Hezi Bezalel (born 1951) is an Israeli businessman. He is active mostly in Israel, the US, Britain, India, and various countries in Africa. He serves as the Honorary Consul of Rwanda in Israel.
Hezi Bezalel (born 1951) is an Israeli businessman. He is active mostly in Israel, the US, Britain, India, and various countries in Africa. He serves as the Honorary Consul of Rwanda in Israel.
Bezalel was born in Basra, Iraq and moved with his family to Israel when he was 5 years old. The family settled in the Or Yehuda Absorption Camp, and later on moved to Ramat Gan. During his military service, he served as a tank commander in the Yom Kippur War. He later began his Economics studies at the Tel Aviv University. Following the completion of his M.A in Economics, he began teaching at the Tel Aviv University as well as the Ben Gurion University in Be'er Sheva. He worked as Prof. Haim Ben Shachar's teaching assistant and initiated his PhD studies in London.
He moved from Israel to Kenya in the 1980s, where he established an investment bank in Nairobi, on behalf of a British investment group. In Africa, he became involved in investment banking, project implementation and financing and other businesses. He developed personal relationships with various stakeholders in Africa, such as the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, Ugandan President Yoweri Moseveni, who conducted a large scale economic liberalization process in the country, supported by the World Bank.
In 1995, he purchased the failed Ugandan investment bank Nile Bank Limited, transforming it to a successful and lucrative institution. The Nile Bank was sold to Barclays in 2006, gaining a large profit for Bezalel who was the main shareholder of the bank. [1]
Bezalel is the founder and managing partner of The Marathon Group, an international investment group, that deals mainly in investment banking and international trade. The Group deals with projects in telecommunications, energy, infrastructure, agriculture and technology. It holds permanent offices and branches in the UK, US, South Africa, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, India, Ethiopia and other countries in Africa and Asia. Bezalel is the founder and owner of Carnie Capital, a global investment group based in Israel, operating in over 30 countries globally.
Bezalel is a close and personal friend of Rwandan President, Paul Kagame. A story published in the Israeli Maariv, it is noted that "...Bezalel is considered an entrance gate for Israeli companies interested in working in Rwanda, and in getting in touch with the local government..." [2]
In 2010, he acquired the Israeli Telecom company Xfone 018. In January 2015, the company won a government tender to become Israel's 6th Cellular service provider. In 2016, it was announced that 018-Xphone will partner with local cellular provider Cellcom (Israel) to provide its cellular service in Israel. [3]
In early 2016, it was announced that Bezalel is leading a $300M investment fund in African businesses, together with the UK based Duet Group. [4]
He established the UAV and sensor technology company Meteor Aerospace together with Itzhak Nissan, the former CEO of Israel Aerospace Industries. [5]
Bezalel previously served as the Honorary Consul of Uganda and during the last decade as the Honorary Consul of Rwanda in Israel. [6] He also serves as the chairperson of the Israel-Ethiopia Friendship Organization. He is the chairman of Mountaintop Productions, an Israeli-American international film production company, founded in 2010. [7]
Bezalel currently resides in Israel.
Paul Kagame is a Rwandan politician and former military officer who has been the President of Rwanda since 2000. He was previously a commander of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a rebel armed force which invaded Rwanda in 1990. The RPF was one of the parties of the conflict during the Rwandan Civil War and the armed force which ended the Rwandan genocide. He was considered Rwanda's de facto leader when he was Vice President and Minister of Defence under President Pasteur Bizimungu from 1994 to 2000 after which the vice-presidential post was abolished.
The Rwandan Patriotic Front is the ruling political party in Rwanda.
The Rwandan Civil War was a large-scale civil war in Rwanda which was fought between the Rwandan Armed Forces, representing the country's government, and the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) from 1 October 1990 to 18 July 1994. The war arose from the long-running dispute between the Hutu and Tutsi groups within the Rwandan population. A 1959–1962 revolution had replaced the Tutsi monarchy with a Hutu-led republic, forcing more than 336,000 Tutsi to seek refuge in neighbouring countries. A group of these refugees in Uganda founded the RPF which, under the leadership of Fred Rwigyema and Paul Kagame, became a battle-ready army by the late 1980s.
Cellcom is an Israeli telecommunications company. Founded in 1994, most of the company's business is centered on wireless service. Its current CEO is Daniel Sapir. As of June 2016, Cellcom had 2.812 million subscribers.
The Uganda Securities Exchange (USE) is the principal stock exchange of Uganda. It was founded in June 1997. The USE is operated under the jurisdiction of Uganda's Capital Markets Authority, which in turn reports to the Bank of Uganda, Uganda's central bank.
Nile Bank Ltd was a private bank registered in Uganda, with shareholders from Uganda, Israel, and South Africa. Nile Bank has an emphasis on consumer banking.
Scott T. Ford was president and chief executive officer of Alltel from 2002 to 2009.
Before Uganda's independence in 1962, the main banks in Uganda were Barclays ; Grindlays, Standard Bank and the Bank of Baroda from India. The currency was issued by the East African Currency Board, a London-based body. In 1966, the Bank of Uganda (BoU), which controlled the issue of currency and managed foreign exchange reserves, became the central bank and national banking regulator. The government-owned Uganda Commercial Bank and the Uganda Development Bank were launched in the 1960s. The Uganda Development Bank is a state-owned development finance institution, which channeled loans from international sources into Ugandan enterprises and administered most of the development loans made to Uganda.
Sudhir Ruparelia is a Ugandan business magnate and investor. He is the chairman and majority shareholder in the Ruparelia Group companies. His investments are mainly in the banking, insurance, education, broadcasting, real estate, floriculture and hotels and resorts sectors.
Absa Bank Uganda Limited, formerly known as Barclays Bank of Uganda Limited, is a commercial bank in Uganda. It is licensed by the Bank of Uganda, the country's central bank and national banking regulator. The bank is a subsidiary of Absa Group Limited, a financial services conglomerate, based in South Africa, with banking subsidiaries in 12 African countries and representative offices in two other African countries. Absa Bank Group, whose shares trade on the JSE Limited, was reported to have total assets in excess of US$91 billion, as of October 2019.
Patrick Karegeya was a head of intelligence in Rwanda. He was a member of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) group that took power in Rwanda following the genocide against Tutsi. After becoming a critic of RPF leader Paul Kagame, he was stripped of his rank and jailed. Following a time in exile, he was assassinated in Johannesburg, South Africa on December 31, 2013.
Commercial Bank of Africa Group is a financial services provider in East Africa. Its headquarters are located in Nairobi, Kenya, with subsidiaries in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Ivory Coast.
Golan Telecom is a telecommunication provider and mobile network operator in Israel. It was founded in 2010 and offers a range of mobile phone, telecommunications and internet services to residential and business customers. In July 2011 the company won a tender to operate a 3G wireless network in Israel beginning in 2012, The company was one of the first low-cost mobile phone companies that led to increased competition in the cellular communications market in Israel, due to the price policy adopted by the company at the beginning of its activity.
India–Rwanda relations are the foreign relations between the Republic of India and the Republic of Rwanda. India is represented in Rwanda through its High Commission in Kigali which opened on 15 August 2018. Rwanda has been operating its High Commission in New Delhi since 1999 and appointed its first resident High Commissioner in 2001.
The 2014 Kagame Interclub Cup was the 39th edition of the Kagame Interclub Cup, which is organised by CECAFA. It is taking place in Kigali, Rwanda from 8–24 August. Rwanda is hosting the tournament for the fourth time since its inception in 1974.
Itzhak Nissan is an Israeli engineer and business executive who is the chairman and CEO of Meteor Aerospace Ltd., a privately owned Israeli defense and security company that Nissan founded.
Édouard Ngirente is a Rwandan economist and politician. He serves as the Prime Minister of Rwanda, since 30 August 2017, having been appointed by the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame.
Xphone is a company in Israel which provides cellular, telephony international services, and Internet services The company has operated a fixed-line telephony trial service, but has abandoned it for economic reasons. The company operates its mobile communications services under the WeCom brand, previously branded We4G for its 4G services. The company was part of the group of companies of the Israeli businessman, Hezi Bezalel, but it was sold to the Reichman family.
Tribert Rujugiro Ayabatwa was a Rwandan entrepreneur, best known as the founder of the Pan African Tobacco Group, the largest tobacco company in Africa. In his later years he fell out with Rwandan President Paul Kagame and left the country. Kagame accused him of funding rebel groups and of economic crimes, and tried to get him extradited from Uganda, leading to a rift between the two countries. The government seized and sold his property in Rwanda. Ayabatwa died in April 2024 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.