Mr. Abdul Ilah Rafie Marafie was born in 1954 into the Marafie family– one of the ancient merchant families of Kuwait. After the secondary school education, he completed studies in Business Management.

In 1975, he joined the family run business and found time to assist with ‘Marafie Foundation’ activities, the family run charity establishment. He had very closely worked with his father (Founder of Marafie Foundation) and developed a deep interest in charity activities. This resulted in the family entrusting him to manage ‘Marafie Foundation.’ After the demise of his father in 1976, he has been actively involved in the Management of the Foundation as its Chief Patron Trustee.

In Baltistan, the north-east region of Pakistan , an area which is very backward in development, the Foundation adopted this area and completed around 1000 projects consisting of schools, clinics, community centers, etc. and another 300 similar projects are planned for next 5 years.

Apart from his responsibilities in the Foundations, Mr. Marafie associates with many NGO’s in Kuwait, including Kuwait Transparency Society, an organization fighting against corruption. Presently, he is the Chairman of the First Hotels Co. (owning Company of Radisson SAS Hotel-Kuwait) and he also serves as a Member of the Board of Directors of the Marafie Group of Companies.