Raja Abdallah was born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1966 where he was raised and educated throughout the difficult war years. He completed 3 university degrees at McGill University, Montreal, where he began his career as an analyst and project engineer. In 1994 he returned to Lebanon for the first time to work on a large industrial project, mindful of Lebanon’s post-war reconstruction needs. He chose to head back abroad in 1999, this time to Switzerland, where he switched from engineering to a banking career with a reputable Lebanese group in Geneva. In 2010, he settled back in Lebanon, as a business and financial consultant on his own, and as a partner and then GM of a micro-credit institution. He has since then undertaken more than 25 mandates in Lebanon and abroad, and advises many companies including start-ups and SMEs. Raja is passionate about classical music and piano and enjoys skiing, sailing and racquet sports. Most of all, he is in love with his home town of Kfarmishki, the Wes-Beqaa, where he has build a loghouse, spends his weekends, and works closely with the local population to improve the town’s economy and infrastructure. He is the father of two grown-up boys living abroad.