Bahaa Al Hariri - where from and where to?
News Analysis by Anonymous, Staff Writer
July 2nd, 2020
Bahaa Al Hariri: one of the 6 children of former Lebanese prime minister Rafic Al-Hariri, has made recent headlines in Lebanese media. A billionaire businessman – some might describe him – but there is more to him than meets the eye. His recent political endeavours and involvement in Lebanese Politics has attracted a mass of public attention – and made the Lebanese citizens question his political intentions.
Who is Bahaa Al Hariri?
Born in 1966, Bahaa Al- Hariri inherited the eye of “All things business” from his father, Rafic. Thus, as the eldest son of an already emerging billionaire businessman, what better education to seek than that of the elite? He went on to graduate from Boston University in the United States with a Bachelor in arts/science and in 1990 moved back to Saudi Arabia to work and revitalize the-then thriving Saudi Oger, his father’s successful construction business. His business life did not only reside in Saudi Oger: aside from having a stake ownership portion of the company, he founded and is the current chairman of Horizon group (a real estate holding company with investments in both Jordon and Lebanon), is the majority shareholder of “Globe Express Services” which operates in over 100 countries and is the world’s top-tier provider of corporate-specific logistics, and he also revitalized multiple areas across the world: the most famous of which is the “New Abdali” project of 2005 in Jordan – a project which, in collaboration with the Jordanian government, cost $5 billion US and aimed to introduce a variety of malls, café’s and a boulevard to revive tourism in then-potential stricken Abdali of Amman (the project is now on hold and to enter its second phase of development). Bahaa also founded Geneva-based “Exceed SA”, shortly after his departure from Saudi Oger.
Philanthropic Efforts and remembering The Legacy Of Rafic
Separating himself from public political life and equivocally the media (surprisingly opposite to his brother, Saad, who followed the political steps of father Rafic) Bahaa, in his 30 years of business, also built multiple international connections while maintaining his take-over of the corporate world. His endeavours in the Levant (particularly in Lebanon and Jordan), along with an inherited wealth and popularity in both Europe and the United States, generated mass admiration for his late father Rafic Al-Hariri years after his death. This was shown when Bahaa (not the popular Saad) accepted the Global Citizen Award on behalf of deceased Rafic Al Hariri at the Atlantic Council Dinner in New York in 2011.
It’s clear that Bahaa, wherever he goes, associated his philanthropic efforts with those of his late fathers. He pledged $15M for the new “Rafic Hariri institute for computational science and engineering” in his bachelors university, Boston University, owing his pledge to the university as one that is “in the Hariri’s blood”, stating that “My contribution today is a testimony to my father’s everlasting devotion to the pursuit of knowledge”.
Integration in Political Life
It was unclear if Bahaa wanted to integrate himself at all in Lebanese politics. In fact, up until 2020, hardly anyone assumed that Bahaa would emerge as a political candidate, as opposed to his brother and potential political rival, Saad. Yet politics was never out of the question for him.
Bahaa’s first ever political statement after 15 years of silence was made in 2017, backing his brother’s decision to resign as then Prime Minister of Lebanon. In fact, Bahaa has made efforts (though the extent to these efforts is unknown) with his father’s political “Future Party” – and it is quite apparent that he is extremely profound business-wise through setting up separate economic forums in Sidon and other areas of Lebanon.
For on the 10th of May of 2020, a de facto spokesperson for Bahaa stated that he was disinterested in becoming a prime minister, but had a vision for Lebanon. Al-Hariri also thought of establishing a TV network in the next two months (separate from his fathers “Future TV”). Bahaa’ s political comments nevertheless made an appearance on the following day, stating that throughout the end of the coronavirus pandemic, Lebanon would ultimately go back to a corrupt political coup that took advantage of political sectarians to “steal our country’s capabilities”. He ultimately conveyed support to the ‘Lebanese Revolution’ and the Lebanese citizen’s “against the system of corruption and illegal weapons” that had infiltrated the Lebanese economy, society and governmental entities, he argues. He also previously communicated to the Daily Star in 2014 that he wished to invest more in Lebanon.
As Lebanon see’s itself in its worst economic crisis, Bahaa Al Hariri presumes an important business role for the country. His wish to invest in Lebanon may serve the country amid the greatest economic and political havoc its seen yet; and his recent political statements have contributed to his emergence as not a political figure – but rather a son who wishes to carry on the legacy of his father, in making “Lebanon Great Again”. While intentions of such actions are unknown, and of course questionable, this serves as a presentation of where from and where to; Bahaa al Hariri.
References List
https://www.bu.edu/hic/about-hic/about-our-patron-bahaa-hariri/
https://www.forbes.com/profile/bahaa-hariri/#13a78cce7ab2
https://yalibnan.com/2020/06/13/saad-hariris-brother-bahaa-makes-play-for-lebanese-prominence/