News Highlights
Author:
Maha Al-Azar,
Media Relations Officer,
Office of Information and Public Relations,
ma110@aub.edu.lb
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Groundbreaking Ceremony of the Suliman S. Olayan School of Business
 | Olayan and Waterbury lay cornerstone at groundbreaking ceremony; Debs is on the left
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The American University of Beirut broke ground for the Suliman S. Olayan School of Business on Friday June 24, in a ceremony highlighting excellence in business.
A ceremony marking the event was held in West Hall after a plaque at the site of the future business school on the lower campus was unveiled.
President John Waterbury welcomed guests, who included US Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman and Saudi cultural attache Dr. Ayman Moghrabi, representing Saudi Ambassador Abdulaziz Khoja.
Outgoing Board of Trustees Chairman Richard Debs spoke of late trustee Suliman S. Olayan after whom the new business school was named.
"His humility was legendary, but his standard of conduct was exemplary," said Debs, adding that Olayan was a great supporter of the university. "His last gift to the university was his daughter, Hutham, who has been an AUB trustee for several years. |
Khaled S. Olayan, the chairman of The Olayan group and the son of the late Suliman S. Olayan, recalled how his father's modesty almost led him to refuse AUB's suggestion of granting his name to the building.
"He was not one to broadcast his achievements, and he disliked anything that smacked of ego-gratification," said Olayan, in his speech.
In the end, the Olayan group board of directors convinced the late Olayan that linking his name with AUB would serve as "a beacon of business excellence and professionalism" in the region. "My father would have been deeply touched by your participation in this ceremony as we all are," he said.
Born in 1918 in a small Saudi town, Suliman S. Olayan carved a name for himself as a self-made billionaire over five decades, having established The Olayan Group, which began as a small trucking company in 1947 and grew into a multinational conglomerate of more than 50 companies, engaged in distribution, services, manufacturing and investment. |
Olayan was a member of AUB's Board of Trustees from 1979 to 1985, and was awarded the University's Medal of Honor in 2000. He passed away two years later at the age of 83.
Olayan said his father believed that any success that did not have a lasting benefit for future generations did not "have the same meaning."
Considering that the new business school will have a lasting effect on future generations, Olayan thanked everyone "for being here to share in the fulfillment of Suliman Olayan's legacy."
Sir John Bond, group chairman of HSBC Bank, who knew Sheikh Suliman Olayan for many decades and was a personal friend and admirer of the Olayan family, told of how Olayan rose to eminence "through diligence, integrity and hard work."
A tireless worker, Olayan rarely took a day of vacation, often working 16 hours a day, said Sir John. Widely admired for his business prowess, he was also a man of his word, and gained everyone's respect, he added.
"Today's groundbreaking ceremony marks the beginning of the construction of the Suliman S. Olayan School of Business, and it is only right that a monument to this great man should be erected in a pre-eminent seat of learning at an institution which, like so much of his life, was a bridge between East and West," said Sir John.
"There cannot be a more fitting figurehead for the business school than a man who was everywhere known for his rare capacity to combine business acumen, integrity and humanity in all he did," concluded Sir John.
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| Former Saudi Minister Abdul Aziz Al-Quraishi, who was offered his first job in Suliman Olayan's modest 40-square-meter office, recalled the diligence and dedication Olayan applied in his work.
Quraishi also noted how Olayan never wasted a moment, learning from every experience he went through and never forgot his beginnings as a floorman and supervisor at an Aramco storehouse in Bahrain. Moreover, Olayan's low-profile personality kept him away from investing into "flashy" projects such as hotels or big office buildings, propelling him instead into the world of banking. He was founding member of both the Saudi British Bank and the Saudi Spanish Bank and served on the board of others.
"The construction of a brand new business school here at AUB is a great tribute to all concerned," he said. "It makes all of us from Saudi Arabia especially proud. It is a very fitting legacy of our native son, a self-made man who deeply touched everyone he encountered, including me."
Finally, Dean George Najjar distributed symbolic gifts from the Suliman S. Olayan Business School to Trustee Hutham Olayan and speakers, before they all attended a reception marking the occasion. |
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