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| Description: Net Worth: $1.5 BILLION Industry: Diversified Country of Citizenship: Morocco Age: 53 Number of Jobs Created: 2,000 Akhannouch is the CEO and chairman of Akwa Group SA, a large Moroccan conglomerate primarily focused on oil and gas investments with other investments in hospitality, media, telecommunications and tourism. Akhannouch’s father founded the company in 1959 with the name Afriquia SMDC. In 1974, he established a subsidiary called Maghreb Oxygène. In the early 1990s, Akhannouch established Groupe Afriquia, whose subsidiaries Afriquia Gaz and Maghreb Oxygène went public in 1999. Today, Akwa Group generates over $3 billion in revenues annually. Akhannouch is also a politician currently serving as the Minister of Agriculture. He served briefly as Minister of Finance after Nizar Baraka resigned from Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane’s cabinet in 2013. He is believed to be one of the few ministers in Morocco’s history to forgo his salary. Furthermore, he has played a key role in improving the North African nation’s agricultural production and has encouraged foreign investment in Morocco’s agricultural sector since the assumption of his current position. |
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