Our Circle

Georges Barau Sassine has a long career that reflects both his commitment to the Haitian community and to investment promotion, as well as a rich experience in industrial assembly. Georges was educated in Haiti and in the United States, and started his career in banking before returning home to start a career in textile assembly. Georges has been an affluent businessman in Haiti, by building the bridge between the Haitian Government, the private sector and the U.S. Congress, as he also played a decisive role in promoting Haiti toward countries interested in investing in his sector, including Korea, Taiwan and Sri Lanka.

Since 2014, he is serving as president of the Association des industries d’Haiti – ADIH. Committed to the promotion of his country for many years, Georges wishes to use his expertise and long experience in the light industrial field to encourage and promote social and economic development of Haiti. He assumed the position following his 2013 responsability for Lafito industrial Free Zone, which is the first integrated economic zone of Haiti, comprising of on international seaport, on industrial Free Zone, Commercial Free Zone, a 25 MW power plant, residences.

Georges was also appointed director of the “Societe Nationale des Parcs lndustriels (SONAPI)” in August 2012, Georges was responsible for the management, promotion and development of national industrial parks including the Metropolitan Pork in Port-au-Prince, and the Caracol industrial Park in the north.

In 2006, Georges is the Executive Director of the Tripartite Commission for the implementation of the HOPE Act (CTMO-HOPE). In this capacity he has supported and actively followed the whole process of advocacy, voting and enforcement of U.S. lows HOPE, HOPE II and HELP, to promote job creation in Haiti through the expansion of the garment industry.

From 1979 to 1987, was of the “Office National pour la Promotion des lnvestissements” (ONAPI) including foreign investment. From 1987 to 2006, Georges directs and advises several companies in the field of textile industry (Armtex, Quality Products, Gilanex, AG Textiles SA). He has been an integral part of as a founding member of the Center for Free Enterprise and Democracy (CLED) in 1992, as well as of the University Notre Dame in 1993. He was a member of the Tripartite Commission working on minimum wage in 1996, as a private sector
Representative. From 1998 to 20O7 he was vice-president of the Association des industries d’Haiti (ADIH) then was its president from 2007 to 2011 and again from 2016 to today.

Rahel Getachew is an entrepreneur and founder of Afrolehar Branding, an ICT driven brand marketing, trade and publishing company for multicultural markets. Afrolehar offers country image strategies, product branding solutions and user experiences through its array of services ranging from digital diplomacy to content/ multimedia production and business strategies advisory, in addition to public relations, multimedia productions and media relations services. Under the leadership of Ms. Getachew, Afrolehar has been able to secure government, private sector and select International non-profit clients to provide multicultural branding services including but not limited to strategic branding, media relations, and digital diplomacy. As an Ethiopian born North America woman who has traveled 4 continents visiting countries such as Germany, Lebanon and the UK aside from implementing programs in countries like Benin, Ghana and Ethiopia, she enjoys cultural exchanges and understanding organizational behaviors.

As part of building capacity, Ms. Getachew has trained participants in “Intro to Technology for business” and “entrepreneurship” participants in the US and Africa. She has participated at various high-level conferences, seminars and meetings on Trade, security, global affairs and emerging markets; and has been a speaker on topics like branding, youth and women entrepreneurship, US-Africa relations and International trade at various institutions including the Wilson Center, StartupAfrica, USAID Africa Bureau, Africa Today TV, Nigerians in Diaspora Organization Americas, Global Women Network and “Your Mark on the World” by Forbes contributor Devin Thorpe.

Ms. Getachew is a multi-linguist, fluent in English, French and Amharic, and proficient in Spanish; and is a graduate of Concordia University in Political Science and Business with a focus on globalization and emerging markets, and is certified in ICT and teaching ESL. As an avid reader, here are the three books she recommends: The Art of War, eMyth and the Coming of Jobs war.

Thirty-five year veteran Cinematographer Frank is one of the most experienced commercial/documentary directors of photography on the East Coast, earning three Emmys, innumerable other industry awards and nominations, and the trust and respect of television producers throughout the country. His expertise in production has overflowed to post production as well. Since his film editing beginnings in 1978 to the electronic editing crossover of the past two decades, Frank has concurrently excelled as an award-winning editor for some of the industry’s highest-ranking clients. His clients include Discovery Channel, Travel Channel, Animal Planet, The Learning Channel, The History Channel, Discovery Military Channel and Discovery International, non-governmental organizations like United Way of America, and government entities like NASA, NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), HUD (Housing Urban Development), The United States Department of Commerce and The United States Postal Service, and a plethora of independent producers worldwide. Some of his works are Georgetown Visitation – 200 Years, “Great American Speakers, Terrible Tuesday, Narrow Escapes, the Wild Discovery shows, Baby Boom and Medical Venom, as well as Silent Warrior and Great Chefs for the Discovery Channel.

Richard K. “Rick” Orth, a highly successful senior executive with over 30 years of management experience, has led multi-discipline teams in business development and project management in the U.S. Federal Government, African Government and Commercial sectors. Rick commissioned in 1982 as an Armor officer served 26 years in the U.S. Army. He retired from the U.S. Army as a Colonel in July 2008. His career highlights include commanding a tank company during OPERATIONS DESERT SHIELD/STORM, Defense Attaché (Rwanda 1996 –1998, Uganda 2001-2005, and Ethiopia/Djibouti 2005-2006), Africa Branch Chief, J-2 Joints Chief of Staff, and culminating is Military Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Department of State.

Frank Samolis is co-chair of our International Trade Practice. He advises clients on international trade matters, including trade law, trade policy and legislation, and international trade negotiations. He is also chair of our India Practice Group and the leader of our Colombia Desk, Latin America Task Force.

For further information about Frank, please visit SPB.

Dr. Bernstein is a recognized serial healthcare entrepreneur, driven by a vision and passion for social impact. He has more than 35 years of experience leading innovative enterprises in the U.S. and abroad. He is the Co-Founder, CEO, & Medical Director. Dr. Bernstein began his entrepreneurial activities launching General Health, Inc., a preventive medicine, health promotion company, which pioneered the field of health risk estimation and computer based, data driven individualized report generation using the original PC. He then went on to launch bioinformatics start-up Informax in 1992, which he took public in 2000, raising $80 million. Prior to starting Eniware, LLC, Dr. Bernstein founded and served as CEO and Chair of the Board of Noxilizer, Inc. Dr. Bernstein has lectured on Entrepreneurship (Tuck, University of Maryland, Georgetown), serves as a Fast-Trac advisor (Kauffman Foundation), and is a frequent panelist at global business forums speaking on Entrepreneurship and advises start-up and early state businesses. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Cornell University Medical School, and is trained in internal medicine and general and transplantation surgery.

For more information about Dr. B ( as we like to call him), please visit his Eniware.

Beti Abshiro also called Fikir joined Abrabrand as an Artist Coordinator for Agrifrica. She is a young artist who recently graduated from Thomas Edison High School and is currently studying in College in Virginia while learning about financial management. If you want to learn more about her, she was featured in the first Agrifrica digital Magazine about the #PowerofWater.

Teboho Nitihele is an entrepreneur and business owner who is based in South Africa. Her business provides training in agriculture and construction. Afrolehar Branding and her company TPN Training and Recruitment have signed an MOU to provide trainings in South Africa and other African countries.