Riad Al Sadik was born in Deir El Kasi, Palestine, in 1943. He is the youngest son of a land owner, in a family of 4 brothers and 3 sisters. He is married and has five children, and is currently a U.A.E. national. The Israeli invasion of Palestine in 1948 led to leaving with his family for Lebanon where he finished high school at the American Gerard Institute currently called the National Evangelical School in Sidon, and then joined the American University of Beirut where in 1964 he graduated as a Civil Engineer.
Riad Sadik started his career in Saudi Arabia with the Ministry of Transportation and was in a short time promoted to Chief Engineer for the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Late 1967, he joined Al Mulla Construction Co. in Dubai as Project Manager for the Sharjah Ras Al-Khaimah Road, and in 1968 was promoted to become the Technical Manager for the Company.
In early 1970, with Khalaf Al Habtoor they set up Al Habtoor Engineering Enterprises, which currently employs over 35,000 people and operates in various Gulf countries, and other countries in the Middle East, with a turnover in excess of U.S. dollars 3 billion.
The interview with Ricardo Karam took place in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.