Refaat El-Sayed (born 11 February 1946 in Egypt) is a businessman of Egyptian and Swedish nationality, who made most of his career in Sweden.
At the beginning of the 1980s, he took command of a small biotech company, Fermenta, which he quickly turned into one of the success stories of the Stockholm stock exchange.
El-Sayed soon became Sweden's richest man, and made the fortune of his employees and shareholders.
A charismatic leader, he was a favourite of the media, and in December 1985 he was named "Swede of the year" by the TV news program Rapport.
The following month, Fermenta announced a partnership with Swedish industrial giant Volvo.
El-Sayed was at the peak of his fame.
The fall from grace was brutal: just one month later, El-Sayed was accused of lying about his academic qualifications, as he had falsely asserted he was a Doctor of Science.
The partnership with Volvo was broken.
In 1992, El-Sayed became the CEO of another biotech company, Hebi Health Care.