Meet the President

As a former Canadian Trade Commissioner and later a Marketing Manager of a multinational conglomerate based in Kuwait, Mohsen Rifaat is well versed in the complexities of international trade and development, and the peculiarities of diverse cultures and business practices. He holds architectural and planning degrees from Egypt , and a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Toronto .

After having pursued a challenging career in the fields of architecture and urban planning in Egypt and Canada, which included senior positions with the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton and the National Capital Commission, he began his international marketing career by joining the Department of Industry Trade and Commerce in 1977. At that time he was responsible for assisting Canadian consulting and construction companies bid for projects in the Middle East .

In 1980 he was posted to the commercial section of the Canadian Embassy in Kuwait as Trade Commissioner responsible for commercial and trade promotion in most of the Gulf States . He then headed the marketing department of one of the largest multi-national companies in the Middle East based in Kuwait. His work entailed securing projects and investment opportunities in many countries. In addition to Middle East, these included countries in Africa, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe and the Far East.

Rifaat returned to Canada in 1994 where he was appointed Trade Commissioner with the International Trade Center, Industry Canada's regional office in Toronto . He left the Government in 1996 to establish MohDev.

He serves as a graduate student business mentor at the Xerox Centre for Engineering Entrepreneurship & Innovation, McMaster University; and sits on the Board of Directors of a Toronto based telecom service company.