It’s who you know – and how you create value

Tareq Hisham Hawasli casually lists off the various business projects he has on the horizon - real estate consultancy, advisory, and management. So far, it’s pretty standard fare. Then he mentions one of his more unexpected ventures.

“I have a landscape-hardscape business in Atlanta with some very good friends of mine – my best friends,” Hawasli says offhand.

The 39-year-old sits outside in the crisp air just a stone’s throw from London’s Regent’s Park. His appearance, here in this moment, makes him a surprising investor in a United States landscaping business based in peachy Georgia, more than 4000 miles away.

But SHM Landscape, the business he started with friends Khaldoun Malas and William “Ryan” Seaton, is clearly a project that means a lot to him. He describes Seaton as an agricultural magician and Malas as a “brilliant manager”.

It was Hawasli that connected all three men and that pushed them to pursue a common project that would mean much more than a simple paycheck.

Four years into the venture, the future looks bright. “It’s quite profitable actually, it’s growing and we’re now doing tech investments through it,” Hawasli says. He describes the venture as being Malas’ “baby,” but acknowledges that he brought the trio together professionally.

That theme of connecting people from diverse and unexpected backgrounds acts as a recurring thread that weaves its way through many of Hawasli’s personal and professional interests.

Raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Hawasli was never one for standing still. Growing up, he would travel to the Middle East and Levant - Syria, Jordan, Lebanon – for several months each year. After high school, he attended the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia where he joined the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity.

“You didn’t really find guys of my ethnic background pledging in a southern fraternity in the late 90s. It’s a cultural thing more than anything,” he acknowledges. “And so I got to really learn a lot about what it is to be a true American through and through in the Bible Belt, which is a lovely place and a place I consider home.”

Hawasli values education highly. He completed the Management Acceleration Programme at INSEAD and an EMBA at London Business School (LBS). He is enrolled in the Harvard Business School’s Owner/President Management programme, and expresses an interest in pursuing a tech course in the future.

During his time at Arcapita in the 2000s, Hawasli recalls requesting that his bonus go towards continuing education. “Arcapita generously sponsored me for both my INSEAD and London Business School programmes.”

It’s those types of opportunities and decisions that have helped Hawasli achieve his professional goals. However, in spite of that success, he hopes for a future motivated by more than just pursuit of profit.

“I’d like to, within a maximum 10 years, become more passive in the financial world and move more into a world that’s less materialistically driven,” he admits. “I would love to become more involved in philanthropy, and am really interested in developing ideas and theories on how to achieve Peace and Prosperity in the Middle East.”

Hawasli and his family have called London home for the last seven years.

After Arcapita, Hawasli joined private equity firm Evans Randall Limited. It was one of the company’s investors that first suggested he create his own property platform and be the link connecting three cultures – the U.S., UK and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).