Walid Harfouch

In August 2011, he started the Ukrainian version of Euronews with the support of the vice prime minister of Ukraine, Borys Kolesnikov, and with the advice of Ukrainian deputy Anna German. In June 2013, Harfouch became the head of Euronews in various CIS countries.

From April 2010 to June 2013, he was appointed as a vice president of NTU, the first Ukrainian television channel. Since October 2010, Harfouch has been the president of the Coordination Council of the Ukrainian version of Euronews.

Due to his active public life, Harfouch has appeared on many television programs and talk shows. In 2008, he became an editor for the program Shuster Live, starring Savik Shuster. In 2006, he played a small role in the film Stariki Pokovinly, produced by the well-known Ukrainian, Andrey Benkendorf.

In 2007 Harfouch created an organization known as SOS! Racism!, becoming its secretary general. SOS! Racism! was responsible for many public events, such as The Anti-Racism March", which was characterized by its great number of participants, and caused debate in Ukraine. As a result of this march, SOS! Racism! has prepared, with the support of Ukrainian deputy Anna German, a new bill to stiffen penalties for racism, anti-semitism, and xenophobia.

In August 2007, he was appointed as a general producer for the television channel TET. From August 2009 to February 2010, Harfouch was head of the foreign press department for the candidate, and later president of Ukraine, Victor Ianoukovytch.

In 2003, Walid and Omar Harfouch began editing the magazine PaparaZZI. In 2005, the magazine published an article that caused a scandal concerning the expenses of Andrey Loustchenko, the son of the Ukrainian president at the time. In 2005, Harfouch published a book, Sex Murder and Millions with the publisher Gallimard-Edition Folio.

In 2002, Harfouch and his brother founded their own internet beauty competition, Miss@NetWorld. In 2006, they acquired the rights to Miss Europe. That same year, in Kiev, the international final of the competition was broadcast in more than 20 countries around the world. At the end of the year, they founded a new competition, Miss CEI, with contestants from the Balkan countries and the CIS. The competition became a popular television program.

In 2002, Walid founded a public relations agency known as BTL or Super Nova Agency, which organized various large-scale publicity campaigns. The agency's clients include Hotel Premier Palace, Coca-Cola, the Yalta Life Rally, and Red Bull among others. One of the organization's main activities was lobbying and public relations for large clients in Europe.

Walid Harfouch is the Head of Euronews in various countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States. He is also the president of the Coordination Council of the Ukrainian version of Euronews. In 2001, he was appointed as the first goodwill ambassador of the United Nations, as commissioned to fight SIDA (HIV/AIDS) in Ukraine. He founded the public association SOS Racism!

In 2000, Harfouch became the first goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations, commissioned to fight SIDA in Ukraine. He was responsible for the creation and installation of a bronze statue to commemorate victims of SIDA. It was inaugurated in 2001 in Kiev by Kofi Annan, then secretary-general of the United Nations. After this event, the song "Protect the Life", produced by Harfouch and composed by his brother Omar, became known as the anthem for the fight against SIDA in Ukraine.

Between 1998-2000, Harfouch and his brother represented the interests of the Elite agency in Ukraine. They became the official organizers of the international competition known as Elite Model Look.

In 1995, Harfouch and his brother Omar left Dniepropetrovsk and travelled to Kyiv where they founded one of the first FM radio stations, SuperNova. The collaboration with Radio France International (RFI) has allowed them to appear on SuperNova in various broadcasts and radio news in French, English, and Arabic, as well as Russian and Ukrainian. The station collaborated directly with the French Institute in Ukraine, as well as the French embassy in Ukraine. Super-Nova broadcast live coverage of the Cannes International Film Festival. At one point, SuperNova broadcast the program Depoutatsky Tchas (The hour of Deputies) where a lot of representatives of the Ukrainian parliament participated. Harfouch became a quasi-celebrity in the public eye as a result of these activities.

In 1995, a public appeal, A Girl for Boy, was organized by Harfouch's station, SuperNova, with the assistance of Ukrainian artists. The objective was to provide Boy, an elephant in the Kiev Zoo, with a mate. The funds raised allowed the transport of a female elephant from Germany to the zoo.

In 1988, Harfouch finished his education at the College des Freres, and in 1990, his brother Omar invited him to come to Ukraine. Together, they were among the first people to reside in the city of Dnipro. In 1991, Harfouch was admitted into the Faculty of Journalism at the Dniepropetrovsk State University.

Harfouch was born on April 10, 1971, in Tripoli, Lebanon. His father, Adnan Harfouch, was a professor of Arabic literature, and his mother, Najwa El Hajj, was a school director. Omar is his elder brother, and he has an elder sister, Hind.