Abdeslam Ahizoune (born 20 April 1955 in

Tiflet Tifelt ( Berber: Tifelt, ⵜⵉⴼⴻⵍⵜ, erroneously rendered as ''Tiflet'' in French; Arabic: تيفلت) is a town in northwestern Morocco, west of Khemisset and east of Rabat. Tifelt is in a region of Morocco that is rich with ancient his ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

) is the

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

of the Management Board of

Maroc Telecom Maroc Telecom (Acronym: IAM, ar, اتصالات المغرب) is the main telecommunications company in Morocco. Currently employing around 11,178 employees, it is the largest telecommunications network in the country with 8 regional delegations ...

and the former

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

, the main Moroccan

telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

company.

Education

Ahizoune was born on 20 April 1955 in

, located about 60 km from

Rabat Rabat (, also , ; ar, الرِّبَاط, er-Ribât; ber, ⵕⵕⴱⴰⵟ, ṛṛbaṭ) is the capital city of Morocco and the country's seventh largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan populati ...

, to a landowning

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–196 ...

family. His father Aïssa Ahizoune was a notable of the Khessasna tribe. He started his studies at Collège Ibn Ajroum. In 1972 he received a baccalaureate in mathematics,Historical Dictionary of Morocco. By Aomar Boum and Thomas K. Park. page 33 and in 1977 earned an engineering diploma from

Télécom Paris Télécom Paris (also known as ENST or Télécom or École nationale supérieure des télécommunications, also Télécom ParisTech until 2019) is a French public institution for higher education (''grande école'') and engineering research. Loca ...

Career

Upon graduation, Ahizoune joined the National Posts and Telecommunication Board (ONPT) where he held multiple positions. From 1983 to 1992, he was director of telecommunications in the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications. In 1992 he was appointed the Minister of Post and Telecommunications and held the office until 1995, also he served as director general of the ONPT until 1997. On October 13, 1997, Ahzoune returned to the ministry as the Minister of Telecommunication and remained in office for nearly eight months. In 1999, the ONPT was divided into two separate entities: Post Maroc and Maroc Telecom, the latter became a public limited company and the government had full ownership. From 1999 until 2001, he was a general manager at Maroc Telecom. In 2001, Ahizoune was appointed CEO, the year

Vivendi Vivendi SE is a French mass media holding company headquartered in Paris. Widely known as the owner of Gameloft, Groupe Canal+, Havas, Editis, Prisma Media, Vivendi Village and Dailymotion, the company has activities in television, film, video ...

acquired Maroc Telecom, then in addition to his new position, he was named the chairman of the Management Board of Vivendi, as well as being the chairman of Mobisud (a subsidiary of Vivendi). He was a member of the Management Board of Vivendi from April 2005 to June 2012. Under his mandate, Maroc Telecom witnessed continuous development, took majority stake in different companies, including

Mauritania Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gànnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, الجمهورية الإسلامية ...

-based

Mauritel Mauritel is a principal telecommunications company in Mauritania established in 1999 in Nouakchott , image_skyline = Nouakchott.jpg , image_caption = City view of Nouakchott , pushpin_map = Mauritania#A ...

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north ...

-based

Gabon Telecom Gabon Telecom SA is the largest telecom company in Gabon. The company manages the country's country code top-level domain, .ga. It operates about 35,000 land lines, and its cellular phone service subsidiary, Libertis, has 200,000 customers. In 200 ...

, and

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...

-based

Sotelma Sotelma is a private telecommunications company in Mali. The company is based in Bamako. Sotelma provides local telephony, international telephony, internet service and mobile telephone service, etc. Its mobile service subsidiary is Malitel. ...

. The revenue of the company jumped from 3.8 billion dirhams in 2001 to 29.9 billion dirhams in 2012. Ahizoune was the CEO and Chairman of

Medi1 TV Medi1 TV (formerly Medi 1 Sat) is a Moroccan free-to-air TV channel, launched in 2006. The channel broadcasts bilingually in Arabic and French, nationally via terrestrial television and internationally via satellite. History Medi1 TV was first ...

. Since December 2006, Ahizoune has been the president of the Royal Moroccan Athletics Federation (FRMA),

's athletics governing body. Ahizoune is a member of

Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture The Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture (french: Institut royal de la culture amazighe (IRCAM); zgh, ⴰⵙⵉⵏⴰⴳ ⴰⴳⵍⴷⴰⵏ ⵏ ⵜⵓⵙⵙⵏⴰ ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵜ, Asinag Ageldan n Tussna Tamazight (SGSM); ar, المعه� ...

. Since 2008, Ahizoune has been Moroccan Association of Telecom Professionals (MATI). In 2017, he was awarded the ''Prix de reconnaissance de la culture amazighe'' by the Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture.

References

External links

Abdeslam AHIZOUNE, Chairman of the Management Board

Vivendi company: Members of the Management Board
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahizoune, Abdeslam 1955 births Athletics in Morocco Government ministers of Morocco Living people Moroccan Berber politicians Moroccan businesspeople Moroccan chief executives Moroccan engineers People from Tiflet 20th-century Moroccan people 21st-century Moroccan people