Ghribi “Dialogue, cooperation and respect for Euro-med relations”
Improving living conditions in poor countries in the Middle East and Africa through dialogue, cooperation, and mutual respect with Western economies. This is the goal of Kamel Ghribi, not only as a successful investor but also as a person building ties between his home country, Tunisia, Africa, the Middle East, and the world.
The chairman of the GKSD Investment Holding group is involved in various countries in highway, airport, healthcare, and other infrastructure projects. In Tunisia, his homeland, he also promotes exports on international markets, as Financial Afrik recalls in a long article dedicated to him. His main objective is to transform Tunis into a center for industries and target its products to the rest of the African and Middle Eastern markets.
Born into a modest Tunisian family with nine brothers and sisters, he learned international business from his father, a businessman from Sfax. After the sudden death of the latter, he took over the reins and developed the activities thanks to the experience and expertise inherited from his father. At twenty-nine, he was appointed vice president of the Olympic Petroleum Corporation in New York and served as President of Olympic Management in Italy. In 1994 he became CEO of Olympic Energy, a European-based holding company active in the energy sector. He also served as president of Attock Oil Company before it was sold in 2005. Currently, his main ambition is to foster the creation of an adequate economic climate, capable of improving living conditions in the Middle East and Africa through dialogue, cooperation, and mutual respect with Western economies. For Ghribi, only by strengthening cooperation and dialogue with the most developed nations, it will be possible to promote the reconstruction of poor economies and fragmented societies.
He is also committed to this task in Libya and has provided advice to entrepreneurs and
governments, such as Kenya under former president Uhuru Kenyatta.
From Sfax to the small elite of international finance, GKSD has an extremely diversified portfolio, ranging from healthcare and legal and tax consultancy to engineering.
Ghribi is vice president of the San Donato Hospital Group (GSD), Italy’s largest private hospital group. After the earthquake that hit Syria, Ghribi and his group decided, in coordination with the Italian authorities, to send medical equipment, including
ambulances, to participate in the rescue operations.
He has also signed partnership agreements with the Egyptian state to invest in the healthcare sector and other sectors. “As a Tunisian and Arab proud of my origins, I consider Egypt as the heart of Arabism, the gateway to Africa and the bridge between past and future, and Tunisia as the cradle of history, culture, arts, and homeland, which deserves all the support, especially at this time,” he said in an interview with the Kapitalis newspaper,
underlining the importance of “strengthening historical ties between the poles of the Mediterranean so that the two forces can meet again and unite to chart a unique future for the North African region and the Mediterranean basin”. For this reason, the leader in the industry believes it is necessary to establish a bridge between Egypt and Tunisia, to be exploited further in Arab-Mediterranean cooperation.
