Basim Shami (born October 7, 1976) is a

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

-born American businessman. He started his career at Farouk Systems, a

Houston Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...

-based haircare products company his father founded in 1986.

Early life and education

Basim Shami was born on October 7, 1975, in Ramallah,

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

. After his family immigrated to the United States, he attended the

Houston Baptist University Houston Christian University (HCU), formerly Houston Baptist University, is a private Baptist university in Houston, Texas. It is affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas (Southern Baptist Convention). Its Cultural Arts Center h ...

from which he earned his

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

as well as a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

Human Resource Management Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, cultur ...

Career

While he was studying, Basim worked at his father's company for haircare products, Farouk Systems. After graduation he took more important roles in the company, and was responsible for marketing, logistics, and product development, and by 1995 he founded his own venture, Beauty Elite Group, which he has been its CEO since then. It had acquired some local companies such as BlowPro. Basim's involvement in Farouk Systems has been always active, as he has taken more roles until eventually becoming the company's CEO, and has been among the company's top executives, along with his father, Farouk, and his brother Rami. He has helped the company to launch new products and expanding its scale. Basim Shami has been seen on

Celebrity Apprentice ''The Celebrity Apprentice'' is an American television reality competition series. It was a variation of ''The Apprentice'' series, hosted by then real estate developer (later 45th president of the United States) Donald Trump from 2008 to 2015, an ...

Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the Latino public and inclu ...

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, and

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as well as other television outlets. He also served as a judge for the 2010 Miss Universe Pageant. He also has been involved in philanthropic activities. He was selected as a finalist for the 2013 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shami, Basim 1976 births Living people Palestinian business executives Palestinian philanthropists Palestinian emigrants to the United States People from Ramallah