President of ASCAME

MOHAMED CHOUCAIR

Mohamed Choucair was born in Beirut in 1968 in a family engaged in manufacturing and trade. His father, Nizar Choucair, had focused his activity at that time on the manufacturing and sale of high brand chocolate and related items, such as silver plates and gift articles. The brand Patchi is nowadays internationally known and is developing business in 35 countries through 165 outlets.

During the Lebanese war the family moved to Paris, where he continued his secondary and university studies, and stayed until the end of the war in 1990. Mohamed graduated in International Business Studies, and joined the family business in Beirut and abroad. He was in charge when the American and Canadian operation started and soon took the lead of the factories and outlets established during the war in Saudi Arabia, while they were, at the time, the major assets of the Company.

Mohamed Choucair held various positions in the family business, and very quickly filled the Vice Chairman and CEO office of the mother company, with executive responsibilities in the subsidiaries abroad. He has launched several industrial projects and invested in real estate companies in parallel. Mohamed Choucair is currently the Chairman of “Echtab Holding” and “Ekar Estate Capital”, as well as the Director of “Benchmark”. 

He assumed responsibilities in several professional associations and contributed to the foundation of some of them. He started to enroll in ‘Young Arab Leaders'; he contributed to the foundation of ‘Bader’, an association that helps young entrepreneurs to start business, and acted as its Director; between 2005 and 2011 he served as Director and Treasurer of the ‘ICC, Lebanese chapter’; between 2005 and  2009 he served as Director at the Board of the ‘Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of Beirut & Mount Lebanon’; during the same period, from the 30^th of June 2005 till the 27^th of May 2009 he was appointed Honorary Consul of the Republic of San Marino; in 2006 he contributed to the foundation of the ‘Lebanese Franchise Association’ and was elected as Vice Chairman, office he occupied until 2010.

In 2010 Mohamed Choucair was elected Chairman of the CCIA Beirut & Mt-Lebanon; and in 2011, Chairman of the Federation of the Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of Lebanon; and in April 2012, he became Chairman of the Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of the Mediterranean (ASCAME) based in Barcelona and regrouping 300 Chambers around the Mediterranean. In 2014 the General Union of Chambers of Commerce, industry and agriculture for Arab countries has elected the president of the Association of Mediterranean Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASCAME), choosing Mohamed Choucair as the first Vice President of the Federation of Arab Chambers in their 116^th session in the city of Irbil-Iraq.

The 9^th May 2012 he was named Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite by the President of the French Republic Mr. François Hollande. 

Mohamed Choucair holds regular interventions on TV and other media on the economic situation in the country and in the Mediterranean region. 

He is married to Ms Amna Kabbani and they have four children.