Salman Gasim has been the chief executive officer at the Swiss Hospitality Co. (SHC) since 2014.
The SHC, a Jeddah-based firm, was established in 2014 and built around Swiss hospitality standards, combined with Saudi cultural values.
Gasim is also a board member of the Saudi-Swiss Business Council (SSBC), which falls under the Saudi Council of Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
The aim of the SSBC is to assist Swiss and Saudi businessmen to maintain effective communication and to provide means to stimulate bilateral trade and investment.
Gassm is also the co-founder of SEA Ventures founded in 2017 in Jeddah. It aims to develop highly skilled entrepreneurial leaders whose enterprises will develop their countries to a brighter sustainable future.
He is also the executive director of the Swiss Arab Network based in Zurich Area, Switzerland since 2017. It is a Swiss nonprofit association that strives to bridge gaps, promote sustainable exchange and intensify the mutual understanding among Swiss and Arab people. Gasim has been a representative of the Swiss Education Group based in Montreux, Switzerland since 2015.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in the art of hospitality management and events from the University of Derby in England.
He also holds a higher diploma in hospitality and events management and a diploma in hotel operations management from the Swiss Hotel Management School in Montreux, Switzerland.
The SHC recently launched the “Saudi Tourism Training and Recruitment” (STTAR) accelerator program, aimed at boosting the careers of talented young people wishing to forge a path in the hospitality industry, in partnership with the Majid Society, a nonprofit, meritocratic organization focused on empowering disadvantaged people.
“In Saudi Arabia, we have hospitality in our DNA, but unfortunately, we don’t have the standards,” Gasim told Arab News. “We are trying to learn from the best, which is Switzerland.”
