Said Khoury


Said Tawfiq Khoury was a prominent Palestinian Christian entrepreneur and philanthropist. He was one of the three founders of Consolidated Contractors Company, currently based in Athens. Khoury set up the business with his cousin Hasib Sabbagh in Beirut in 1952.
CCC is the largest construction company in the Middle East and ranks among the top 25 international contractors with a revenue of US$5.3 billion in 2013. CCC has offices and projects in over 40 countries, and a workforce of more than 130,000 employees. Khoury who is listed as a billionaire by Forbes is ranked 10th on the Arabian Business world's richest Arabs in 2013. Over the past few years, Khoury dedicated most of his time to the organisation he founded, The Bethlehem Development Foundation that aims to rejuvenate the birthplace of Jesus Christ Bethlehem in Palestine, a holy city for Muslims and Christians alike actually located in the West Bank in the occupied Palestinian territory

Personal life

Khoury was born in Safed, Palestine in 1923. He was nourished in an atmosphere of strong family ties, pervasive moral influence, and a deep sense of ethnic and cultural diversity. After attending St. Luke's School in Haifa, he followed his cousin Hasib Sabbagh to Lebanon in order to study in the American University of Beirut, where both of them graduated from the faculty of engineering. Upon returning home, each of them founded a small construction company in Palestine.
After the establishment of the State of Israel, both men fled back again, this time with their families, to the capital of Lebanon, Beirut, where they began working on construction projects. Said and Sabbagh's first task was in the Tripoli airport. Khoury said they were motivated by the Nakba of Palestine "catastrophic expulsion from their homeland Palestine in 1948".
In the early 1950s a contract to construct a storage yard for oil pipes in Homs for the Iraq Petroleum Company introduced the young engineers to the world's largest construction company of that time, the Bechtel Group. The connection remained solid for many years, spearheading the CCC's extraordinary transformation from a small subcontracting construction company into the international giant it is today
Said has three sons and two daughters, from which he has fourteen grandchildren. While Said remains as the president of the CCC, his sons alongside the sons on Sabbagh are also at the helm of company.
He was a significant supporter of philanthropic activities in Palestine.

Achievements

Said Khoury held a Legion of Merit from the President of Lebanese Republic and a Legion of Unity from the President of the Republic of Yemen. He held as well as many other Medals of Merit and Honour from different parts of the World.
Said has sponsored the establishment of the Said Khoury Information Technology Center of Excellence at Al-Quds University in Abu Dis.
Khoury received the HCEF Palestinian Diaspora Award given to individuals who have sustained commitment to revitalize Palestinian culture.

Positions and awards