When Nasser al Kharafi took the helm of the family business in 1993, Mohammed Abdulmohsin Al-Kharafi & Sons (MAK Group) was already a monolith in the Kuwaiti economy.
The business had grown from a trading company established over 100 years before into a multinational conglomerate with 120,000 employees and an annual turnover of more than US$5 billion (Dh18.36bn).
As the chairman of the MAK Group, Mr al Kharafi was the patriarch of one of Kuwait's powerful business families, a group that includes the al Sagers, the Alghanims and the Behbehanis.
The families exert tremendous political and economic influence, control the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) and traditionally have a representative selected for the cabinet.
"Mr al Kharafi was a very influential figure," says Wafa al Qatami, a board member of the KCCI. "His death will be a loss for the al Kharafi family and those who worked for him. The al Kharafi group is a major figure in Kuwait, in construction, communications and banking."
Reyadh Faras, an assistant professor in Kuwait University's economics department, says the family sat atop the largest commercial empire in the country.
"In Kuwait, the market is not as competitive as other countries. It's monopolistic," he says. "Between 10 and 20 families control most economic activity in Kuwait. Most are agents, in cars, electronics, accessories, you name it. Kharafi is the biggest and the richest."
Mr al Kharafi was ranked by Forbes magazine this year as the world's 77th richest person, with an estimated family fortune of $10.4bn.
The Kharafi family rose to prominence through its contracting arm, Kharafi National, which was established in 1976 to tap into the region's oil-driven construction boom.
While the family has diversified tremendously since, Kharafi National's activities in areas such as infrastructure project development, construction, facilities management and fabrication still account for about a fifth of the group's turnover.
Under Nasser al Kharafi's presidency, the MAK Group expanded aggressively into other parts of the Middle East. It opened permanent branches in countries such as Lebanon, where it built and operated a car park for Beirut International Airport, and Syria, where it constructed a 98km six-lane road over the rugged terrain between Latakia and Ariha.
The patriarch was especially keen on expanding in Egypt, where the group's investments are now estimated to exceed $7bn. After hearing of Mr al Kharafi's death at age 67 from a heart attack in Cairo on Saturday, Kuwait's ambassador to Egypt, Rashid al Hamad, says: "It was fate that he should die in the land which he so loved."
In 1997, Mr al Kharafi co-founded Egypt Kuwait Holding, and in 2001 the MAK Group finished the Marsa Alam International Airport, a bid to increase the flow of tourists to resorts and archaeological sites in Egypt's south.
A short drive away, the conglomerate is developing the $2.2bn Port Ghalib, an 18km stretch of the Red Sea coast, with villas, hotels, hospitals and schools.
"It was a story of success until the financial crisis of 2008, when they had some difficulties," says Abbas al Mejren, the director of Kuwait University's energy and environment unit.
"Between 2005 and 2006, banks were giving them easy credits. They were making huge profits easily. After the crisis, they were unable to pay back the credits unless they liquidated some of their assets."
As unrest spread through Egypt and other Arab countries this year, the group's profits have suffered even more, prompting the leadership to sell assets, Mr al Mejren says.
The sale of Mr al Kharafi's stake in the telecommunications company Zain has been a protracted affair, and was still not resolved when he died.
The group's plan to sell a controlling stake in the Zain Group of Kuwait to Etisalat in a deal worth $12bn recently fell apart because of complications surrounding the sale of Zain's Saudi unit and some opposition from other shareholders.
The Saudi unit is in talks to sell Zain's 25 per cent stake to Kingdom Holding, a Saudi investment company run by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and the Bahraini telecoms company Batelco.
Some of the greatest successes for the MAK Group under the leadership of Mr al Kharafi came between 1994 and 2005, when infrastructure projects operated under the "build, operate, transfer" (Bot) model were flourishing in Kuwait.
It allows for the private sector to build infrastructure projects and operate them for a contracted period before handing them over to the government.
David Pfeiffer, a partner with international law firm SNR Denton, said the al Kharafis were pioneers of the Bot models, "in the sense that they were the early beneficiaries" of the government's long-term commitment to provide stable cash flows to the private sector.
"It's smart business to use the Bot model," Mr Pfeiffer said. "They can do better with less."
In 2004, the Utilities Development Company, which is 75 per cent owned by the conglomerate, completed the Sulaibiyawastewater treatment and reclamation plant. The facility is the largest its kind in the world to use technologies such as reverse osmosis to reclaim domestic wastewater.
The $447.5 million facility is designed to provide about 26 per cent of the country's potable water.
Other Kharafi projects, such as the 60,000-seat Jaber al Ahmad International Stadium, were stalled by Kuwaiti bureaucracy. The project was finished by Kharafi in 2007 but gathered dust for three years while government officials bickered over the details of the construction. It hosted its first football match last year.
Mr al Kharafi founded the Kuwait Food Company (Americana) in 1964 and chaired the company for many years before handing the position over to his son Marzouk.
The group has more than 1,200 outlets, including franchises of fast-food brands such as KFC, Pizza Hut, Hardee's and TGI Friday's. It produces consumer goods,including Heinz Ketchup and Cadbury chocolate, and had sales of $2.1bn in 2009.
With subsidiaries such as National Investments, Kuwait Pipe Industries & Oil Services and National Bank of Kuwait, the MAK Group's influence is felt in virtually every board of the Kuwait Stock Exchange. As traders heard of Mr al Kharafi's death on Sunday, the market fell sharply.
"They had a shock," said Mohammed Ashkanani, a senior brokerage manager for KFIC Financial Brokerage. "I think when they finish the funeral and the three days of mourning, the shares will go back up again."
Mr al Kharafi was recognised for his contribution to business throughout his career, and in 2005, King Abdullah of Jordan presented him with a lifetime achievement award. He also received an honorary doctorate from the American University of Beirut in 2006.
Mr al Kharafi was reported to be a keen gardener, an avid viewer of BBC television and had an interest in sport. He studied business administration at the Liverpool College of Commerce, and in 2008 and 2009 the British press linked the billionaire to talks over the sale of Liverpool Football Club when it was owned by the Americans Tom Hicks and George Gillett. The Kharafi Group denied the claim.
In 2006, Mr al Kharafi wrote an open letter to the then US president George W Bush asking him to clarify what he meant by the use of the word "fascism" when he said, "Islamic fascism is the root cause of the crisis in the region", reported the Arab Times, an English-language daily newspaper published in Kuwait.
"We, along with other people in the whole world, are standing united with you in your rejection of fascism but the grim pictures of Lebanese victims who died due to the Israeli aggression of Lebanon are showing us the opposite," Mr al Kharafi wrote.
"We, therefore, believe that there is a misunderstanding on who should be accused of fascism."
Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary general of Hizbollah, said in response to Mr al Kharafi's death: "We were shocked by the early death of our dear brother and loyal friend."
The Kuwaiti billionaire was a "backer of the resistance" in Lebanon and Palestine and a "pioneer of construction", rather than a "pioneer of destruction", Mr Nasrallah added.
Most of the politics in the al Kharafi family has been left to Mr al Kharafi's brother, Jassem, who is the current speaker of parliament and a former minister of finance. Mr Faras, the Kuwait University economist, says many Kuwaitis believe having a prominent political figure in the family can serve commercial interests as well.
"Since Jassem became the speaker of parliament, the al Kharafi family are getting more contracts from the government," he says. "People say it's because of Jassem's influence, but they say it's because they are the best."