreds of thousands of dollars.

According to Nassereddine, the Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company aims to help Palestine become self-sufficient in terms of drugs, without having to rely on any other source, especially Israel. And this has been the company’s slogan from the day of its establishment.

(Palestine Economy Portal)