We miss you Monsieur Antoine
Antoine was born in 1939 in the Gemmayzeh district of Beirut, a middle-class, Maronite neighborhood. His father, Eng Naguib enrolled him in the distinguished Frere Catholic School, where he became a diligent student, prominent in the sports of basketball and later became the captain of the national team and represented Lebanon in several international matches.
His father then sent him to Lausanne, Switzerland, where he graduated in engineering in 1965 from a well-known polytechnic institute and returned to Beirut for a short while before he decided to take the step that changed his life and then began his distinguished success story.
Eng Naguib Najjar “Antoine’s father” founded the Ahmadiyya Contracting Company with “Abd al-Latif al-Thuwaini” in 1954, and it was named Ahmadiyya after the late Sheikh Ahmad al-Jaber, the ruler of Kuwait at the time and gratefully thanked his son, Sheikh Sabah, the late Amir of Kuwait, in introducing the two men to each other before becoming partners.
The Ahmadiyya Company’s business expanded over time which required the joining of the son, Antoine, in 1967 as a partner.
The Ahmadiyya, both during the reign of its founder and general manager “Naguib Najjar,” and subsequently, during the reign of his son, Antoine, after the death of his father in 1972, had a good reputation and indeed, according to my knowledge, it was a distinguished company in its dealings with everyone and it was never known for any delay in paying the wages of its workers or the dues of its subcontractors. It also avoided entering into any dispute with the parties it contracted with.
The “Ahmadiyya” has completed large projects including the power stations in Al-Shuaiba, the Salhiya complex and the Marriott Hotel and the rest of the major projects in Salhiya, the latest of which is the “Al-Asimah” complex project.
It also built the Al Hamra Tower, the tallest in Kuwait which won 4 international awards. The company also completed the fourth phase of the Avenues with two hotels, in addition to the 360 Complex with tennis courts, the Kazma Military Camp on an area of 3 million square meters and other distinctive buildings and projects.
This is not a memorial to the late friend Antoine who left our world suddenly a few days ago, while he was in the glory of his eighties. He really deserves a lot and this will be mentioned elsewhere, but I am writing to show the credit of expatriates or residents over Kuwait, and their positive, constructive role. All these successful projects and pioneering companies run by citizens, there was and still is a large part of the credit for their success to expatriate residents.
They are the ones who established and successfully managed them, including the Ahmadiyya and the efforts of the Najjar family that are decisive in its development. The partners in the Ahmadiyya and elsewhere of the mixed-ownership companies would not have achieved all this success, with full respect to them, had it not been for the efforts of the external element which added much to its expertise, capabilities and dedication.
We also do not forget the valuable contributions of residents and their outstanding additions to art, literature, journalism, culture, and all other vital and humanitarian fields.
We will miss the joyful presence of Tony (Antoine), his constant smile, our meetings with him, his generosity, his joy and the kindness of his heart, and we were greatly saddened by his sudden demise.
We offer his family, and in particular our dear “Laila” and his two brothers Ibrahim and Habib, and the friend “Elie Hani” our sincere, heartfelt condolences.
Note: Charities announced a fundraising campaign for victims of aggression in Gaza, and this is beautiful. It is not nice that a majority insists on deducting 12.5% of the donations for themselves. Those who called for ‘No Deduction’ were intimidated. What a charity!