Saleem Beebeejaun

Saleem Beebeejaun is a global consultant and entrepreneur with over 20 years’ experience in senior managerial positions and operated at the highest level of large organizations as CEO and as Chairperson. Saleem’s experience spans across both the financial and non-financial services sector, in particular in the African region. He is an independent chairperson of the board, a director, a chief executive officer, advisor and an entrepreneur and interacts in a very diversified environment, interacting with people of different nationalities, background and cultures. He acts as business facilitator for many HNWIs and has an intuitive ability to gauge clients’ needs and believes in the value of truly independent advice, away from institutional commercial pressures.

Education 

After completing his Licence – Lès Sciences Economiques from the University of Montpellier, France, Saleem Beebeejaun started his professional career as a supervisor working in the agricultural sector, mainly managing cane fields, with his grandfather. He subsequently undertook further studies in insurance and graduated as a Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute. He was awarded the H G Greening prize rewarding him as the first in Life subjects worldwide. 

Saleem also followed the Advanced Management Program of the Harvard Business School and is a Harvard alumnus. 

Current professional status 

Saleem is currently the Chairperson of Rio Zim Limited a listed mining company operating in Zimbabwe and is Chairman of Ashton Financial Partners a management company licensed by the Financial Services Commission in Mauritius. He is the immediate past and first chairperson of Warwyck Private Bank established in Mauritius and licensed by the Bank of Mauritius and is an adviser to Warwyck Investment Holdings the holding company of the bank. 

Honorary Consul of Malaysia Saleem has served as the Honorary Consul of Malaysia to Mauritius since 2008. He has been very active and has helped organize many missions and visits of Malaysian dignitaries to Mauritius. Family Saleem Beebeejaun is very well respected in all spheres of civil and business societies and cuts across the different communities to emerge as an experienced and balanced business leader.

Saleem’s great grandfather G M D Atchia was the Lord Mayor of Port Louis and was a member of the Mauritius delegation that took part in the negotiations for the independence of Mauritius with the then colonial power, Great Britain. 

These culminated in the independence of Mauritius in 1968. Saleem’s father Dr A R Beebeejaun qualified as a medical practitioner in the UK and was the only pediatrician serving the Mauritius population in the early 70’s. Child mortality drastically dropped following his return to Mauritius He officially joined politics in 1995 was an elected member of parliament from 1995 to 2014. He occupied several ministries and was the deputy Prime Minister of Mauritius from 2005 to 2014. Saleem is married and has two sons and a daughter.

In a recent interview with Citiesabc, Beebeejaun shared his vision in regards to the post-Covid-19 world: 

"The Covid-19 pandemic has underscored the major limitations of governments, none of which have been able to work together at best or take global leadership against this pandemic. Instead there has been division, suspicion, retention of data, finger pointing and denial of the threats posed by the Covid-19. The WHO has been questioned, attacked and denigrated and the responses to the Covid-19 country by country and in some cases state by state have been uncoordinated, erratic, inconsistent and conflicting. Some closed their borders whilst other left them open. Some tested whilst other did not. Some talked about immunity passports, others rejected that. Some tested unabatedly and other did not. 

Today Covid-19 has clearly highlighted the limitations of Governments in the face of a world threat and has actually exacerbated the politics of division, suspicion and hate creating a very divided world which risks ending up as an isolationist world with limited exchange amongst the countries. This is unlikely to change going forward as the nationalists and local considerations dictate the local and national politics and world matters. The democracies time horizon spans over 4 to 5 years and the objective is to remain in power whatever the price. World survival does not come into that equation. Are we now considering a molt where the leadership vacuum will be filled in by the huge private corporations who have a time horizon much longer than that of politicians and governments? There are corporations today that are significantly wealthier than 80% of nations and that have to ensure global growth to maintain their continued grip over the world economy and societies. 

It is clear that today the private corporations have in many instances led the war against the Covid-19. On the other hand, the governments have been busy managing their local constituents, instead of tackling the pandemic."