WITTENBURG, GERMANY — Jamal Al-Hazaa, chairman and president of the Al-Hazaa Investment Group, was inducted into the Miller Hall of Fame for his contributions to the milling and food production industry in the Middle East and his entrepreneurial achievements in the region.

The Miller Hall of Fame, housed at the FlourWorld Museum in Wittenburg, Germany, honors personalities who have made important contributions to the development of milling. An independent jury inducts a new member every year on World Flour Day, March 20.

Al-Hazaa said he was honored to receive the award, which prizes the company’s efforts to preserve its heritage in the milling profession. 

“I am proud of my profession as a miller, in particular a wheat miller, because of its moral value to me,” he said in receiving the award. “A value derived from the essential role we play as millers in human life by supplying and sustaining a key staple food, which has been consumed since before human civilization and has also been crucial to the development of farming and human civilization. I always say that the importance of the wheat can be summarized by the Ukrainian’s conception of their flag, ‘blue sky above yellow field of wheat.’”

Al-Hazaa is an influential pioneer in the Middle Eastern milling industry. At a young age, he worked in various departments of the flour mill founded in 1942 by his father, Sharif Al-Hazaa. He grew the business from one local mill into a regional business of 13 flour mills and seven factories.

He has made the group a significant contributor to food security and nutrition in the Middle East. Al-Hazaa is also an active contributor to addressing environmental concerns, believing that businesses can empower a positive change. A photovoltaic plant was established in Jordan to cover nine factories’ energy consumption from clean resources instead of fossil fuels.

Previous Miller Hall of Fame inductees include Volkmar Wywiol, a pioneer in flour treatment for consistent baking results and founder of the FlourWorld Museum, who was chosen as the first member of the Hall of Fame. Martin Schlauri of Bühler AG was inducted in 2021.