A regional visionary

by Mona Alami October 3, 2006

written by Mona Alami October 3, 2006

The July war once again demonstrated that conflict has been transformed by the media’s up-to-the- minute news reporting. With business decisions made instantly, the rise of the global economy and shifting environments, the media – in all its roles – plays an increasingly important role in our lives, and one company that is helping to shape the Middle East print media industry is the Al Iktissad Wal Aamal Group, which boasts an average issue readership of 5.6% of the total GCC population, a market share that is nearly double its nearest rival. Established in Beirut in 1978 by Raouf Abou Zaki, a former journalist on An Nahar, the group is spearheaded by its eponymous business magazine, ably supported by Al Hasnaa, a woman’s monthly, Al Difaiya, a defense publication and Middle East Travel. “The company is the first true shareholding media company in the region not family-owned,” boasts Abou Zaki.

Mona Alami

Mona Alami is a French-Lebanese journalist and analyst who writes about political, security and economic issues in the Arab world. She focuses on non-state armed actors in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Jordan, such as Hezbollah, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and the Islamic State. Alami is a non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council's Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East and TRENDS Research & Advisory and an associate fellow at the King Faysal Center for Research and Islamic Studies. Alami is a regular contributor to a number of American and Arab publications including Asharq Al-Awsat and The New Arab. She has produced several documentaries for Al Aan TV on jihadism and Hezbollah. Alami holds an MBA from the Lebanese American University. She writes in English, French and Arabic and is currently completing her PhD in geopolitics at Lyon 2.

A regional visionary

You may also like