Abdulsalam Haykal

Abdulsalam Haykal (Arabic: عبد السّلام هيكل‎‎) (born July 14, 1978 in Damascus) is a Syrian technology and media entrepreneur, who lives and works in Damascus, Syria. In 2009, the World Economic Forum named Haykal as a Young Global Leader, the first Syrian to receive this recognition.^[1]

Haykal is CEO of Transtek, an enterprise software development firm, and of Haykal Media, publisher of the business newsmagazine Aliqtisadi, and the English monthly Forward Magazine. The Report: Emerging Syria 2008 listed Haykal Media with its magazines and online media as one of three main players in the media sector in Syria.^[2]

Haykal is president of the Syrian Young Entrepreneurs Association (SYEA), an NGO formed as part of the reform process in Syria. He is also a founder and trustee in several other organizations including BIDAYA Foundation, an NGO to help disadvantaged young people to become entrepreneurs by providing business mentoring and charitable micro-loans; and Tumuhi, a national college scholarship fund.

Haykal studied at the American University of Beirut,^[3] and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. In June 2007, he was elected as an alumni trustee of the American University of Beirut,^[4] the youngest in its history. He is also a trustee of the University of Kalamoon, a private higher education institution in Syria.^[5] In April 2010, he was invited by the Obama Administration to the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship, in recognition of his business development activities.^[6]

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