Miloud Chaâbi

Miloud Chaâbi (Arabic:ميلود الشعبي) (born in 1929 in Chiadmi near Essaouira) is a Moroccan businessman and politician. He is the founder of Ynna Holding and the owner of the Riad Mogador hotel chain and group of supermarkets "Aswak Assalam" in Morocco. He is known for his strong stance against alcohol which is banned from both his hotel chain and supermarkets. He was affiliated with the Party of Progress and Socialism under which he was elected MP for the city of Essaouira in the parliamentary elections in 2007 in Morocco. His daughter, Asma Chaâbi has been mayor of the city of Essaouira since 2003.

His fortune is estimated at some 40 billion dirhams and one of the richest men in Morocco.^{[citation needed]}.

Chaâbi is also known for his philanthropic and charity work and donated 10% of his fortune to build the first American university in Morocco in conjunction with the University of Maryland, College Park.^[1] He is the operator of one of the largest charity organisations in Morocco, the Miloud Chaâbi Foundation.^[2]

Biography

As a child he was taught in a mosque and he started working alternatively as a goat herder and as a farmer. At 15, he saved up enough money and moved from Marrakech to kenitra where he started his first construction company in 1948. In a time when trading business in kenitra was restricted to the French, some Jewish businessmen and some of the well known Moroccan families Chaâbi ventured into the field. His interest went toward the ceramic industry which made him start his own ceramic company in 1964. Soon the Chaâbi gained enough experience in the business and began to seek for opportunities to purchase large companies. He offered to become an investor in a French company but the company refused his offer which drove him to keep pressuring the company by selling products with competitive prices until it had finally collapsed and was on the verge of bankruptcy. And in 1985, the company sold all of its properties to Chaâbi himself. This success was a turning point for Chaâbi's professional career and as a result he bought Yeyeena group which became one of the most powerful groups in Morocco. In 1992, he founded JBC for carton and gyrus and got a deal for a petrochemical company allotment SNIP in 1993. In 1994, he launched ELECTRA for electrical components, cables and television batteries. In 1998, he launched Al-Salam shopping chain which was followed by the launch of Riyad Mogador hotel chain in 1999.

Political career

In 2002, he won the election to become a member of the Moroccan house of representatives. In 2007, he won the parliament election to become the representative of the city of Al-Suwaira. In July 2008, he heavily criticized Idris Jato's government for selling properties at low prices without taking the proper legal procedures and asked for.

References

1. ^ "Moroccan Miloud Chaabi donates portion his wealth to education". Bridgizz.com. http://www.bridgizz.com/en/blog/moroccan-miloud-chaabi-donates-portion-his-wealth-education. Retrieved March 8, 2009. 
2. ^ "Le Fondation Miloud Chaabi". The Miloud Chaâbi Foundation. http://www.fondationmiloudchaabi.com/. Retrieved March 8, 2009. 

Persondata
Name	Chaabi, Miloud
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1929
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death