George Hojeige

George Hojeige is the group CEO of Virtugroup, which was acquired by Singapore-based Ascentium Group earlier this year.

The company includes leading UAE-based brands such as Virtuzone, Next Generation Equity, Express PRO, Taxready.ae, and MAKTABI.

Together, these entities focus on a broad suite of services across business setup, corporate advisory, accounting, taxation, and citizenship-by-investment space; thereby positioning Virtugroup as one of the most comprehensive service providers in the region’s SME ecosystem.

Hojeige leads the group’s overall strategy and operations, with a focus on driving regional expansion, boosting digitisation, increasing customer lifetime value, and enhancing the client experience.

He is also responsible for maintaining the group’s status as the region’s fastest-growing business setup and corporate services provider, and one of the pioneers in integrating citizenship solutions into business services.

His career began in Canada as a process optimisation engineer in the telecoms industry, before he moved into sales leadership at Savaria Corporation, a global manufacturer of accessibility equipment.

In 2004, he relocated to the Gulf to lead his family’s electromechanical contracting business, contributing to major developments including Burj Khalifa, Dubai Airport, and Ferrari World Abu Dhabi.

He later joined ITP Media Group, where he led commercial teams across key business and lifestyle publications, building strong relationships with global business leaders and deepening his understanding of the region’s corporate landscape.

Born in Beirut and raised in Canada following his family’s emigration in the 1980s, Hojeige is fluent in Arabic, English, French and Spanish. He holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from École Polytechnique de Montréal, a graduate diploma in international business from McGill University, and executive certificates from Harvard Business School and The Wharton School.

Under his leadership, Virtugroup has helped set up and scale over 80,000 SMEs in the UAE. Embracing a tech-centric strategy, Virtuzone has pioneered AI-assisted tools such as ChatVZ, the world’s first business setup AI chatbot, and TaxGPT, the first AI-powered UAE corporate tax assistant.

He has additionally established an in-house AI and tech committee tasked with implementing cutting-edge technologies in artificial intelligence, blockchain, process automation and digital transformation.