Background
His mother died on the day he was born and his Bedouin father gave him away to his grandparents at age 4.
His mother died on the day he was born and his Bedouin father gave him away to his grandparents at age 4.
After earning a Doctor of Philosophy in computer science at the University of Montpellier, he began working for the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, from which he left to buy a scaffolding company in France in 1985.
He was destinate to be a shepherd. Mohed Altrad spent part of his youth in Raqqa, Syria. He did his A levels at 17, he earned an allocation of scholarship and came up with 200 francs in Montpellier, France.
This acquisition morphed into the present-day Groupe Altrad, employer of over 7,000 people, and involved in the scaffolding and cement-mixing industries.
Altrad remains chairman of his namesake company, as well as the rugby club Montpellier Hérault Rugby. He has also penned three acclaimed novels., He is unsure of his day of birth, so he recently "picked a date from a hat" in order to celebrate one.
