Abdulsalam Haykal ( ar, عبد السّلام هيكل) (born July 14, 1978, in

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

) is a Syrian technology and media

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

, who lives and works in

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dha ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (Middle East, The Middle East). It is ...

. He is the co-founder of Haykal Media, one of the Middle East’s main provider of digital knowledge and information platforms in Arabic, with several flagship products including the Arabic editions of

Harvard Business Review ''Harvard Business Review'' (''HBR'') is a general management magazine published by Harvard Business Publishing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Harvard University. ''HBR'' is published six times a year and is headquartered in Brighton, M ...

MIT Technology Review ''MIT Technology Review'' is a bimonthly magazine wholly owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and editorially independent of the university. It was founded in 1899 as ''The Technology Review'', and was re-launched without "The" in ...

Stanford Social Innovation Review ''Stanford Social Innovation Review'' (''SSIR'') is a magazine and website that covers cross-sector solutions to global problems. ''SSIR'' is written by and for social change leaders from around the world and from all sectors of society—nonprofi ...

Popular Science ''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...

, the new magazine Aliqtisadi, the English monthly

Forward Magazine ''Forward Magazine'' was a Syrian English-language newsmagazine published monthly in Damascus existed from January 2007 to November 2011. It was the first private English-language periodical to be licensed in Syria since all private media was na ...

and Manhom (a large directory of individuals and companies in the Arabic language). ''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. Haykal is also the founder and a board member of Transtek, an enterprise software development firm.

Early life

Haykal studied at the

American University of Beirut The American University of Beirut (AUB) ( ar, الجامعة الأميركية في بيروت) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, aut ...

, and the

School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ...

(SOAS),

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...

. In June 2007, he was elected as an alumni trustee of the

. He is also a trustee of the

University of Kalamoon The University of Kalamoon ( ar, جامعة القلمون الخاصة) is a private, accredited university located in Deir Atiyah An-Nabek District Rif Dimashq Governorate in Syria, located between the Qalamoun Mountains and the Eastern Lebanon M ...

, a private higher education institution in Syria. In April 2010, he was invited by the Obama Administration to the

Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship In his "A New Beginning (speech), A New Beginning" speech on June 4, 2009, at Cairo University in Cairo, Egypt, President of the United States Barack Obama announced, "I will host a Summit on Entrepreneurship this year to identify how we can dee ...

, in recognition of his business development activities.

Career and roles

Haykal was the president of the Syrian Young Entrepreneurs Association (SYEA), an NGO formed as part of the reform process in Syria. He was also a founder and trustee in several other organizations including BIDAYA Foundation, an NGO to help young people to become entrepreneurs by providing business mentoring and charitable micro-loans; and Tumuhi, a national college scholarship fund. Haykal is founder and chairman of Lableb Labs is focused on Arabic-natural language processing (NLP) products including enterprise and in-site search, consumer search, and other tools in syntax, semantics, discourse and speech. Haykal currently serves on the board of trustees of the American University of Beirut. He is a member of the United Aarab Emirates government's Arabic Language Advisory Council, chaired by the Minister of Culture. Abdulsalam is also a member of the advisory board of the Communication Arts Centre at the Lebanese American University.

Awards

In 2009, the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

named Haykal as a

Young Global Leader Forum of Young Global Leaders, or Young Global Leaders (YGL), was created by Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum. The YGL, a non-profit organization managed from Geneva, Switzerland, is under the supervision of the Swiss government ...

, the first Syrian to receive this recognition. He also received the Arab Thought Foundation's Innovation Award in 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haykal, Abdulsalam Living people 1978 births Businesspeople in software Businesspeople in mass media American University of Beirut alumni People from Damascus Alumni of SOAS University of London Syrian magazine founders Syrian chief executives Syrian writers American University of Beirut trustees