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Rafik El Hariri 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 ans 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. |
