Sam Bahour has a warm manner and an infectious laugh. But beneath the avuncular exterior lie a sharp intelligence and a steady nerve that have helped the US-born Palestinian businessman survive since he moved to the West Bank in 1994. Mr Bahour is one of the founders of Paltel, the Palestinian telecommunications company and now the biggest employer in the territories. He then established the West Bank's first shopping mall and supermarket chain, which opened, against the odds, after the outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising in 2000. [Read the full article]

Paltel manager Abdel Malek Jaber speaks at a press conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah. (Maan Images)

Sam Bahour has a warm manner and an infectious laugh. But beneath the avuncular exterior lie a sharp intelligence and a steady nerve that have helped the US-born Palestinian businessman survive since he moved to the West Bank in 1994.

Mr Bahour is one of the founders of Paltel, the Palestinian telecommunications company and now the biggest employer in the territories. He then established the West Bank's first shopping mall and supermarket chain, which opened, against the odds, after the outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising in 2000.

Now, he has set up his own information technology and management consultancy, based in Ramallah - in spite of a western aid boycott imposed on the militant group Hamas that has deepened poverty levels.

"If I wasn't optimistic, I would pack up my bags and go back to the US," he says with a laugh.

The Oslo accords of the mid-1990s gave limited self-rule in parts of the territories and prompted many diaspora Palestinians to return. With the belief that the private sector had a prominent role to play in building a future Palestinian state, Mr Bahour gave up his prospering IT consultancy in Youngstown, Ohio, and came to the territories.

His faith in economic development is unshaken in spite of years of violence and continuing Israeli occupation, which began 40 years ago after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. He is as critical of the corrupt practices of Palestinian leaders as he is of Israeli policies.

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With the help of two European management consultancies, he and a small group of colleagues set about establishing Paltel. "There was no economy here in a real sense," he recalls. "Pre-Oslo, there was an NGO/civil society-run environment so we did not find the skills we required. So we contracted international firms on a short-term basis to support us in building the company and to transfer knowledge to locals."

His first encounters with local business practices were not encouraging. "After I placed the first Paltel vacancy ad in the local papers, a Palestinian approached me to whisper some advice, saying jobs are usually filled by personal contacts. . . We hired people no one knew, based solely on their credentials."

Paltel's launch took place before the Palestinian Stock Exchange existed, so the founders executed an initial public offering through the banking system that was four-and-a-half times oversubscribed. Paltel today is the biggest private-sector company in the territories, employing almost 2,000 people and with a market capitalisation of almost JD700,000 ($988,000) on the PSE.

To read the full article please visit Financial Times.