Zahi Khouri

Zahi W. Khouri is a Palestinian-American businessman and entrepreneur, who is best known for his involvement in numerous business ventures in the Palestinian territories.

Biography Early life and education Khouri was born into a Palestinian Christian family in 1938 in the city of Jaffa, then part of Mandatory Palestine. His family fled the city during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, along with the majority of its Arab inhabitants, becoming Palestinian refugees in neighboring Lebanon. Khouri has described himself as "a faithful Christian". Khouri lived in Lebanon until the 1960s, when he moved to Germany to pursue an advanced degree.

Khouri earned a Master's degree in Engineering from the Stuttgart Institute of Technology, before going on to receive an M.B.A. from the European Institute of Business Administration, INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.

Career In 1967, he moved to the United States, where he settled in Richmond, Virginia and built a career in international business.

Following the signing of the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1993, which granted limited sovereignty to the Palestinians in parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Khouri moved back to Palestine in order to establish business ventures there along with several other Palestinian entrepreneurs. He helped establish the Palestinian Development and Investment Company (PADICO), the largest Palestinian investment company, as well as the Palestinian National Beverage Company, which manufactures and markets Coca-Cola products under official franchise in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. He was also the CEO of Jawwal, the only Palestinian telecommunications company and cellular service provider.