Rafik Al-Hariri

H.E. Mr. Rafik Al-Hariri was born in Sidon, Lebanon in 1944. He completed his highschool education there in 1964 and enrolled in the Arab University in Beirut. He had to interrupt his education two years later to go to Saudi Arabia and join a contracting company. Within five years, he established his own company, SCONEAST. In 1978, he founded OGER-SAUDI ARABIA, and the next year he established OGER-INTERNATIONAL, through the acquisition of a French Company. In 1983, Mr. Hariri acquired the MIG group which included banks in Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, as well as companies active in the fields of insurance, computer, publishing, light industry and others.

Mr. Hariri is well known for his phylantropic activities, particularly in the reconstruction of Lebanon, education and general social welfare. Among many others, he established in 1979, the Islamic Institute of Higher Education in his native town of Sidon and, after the armed conflict in Lebanon ended, he undertook the rehabilitation of the town itself. During the war, his OGER-LEBANON rehabiliated several times major parts of the city of Beirut. He also undertook the rehabilitation of Tripoli, the second largest city in the country. He founded the Al-Hariri Foundation in Lebanon, with branches in France, the UK, and the United States, a non-profit organization that provided loans to more than 30,000 Lebanese students to complete their education. two high schools in Beirut belong to Mr. Hariri: The Lycee Abdelkader and the Hariri High School (formerly the Evangelical School). At Kfar Falous in the South of the Country, Mr. Al-Hariri built a medical and educational complex containing a high school, a vocational school, an engineering college, a medical college and a large sports center.

Mr. Hariri has been awarded numerous medals and citations including Commander of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Italy (1983), Commander of the Order of the Cedars of Lebanon (1983), St. Peter and Paul Medal (1983), King Faisal Medal (1983), French Medal of Distinction in Literature and the Arts (1985), Officer of the Legion of Honor of France (1986), in addition to Honorary Doctorate Degrees from the University of Boston and the University of Nice.

_{Source: Embassy of Lebanon, USA}

Rafik Hariri Official Website