About Najib Mikati
Najib Azmi Mikati (born 24 November 1955) is a Lebanese politician and businessman who served as the 52nd prime minister of Lebanon from 2021 to 2025. He also served in this post as the 48th and 45th prime minister from 2011 to 2014 and in 2005, after holding the post of Minister of Public Works and Transport from December 1998 to 2003. In 2005, he headed an interim government that supervised the 2005 general election following the withdrawal of Syrian troops. In 2011, he formed his second government, backed by the March 8 alliance, before he resigned in 2013. He was a member of parliament for Tripoli from 2000 to 2005 and was re-elected in 2009 and 2018. In July 2021, he was designated as prime minister and assumed office on 10 September 2021. He went on to lose the parliamentary consultations on 13 January 2025 against ICJ president Nawaf Salam, receiving only 9 votes to Salam's 84. According to Forbes, Najib Mikati is the richest man in Lebanon along with his brother Taha Mikati, with each having a net worth of $2.8 billion in 2023. In 2019, state prosecutor Ghada Aoun accused Mikati of corruption and pressed charges of illegitimate enrichment via subsidised housing loans against him. The charges were dismissed on 3 February 2022 by judge Charbel Bou Samra. In 2023, an investigation in Monaco cleared him of any wrongdoing due to "insufficient evidence," and he has said that the accusations against him were politically motivated. During his tenure as Minister of Public Works and Transport (1998–2004), Mikati developed a working relationship with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, a period in which Syria exercised significant political influence in Lebanon. He later distanced himself from the Assad government, resigning as prime minister in March 2013 amid tensions between the pro- and anti-Assad camps in Lebanon. Mikati and his brother Taha founded Investcom in 1982, building their fortune through mobile telecommunications operations in emerging markets across Africa and the Middle East. By 2005, the company had operations in ten countries — Ghana, Benin, Liberia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan and Cyprus — and was listed on the London and Dubai stock exchanges. In 2006, Investcom was acquired by South Africa's MTN Group for US$5.5 billion. The brothers subsequently founded M1 Group, a holding company with investments across telecommunications, real estate, fashion, energy and finance.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.