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Kamel Lazaar (born July 10, 1952) is a Tunisian-Swiss investment banker, serial entrepreneur and philanthropist active across the MENA region. He is the founder and chairman of Swicorp, an investment banking, private equity (PE) and asset management firm headquartered in Riyadh, and former Vice-President of Citibank in Saudi Arabia (at the very beginning of his career). He is known for innovative initiatives in the following fields: business, public policy, art and culture.

Education

Kamel Lazaar holds a Master of Business Administration in Finance from the Higher Institute of Management of Tunis (Institut Supérieur de Gestion de Tunis) and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Tunis.

Career

Kamel started his career at Citibank in North Africa, Europe and Saudi Arabia and was part of the Saudi American Bank’s (Samba (bank)) founding team.

In 1987, Kamel founded one of the first investment banks in MENA: Swicorp. Today, Swicorp is present in Riyadh, Tunis, Dubai and Geneva. The company handles assets in excess of 1 billion dollars and executes multi-billion corporate finance and asset management deals across the region.

In 2011, he founded the Maghreb Economic Forum (MEF) as an independent, non-partisan think-and-do tank. MEF is an NGO engaging a conversation between public and private audiences and nurturing new solutions for Education, Employment, Leadership & Gender Equality.

Philanthropy

Together with his daughter Lina Lazaar, Kamel handles most of his philanthropic work through the Kamel Lazaar Foundation [fr] (KLF), which he created in 2005 in an effort to consolidate his interest in visual art and heritage preservation. The backbone of the Kamel Lazaar Foundation is one of the largest contemporary and modern art collections in the MENA region. In 2011, KLF initiated the launch of the online magazine and platform Ibraaz- the largest forum for critical exchange on visual culture in the MENA region, followed shortly by the first instalment of Jaou – which became an annual event bringing together artists, thinkers and change-makers to exhibit works of art and fostering a dialogue about contemporary creative practices in the region. KLF contributed to bringing Tunisia back to the Biennale di Venezia after an absence of nearly six decades.

References

1. "In Tunis, the Kamel Lazaar Foundation is pushing the boundaries of what's possible". Art Basel. Retrieved 2022-10-08.
2. Adam, Georgina (21 September 2018). "Kamel Lazaar Foundation: seeds of change". Financial Times. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
3. Talmor, Vasvari, Eli, Florin (24 June 2011). International Private Equity. John Wiley & Sons, 2011. ISBN 978-1119973881. Retrieved 13 May 2020.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
4. Clémençot, Julien (20 September 2012). "Banque d'affaires : Kamel Lazaar entre Riyad et Tunis". jeuneafrique. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
5. Downey, Anthony (2016). Future Imperfect: Contemporary Art Practices and Cultural Institutions in the Middle East (illustrated ed.). Sternberg Press, 2016. ISBN 978-3956792465. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
6. Vignal, Leïla (2016). The Transnational Middle East: People, Places, Borders (illustrated ed.). Routledge, 2016. ISBN 978-1315535630. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
7. "Kamel Lazaar". Bloomberg. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
8. "2011 Speakers". Financialleadersforum. 2011. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
9. "Swicorp et Kamel Lazaar détiennent désormais respectivement 49% et 26% du capital de CGF". ilBoursa. 10 June 2015. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
10. "Acciona, Swicorp begin construction work on three photovoltaic plants in Egypt". arabianindustry. 4 March 2019. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
11. "Who We Are - Board of Trustees". Maghreb Economic Forum. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
12. Ahres, Sofiene (30 October 2016). "Comment l'agriculture peut réduire le chômage". Business News. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
13. Montazami, Morad (1 June 2016). "Uncommon Grounds: New Media and Critical Practices in North Africa and the Middle East". Critique d'Art. Actualité Internationale de la Littérature Critique Sur l'Art Contemporain (in French). doi:10.4000/critiquedart.17589. ISSN 1246-8258. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
14. Downey, Anthony (September 1975). "Common Grounds and Common Cultures Kamel Lazaar in conversation with Anthony Downey". Ibraaz. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
15. Kim, Evangeline (16 December 2015). "Tunisia's Rising Star and Its Post-Revolutionary Creative Economy – 2015 Retrospective Kudos: The Jaou Tunis Conference | World Music Central.org". World Music Central.org. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
16. "Kamel Lazaar Foundation: "Climbing Through the Tide"". World Art Foundations. 15 March 2019. Retrieved 13 May 2020.

• Tunisian philanthropists
• Swiss philanthropists
• Investment bankers
• 1952 births
• Living people