Mohamed Mounir Majidi

Mounir Majidi (full name Mohamed Mounir El Majidi, ; born 10 January 1965) is a Moroccan businessman. He has been the personal secretary of King Mohammed VI since 2000 and president of the royal holding, SIGER, since 2002. He is also the president of Maroc Culture, the organization behind the Mawazine festival, of the Fath Union Sport (FUS) Rabat, of the Mohammed VI soccer academy, and of the Cheikh Zaid hospital's foundation.

Biography Early life The son of a civil servant, Mounir Majidi was born and grew up in a low-income area of Rabat. He earned high marks in school, and was subsequently chosen to be homeschooled in the company of Mohammed VI's late cousin Naoufel Osman, the son of Ahmed Osman and Princess Lalla Nuzha (a sister of Hassan II).

In 1985, Mounir Majidi moved to Strasbourg, France, to study computer science at the Louis Pasteur University. After graduating and working for a short period at SAGEM, he moved to New York City where he completed an MBA in finance at Pace University. Back to Morocco he worked at various ONA-owned companies before founding an advertising company (FC COM or FC Holding). After the enthronement of Mohammed VI he was nominated at his current position.

Mounir Majidi is involved in a number of businesses, most of them are related to his management of the King's shares at ONA and FC Com the advertising company. and the president and founder of Mohammed VI football Academy (Académie Mohammed VI de football).

Mounir Majidi returned to Morocco and worked at the Banque Commerciale du Maroc, ONA and at the Caisse de dépôt et de gestion.

Personal secretary of King Mohammed VI In 2000, King Mohammed VI nominated him as his personal secretary. He is in charge of reorganizing the management of the King's palace and the royal stewardship. Majidi's mission is to establish a new economic governance around "national champions", specifically in high-growth sectors such as telecommunications, energy, transportation, banking, health, tourism, real estate and retail. In 2005, the King entrusted Mounir Majidi with the presidency of Maroc Cultures, the association behind the yearly Mawazine festival. Majidi turned the festival into an international event by bringing a new economic model for the event, which led to higher profits, all-the-while providing quality shows and gratuity for 95% of the attendees. Among the notorious international artists that were on the festival's stage are Whitney Houston (2008), Stevie Wonder (2009), Sting (2010), Mariah Carey (2012), Justin Timberlake (2014). In December 2007, Mounir Majidi is nominated as president of the Fath Union Sport of Rabat and launched a modernization program destined to become a national model for other sports teams: renovation of the infrastructures, definition of a sports politic, and valorization of the FUS brand. He was reelected president in March 2014. Under his supervision, the academy opened its doors in September 2009, with brand new infrastructures entirely financed by private partners.

Controversy In June 2012 Majidi was accused of multimillion-dollar corruption by French newspaper Le Monde and by Moroccan independent newspapers. No legal action was brought in Morocco, but Majidi sued Moroccan journalist Ahmed Benchemsi, the author of the Le Monde article and the founder of news magazine TelQuel, for defamation in France. Majidi also claimed blackmail. On 12 June 2015, the High Court of Paris acquitted Benchemsi; no damages were awarded.