Yousef Asfour
Yousef Asfour is a Palestinian businessman, he founded and is currently the chairman of the board of directors of the Arab [American University (Palestine)|Arab American University] in Palestine.
Early life
Asfour was born in 1955 in Sinjil, a village located in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate. He was educated at the village's school and known as an outstanding student but, he discontinued his higher education due to his family's financial difficulties, and began to work at an early age to complete his higher education.Career
Asfour relocated to Saudi Arabia during the seventies to work in the field of customs clearance, within a short period of time began to work in trading and then work in the field of marble and granite, and ended up working as a construction contractor.Asfour worked as an import and export agent for several companies before starting his own customs clearance firm in Saudi Arabia, in addition to his real estate work in Palestine at that time.
In 1996, Asfour co-founded the Arab American University, the first private university in Palestine. The university opened in 2000 and is located near Talfit in the south of Jenin Governorate. In 1997, he founded Geneva Company, for marble and granite in Palestine, Geneva Company's capital estimated at about $17 million.
Asfour was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Oxford for his achievements in education and economics.
Philanthropy
Asfour has established a number of investment projects since his return to Palestine that helped create job opportunities to reduce unemployment.In the mid-1990s, Asfour donated a secondary school in Sinjil. He also made many contributions to the development of Sinjil Club. He is also known for providing annual aid to all Sinjil village projects, including schools, the municipality and the club.
One of his initiatives included the establishment of a bank to support poor people in Palestine, and he pledged to invite businessmen, economists and financers in Palestine to work on providing projects that would develop the national economy and reduce unemployment and poverty.