Europe

Robert Mouawad - Jeweler
Robert Mouawad is known for his refined, very exclusive tastes. What could symbolize refinement and exclusivity better than diamonds, or an entire collection of the world's rarest gemstones? Over the years, the renowned jeweler and gemologist has collected a range of the world's most important diamonds. These include the Excelsior (which was part of the largest diamond ever found), the Jubilee (the largest item of Mouawad's collection), the Premier Rose (worth more than $10,000,000) and more. Robert Mouawad's dynamism, strength and commitment to the jewelry industry have been key in his ability to rise to such dizzying heights.

Nicolas G. Hayek - Engineer and Entrepreneur
Nicolas G. Hayek, a businessman whose commercial  interests range from engineering to marketing, is well known for having developed strategies that led to the revival of the entire Swiss watch industry. Born in 1928, Hayek is the founder, chairman and CEO of Hayek Engineering Inc. The company, founded in 1963, and based in Zurich, Switzerland, employs over 250 people. Nicolas G. Hayek is now the sixth wealthiest person in Switzerland, with a fortune estimated at $2.4 billion. His name sits at No. 168 in Forbes magazine's rich list.

Nayla Hayek- Entrepreneur

Innovation, passion and creativity -- these are the qualities that Nayla Hayek, daughter of the Swatch Group’s founder Nicolas G. Hayek, has brought to the world’s number one watchmaker. Hayek has been a member of the Swatch Group's board of directors since 1998. She is also an international Arabian horse judge with top-level contacts who contribute to the business and promotional activities of the Swatch Group.

Mouna Ayoub - Jewelry and haute couture collector
In the fashion and jewelry worlds, Mouna Ayoub is a name that conjures admiration. In more than 18 years Ayoub has amassed one of the largest collections of contemporary dresses in the world. Ayoub has also set a record for selling one of the largest yellow diamonds in the world, and owns one of the most impressive sailing ships ever built. Born in Beirut, Ayoub studied business administration in Paris while she was a teenager. While there, she met and fell in love with Saudi billionaire Nasser Al-Rashid. When she was 19, the couple married and eventually had five children. Ayoub and Al-Rashid divorced in 1996 after 18 years of marriage. Using her divorce settlement, She decided to start her own business. She bid on the Phocea, a massive 74-meter sailing ship, that is reputedly one of the fastest boats in the world. She purchased the vessel for $5 million and then spent $20 million remodeling and refurbishing it. In the year 2000, Mouna wrote La Vérité (The Truth), an autobiography that shot to the top of France's bestseller list and is still selling well today as a pocket size book. She is now one of the most popular Lebanese faces on the world scene and probably the most controversial woman in the Arab world.

George Schehadé - Writer
Known as a poet, and honored as the first laureate of the Grand Prix de la Francophonie by the French Academy in 1986, George Schehadé has also, during his long career, turned his poetic touch to playwriting and screenwriting.
From childhood, however, Schehadé exhibited a strong interest in writing, and composed a number of poems and short plays. In 1928, Schehadé published his first collection of poems, "Etincelles", in Paris, and began composing the poems that were later published in "L'Ecolier Sultan". In 1929, he wrote "Rodogune Sinne" during a summer vacation in the village of Bikfaya, Lebanon. A few years later, he wrote the plays "Chagrin d'amour" and "Mr. Bob'le".

Maroun Baghdadi - Filmmaker
Maroun Baghdadi is arguably Lebanon's most prominent filmmaker, one whose work has been seen all over the world. One of his best-known films, "Houroub Saghira" ("Little Wars"), was shown at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival, drawing this comment from a prominent film critic: "To make a film about Beirut that eschews polemics for more universal, more human issues is an achievement." His first Lebanese production was for television, an educational program called "7 1/2." In 1975, he directed his first feature film, "Beyrouth Ya Beyrouth". "Koullouna Lil Watan", a 75-minute documentary produced in 1979, won the Jury Honor Prize at the International Leipzig Festival Documentary and Animated Film.

Walid Akl - Musician
Walid Akl is remembered all over the world for his playing of "the piano that sings under his fingers." During his long career as a performer, Akl played in cities all over Europe and North America. Akl was born in Mehaytzeh, Lebanon in 1945. He completed his musical studies in Paris at the Marguerite Long Academy, the Superior National Conservatory and the Normal School of Music. After finishing his studies in 1969, Akl traveled extensively, dazzling audiences in European cities such as Paris, London, Brussels, Manheim, Weisbaden, Fribourg, Lausanne, Geneva and Madrid. He also toured the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Abdel Rahman El-Bacha - Musician
From the Mozarteum in Salzburg to the Théatre des  Champs Elysées in Paris, from the Berlin Philharmonic to the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Abdel Rahman El-Bacha travels from his home in Paris to play the piano all over Europe, Japan, the Middle East and the United States. His performances are heralded by the press as major musical events. El-Bacha won the prestigious Queen Elizabeth of Belgium Competition in June 1978, at the age of nineteen. He was also voted the audience's favorite among the contestants. The Queen Elizabeth prize launched him onto the international scene.

Bechara El-Khoury - Poet and Musician
Bechara El-Khoury is one of Lebanon's leading artists, with a prodigious body of work that includes musical compositions, poetry and a career in concert performance. Khoury was born in Beirut in March 1957. His talents in music and poetry were evident very early on, but it was only in 1969 that he began his studies in piano and music theory under his teacher Agop Arslanian. From 1969, Khoury began composing music, and through 1978, produced about 100 works for various ensembles and venues -- orchestra, chorus, piano, chamber-music and theater music. During these years, Khoury also began his career as a concert pianist, as well as conducting and writing articles about music.

Amin Maalouf - Lebanese writer
Amin Maalouf was honored in1993 with the most prestigious literary prize in France, the Prix Goncour, awarded for his novel "Le Rocher de Tanios". Maalouf was described by the French press as "the great artisan of the legend" who "belongs to a creed of writers who restore and invent worlds in the color of their dreams." Amin Maalouf was born in 1949 in Lebanon. After graduating in politics and sociology from Saint Joseph University in Beirut, Maalouf worked in journalism at the Beirut daily newspaper An-Nahar. In1976, as the situation in Lebanon deteriorated, Maalouf, his wife Andrée, and their children emigrated to France, where they still live.

Fawaz Gruosi - Jeweler 
Fawaz Gruosi left Lebanon in 1961 taking his Italian mother’s surname because many people found El-Hage, his father’s surname, difficult to pronounce. At the age of 18, Gruosi left school and found a job in a jewelry shop. A job that proved to be an excellent grounding for his future career, giving him the knowledge and experience he needed to strike out on his own. In 1995, Gruosi launched the de Grisogono brand name, which was a success all over the world. Gruosi is a leader, not a follower, and relies on his personal flair for the inspiration for his unique pieces. Gruosi attributes his success to the fact that he has his “feet on the floor”, is always original, never neglects quality and keeps prices down.

Gabriel Yared - Composer
A self-taught composer, Gabriel Yared was born in 1949, and began to express his love of music at a very young age. He started learning to play the accordion when he was seven years old with a Czech professor in Beirut, and then at the age of 10 he moved on to learning the piano. In his early twenties Yared took part in the Brazilian Festival of Song where he represented Lebanon and won third prize for his composition Some Without Love. Yared eventually moved to and settled down in Paris and officially began his career as a composer. In the early 1980s he became involved with composing movie scores, and several soundtracks earned him film industry awards. Worldwide fame, however, came in 1996 when Yared worked on the soundtrack of Anthony Minghella’s award-wining film The English Patient which earned him several glittering prizes including an Academy Award, an Oscar and a Golden Globe to name a few. Yared’s music is often described as lush instrumentals that blend Oriental and Occidental rhythms, a unique combination that can be attributed to Yared’s bond with his home country – Lebanon. 

Rabih Abou Khalil - Musician 
The beginning of Rabih Abou Khalil’s remarkable career was surprisingly inauspicious - a young man with a name nobody could pronounce, playing music nobody knew on an instrument nobody had heard of. Despite all this, Abou Khalil has emerged as a musician and composer of music for the oud unmatched in his profession. He is today one of the most eminent names in instrumental music. Abou Khalil started playing music as a child; he had never seriously considered doing anything else. In Germany, a flourishing future awaited him. From the outset, Abou Khalil was determined to achieve. Not content to wait until some promoter discovered his talent, he and a friend decided to organize their own concerts. Whereas most instrumentalists are content to focus on a single instrument, Abou Khalil set out to explore new ways of playing Arab instrumental music. Blending the Arab world and Europe, he always searches for new ways to express what he senses in his music. It can only be described as a wholly personal, intensely coherent and utterly unique style. 

Asia 

Carlos Ghosn - Entrepreneur
Carlos Ghosn, the Lebanese entrepreneur famous for reviving the Nissan Motor Company, has been dubbed The Icebreaker, a  nickname he got from Daimler Chrysler Chairman Jurgen E. Schrempp for his skill at ignoring local business practices that stand in the way of making money. Recognizing Ghosn’s talent for business, Nissan installed him as the company’s chief operating officer in 1999. Ghosn proved to be an invaluable asset to Nissan, immediately setting ambitious targets for Japan’s second-largest automaker. Nissan continues to build on the solid foundation laid since 1999. While it might seem like a smooth ascent direct to the top, Ghosn’s career has, like all successful careers, faced many challenges and trials over the years, all of which have provided valuable experience.

Middle East

Rafik Hariri - Business Leader and Politician
A successful businessman who turned his considerable energies to politics and philanthropy, Rafik Hariri is known for his contributions to the rebuilding of Lebanon and for his active promotion of the country in the global economy.  Hariri’s success in business enabled him to establish the Hariri Foundation in 1979, which promotes education and culture in Lebanon and has awarded interest-free loans to more than 30,000 Lebanese students. It also provides health and social services to needy people throughout the country. The foundation maintains offices in Beirut, Paris and Washington. Hariri has also contributed to Lebanon’s development through his involvement in politics. He has received more than 20 awards and honorary degrees in Lebanon, France, Italy, Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Issam Fares - Entrepreneur, Philanthropist and Politician
Issam Fares heads a conglomerate of banks, factories and other diverse enterprises located in the Middle East, Europe and the United States. Though Fares is perhaps known as a corporate empire-builder, he is also known for his philanthropic work.  In 1996, Fares was elected a member of the Lebanese Parliament as the representative of Akkar. In addition to his parliamentary responsibilities, Fares is constantly employing his contacts with heads of state and other influential people worldwide to promote a just, comprehensive and lasting peace in the Middle East. Fares has been honored with a number of awards and honorary degrees. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of Tufts University, the European Interparliamentary Assembly of Orthodox Deputies, and The International Crisis Group (London, England).

Adnan Kassar - President of the International Chamber of Commerce
Adnan Kassar, president of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of Beirut and Mount Lebanon, is also well-known for his influence in international business affairs. He served as president of the General Union of Arab Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture and is now its permanent vice president, as well as president of the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce. Besides his public positions, Kassar is also active in the private sector. He is the chairman and CEO of Fransabank Group, one of Lebanon’s leading banks with $2.67 billion in assets, 48 branches in Lebanon and affiliates in France, Hungary, Zaire, Hong Kong and Cuba. He is also the chairman of Fransabank Holding Co., based in Luxemburg and the founder and partner in Adnan & Adel Kassar enterprises, which became an important trading company particularly with Hungary and China.

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