After protests outside their Lebanon plant and activist allegations of corruption, the CEO of Averda gives his first ever interview to a media organization. Little known by name in Lebanon, Averdais a waste management company founded in 1993 by Lebanese engineer Maysarah Sukkar. It is the parent company of Sukleen and Sukomi. Maysarah’s son, Malek, has been a top manager since the company’s inception, and today leads the company as it continues an expansion abroad thatbegan a few years ago. Contracted by the government to collect, treat and dispose of Beirut’s waste in the early 1990s, Sukleen and Sukomi — which even Sukkar refers to collectively as Sukleen, a play on the family name — the companies quickly took on more municipalities in Lebanon and havebeen handling waste in the capital and all of the Mount Lebanon governorate (except Jbail) for around 20 years. Previously media shy, Malek Sukkar sits
