Ibrahim El Moallem
Ibrahim El Moallem is the chairman and founder of Shorouk Group. He leads a group of companies which consists of:
- Dar El Shorouk; the world’s leading Arabic publisher and distributor
- National Printing Company; one of the largest printing companies in the region
- Egyptian Company for International and Arabic Publishing; publisher of Al Shorouk newspaper and Weghat Nazar magazine
- Shorouk Bookstores; the largest private bookstore chain in Egypt
- Shorouk Media Production; for TV production
- CLIP Solutions; for digital media production
Biography
Starting his publishing career in the late sixties, Ibrahim El Moallem worked with his father Mohamad El-Moallem in Dar El-Shorouk, contributing to its expansion in Beirut and the establishment of Shorouk Press. Their plans involved the overall transformation of the quality and form of Arabic books, and attracting the finest authors, writers, scholars, illustrators and book designers from all over the Arab world. In 1982, Ibrahim El-Moallem published the first Arabic book to win an international publishing prize at the Leipzig Book Fair, and by the late eighties, Shorouk's board of directors chaired by Mohamed El-Moallem appointed him president of Dar El-Shorouk.
Since then, Dar El-Shorouk's reputation as a base for cultural enlightenment, freedom of thought and diversity earned it the respect and trust of writers, readers and fellow publishers throughout the Arab world. At the same time, he succeeded in modernizing its management and production system, pushing its position further to the forefront of Arab publishing companies. Under his leadership, the company witnessed remarkable growth in both capital turnover and annual sales records.
Mr. El Moallem also acts as the elected president of the Egyptian Publishers Association (EPA) since 1996. He was the elected president of the Arab Publishers Association (APA) from 1996 to 2007. He was the first Arab to be elected member of the Executive Committee, and the Freedom to Publish Committee in the International Publishers Association (IPA) and, in October 2008, he has been elected vice president of IPA, the first Arab to achieve such a status.
Ibrahim El-Moallem has become a well-known public figure in Egypt and the Arab world due to his pioneering and continuing role in advancing the interests of Egyptian and Arab publishers, authors, and bookmakers. He played a substantial role in rejuvenating both EPA and APA which assembles the national associations for publishers in all Arab countries. With his international outreach, effort and vision, the EPA joined the IPA for the first time in 1998 since its foundation 100 years earlier, thus playing an important part in representing Arab publishers' concerns and issues on the international arena.
Ibrahim El-Moallem has pioneered and still maintains a continuing role in advancing the interests of Egyptian and Arab publishers, authors, and bookmakers. El Moallem speaks out for the interests of the cultural and creative industries, by defending the human rights to freedom of expression, intellectual property, and demanding a larger space for cultural diversity. On the other hand, El Moallem has led numerous initiatives to promote inter-cultural dialogue and understanding in major international publishing industry forums, including the representation of the Arab World as guest of Honor at the 2004 Frankfurt Book Fair.
His public profile is further leveraged by his popularity in the sports world, as he served for many years as an elected board member of the famous Al-Ahly Sporting Club, Africa’s Club of the century and the most popular club in Africa and the Middle East. He is also the head of the Egyptian Council for Film and Book Export.
Mr. El Moallem received a number of awards; the most recent of which is the Mediterranean Media Award in February 2009.