Hakeem Abubakr

Director of Youth Programs, Hakeem Abubakr has been in the travel and tourism industry

since his first semester in college. He attended the University of California Irvine, where he

majored in Social Ecology with an emphasis in Psychology. While attending U.C.I., Hakeem

escorted various groups to West Africa, the Caribbean and Central America, while at the same

time teaching Spanish at Kelso Elementary School part-time. He was helping Spanish speaking

children learn English in an ESL class.

Hakeem then attended California State University - Dominguez Hills, where he obtained a B.S.

degree in Business Administration. He attended school and worked full-time for United Airlines

in the sales department and on the Mileage Plus Program which came to be the first frequent

flyer program for any major airlines.

After graduating, he worked in corporate travel. His second year, he managed Nissan Motor

Corporation’s multi-million dollar accounts in their Southern California headquarters. He was

responsible for assisting the sales team in securing other corporate accounts, coordinating

international group travel for the first time on behalf of the corporation. He was responsible for

customizing travel for all of the executives of the company.

After leaving Nissan Motor Corporation, Hakeem went on to managing various corporate

accounts for major companies. He has taught in travel colleges on three separate occasions. He

wrote the tourism curriculum at the last college and set up a travel agency for them.

Hakeem has been president of Signature International Tours for over 15 years. He has

successfully ran his own tour company and coordinated tours all over the world, spanning over

75 countries.

He has lived in the United Kingdom and traveled extensively throughout Europe. He has

escorted over 25 tours to Africa and visited over 14 countries there. He also has been to several

Provinces in Canada, escorted groups to South America, Central America, Southeast Asia,

Australia and New Zealand and throughout the South Pacific.

In 2008, Hakeem was honored for his work in travel and tourism and for his efforts in helping

children in other parts of the world. He was one of the featured entrepreneurs in Who’s Who in

Black Los Angeles which was the inaugural edition.

For the last three years, he has volunteered his time coaching youth basketball in the city of

Irvine. Assisting, teaching and helping to develop the youth in his community and around the

world have been his mission. In keeping with the spirit of his grandfather, Santee Brockman, a

legend in Sports, Hakeem hopes that bringing the youth together through sports will benefit them

in their development into adulthood.

Hakeem can be reached at occlippers@gmail.com.