The Sheikh was a tremendous pillar of the Omani Business Establishment, working his way up the hard way as a trader from the time he was a small boy. Self educated, hard working, and obviously extremely canny, his death represents a tremendous loss to the Omani pool of senior business talent. I think the example he set of working your ass off is something many of todays young wanna-be Omani business men could emulate.
What I liked about Sheikh Bahwan is that he was very much a self made man. His effective monopoly of the best brand of cars in the world - Toyota - was a powerhouse business model, and he built the brand (and others, such as MAN trucks) to be far and away the dominant vehicles of choice for Omani and expatriates.
In later years he was also a key figure of philanthropy too, which has to be admired.
I hope his sons can continue the tradition.
Note: Perhaps someone could also appropriately update the Saud Bahwan group website too - I'm a bit surprised that this has been left as it was before his departure.
