1934 - 2006
Jounieh, Lebanon
Married with 5 children
PERSONAL BACKGROUND
Georges Frem attended elementary and secondary school at College des Apotres, a Maronite Catholic institution in Jounieh, Lebanon. After finishing high school, as the eldest son of eight children, he started his first job at the age of 15 and simultaneously continued his higher education by studying accounting and commerce in evening school.
Georges Frem is characterized as an autodidact, a person self-taught through extensive reading, seminars, and workshops in various disciplines. He focused on human resource development and organization building, in particular as they apply to social responsibility, equal opportunity, good citizenship, and human development in business enterprises and organizations.
Throughout his professional life, he took three sabbatical leaves. During one, in 1973 at the age of 26, he completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.
BUSINESS PHILOSOPHY & ACHIEVEMENTS
In 1955, Georges Frem started his own business, which became the nucleus of INDEVCO (Industrial Development Company). The company groups over 50 affiliates with more than 7500 staff members in the Middle East, North and South America and Europe, active in the fields of Consumer Products, Flexible Packaging, Paper and Containers, Kitchen and Wardrobe Manufacturing, and Joint Ventures.
What characterizes INDEVCO Group of Companies is the following:
- INDEVCO is conceived as a group of autonomous companies fostering entrepreneurial management, people development and common good.
- INDEVCO affiliates have adopted the Founders philosophy:
What is good for the community is good for the company. What is good for the company, we will strive to do excellently and in a way that enriches the lives of our people.
- INDEVCO Group firmly believes in joint-venturing and transfer of know-how, aimed at creating jobs and bringing technology from the developed world to Lebanon and other Middle Eastern Countries.
Georges Frem was an active member of the Caux Round Table (CRT) of international business leaders. The CRT is committed to energizing the role of business and industry as a vital force for innovative global change, aimed at reducing social and economic threats to world peace and stability.
PUBLIC OFFICE
Georges Frem was asked several times to serve in public offices in Lebanon:
- October 2000 - April 2003
Minister of Industry
- August 2000 - May 2005
Deputy, Lebanese Parliament
- October 1992 - June 1993
Minister of Electricity & Hydraulic Resources
- 1982 - 1985
Minister of Post & Telecommunication
Minister of Industry & Petroleum
CONTRIBUTION TO THE COMMUNITY
INDEVCO Group contributes to many philanthropic organizations in Lebanon and the US. It actively supports social programs by way of availing staff and funds, in a manner which permeates a sense of commitment towards the community within the organization.
In 2002, Georges Frem formally established INDEVCO Foundation and affirmed the commitment to foster economic development and job creation, positively nurture a pluralistic democratic society, and to contribute to the modernization and development of Lebanon's public administration.
Today, the Georges N. Frem Foundation is a private, non-corporate entity, focusing on initiatives that contribute to positive change in Lebanon through spearheading its own projects and partnering with like-minded organizations.
