In a short time, Tevfik Arif's Bayrock Group went from working on small-sized projects to cooperating with big players like the Trump Organization.

Most Americans probably connect the name Tevfik Arif with the luxury real estate development firm Bayrock Group, but in Europe and Asia, he is known as a serial entrepreneur operating in multiple sectors.

Before he came to the United States in 2001 and founded Bayrock Group, he seized the new business opportunities that emerged in his native Kazakhstan in the wake of the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Tevfik Arif was brought into the world in 1953 to parents of Turkish origin living in Soviet Kazakhstan. He grew up there with his family, which was made up of his mom, dad and three siblings.

As a kid, Tevfik Arif became interested in business and economics - subjects that would eventually follow him throughout his life.

As a young man, he followed his passion and enrolled at the Moscow Trade and Economics Institute, where he pursued a degree in International Relations.

After graduating, he landed a job at the Soviet Ministry of Commerce and Trade.

Tevfik Arif took pride in the job, as it was perceived as a prestigious job among young Soviets.

During the 17 years that he worked for the government, he was promoted multiple times and ended up as the Deputy Head of the Ministry of Commerce and Trade's Hotel Management Department.

At the beginning of the 1990s, new business opportunities unfolded in Kazakhstan, as the Soviet Union collapsed.

That led to Kazakhstan becoming an independent republic and the private sector becoming more accessible to Kazakhstanis.

Tevfik Arif goes to America and dreams bigger

Tevfik Arif was among the young Kazakhstanis who wanted to try their luck in the unexplored world of private businesses.

Therefore, he quit his government job and established multiple firms in the sectors of luxury real estate development, food, imports and exports, minerals and natural resources, among other fields.

Tevfik Arif's many business endeavors in various sectors provided him with an extensive network of national and international partners.

The global associates motivated him to explore new paths abroad. In 1993, he moved to Turkey, where he became one of the pioneering forces behind the all-inclusive hotel concept.

He also opened the Labada Hotel in Antalya, Turkey, which still exists to this day.

Over the following years, Tevfik Arif entered the European market before he took the leap and moved to the United States in 2001.

The Kazakhstani businessman settled down in New York City, where he could be closer to the American part of his family.

At the same time, he could look into American business ventures. That resulted in the establishment of the luxury real estate development company Bayrock Group, which started handling small to medium-sized projects.

The firm was, for instance, tasked with the renovation of the Loehmann's Seaport Plaza shopping center in the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.

After several successfully completed projects of that caliber, Tevfik Arif began dreaming bigger.

He wanted to take on bigger projects and to accompany the new strategy, he relocated Bayrock Group's offices to the Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue.

Being located on one of the most famous streets in the world, Tevfik Arif also made some beneficial connections.

One of them was with the Trump Organization, which was also located in the Trump Tower.

How Bayrock Group leveraged the Trump Organization 

At the time, Bayrock Group was working with the Sapir Organization on a real estate development project on Spring Street in New York City's SoHo area.

While Bayrock Group was still a fairly new player on the American real estate scene, the Trump Organization certainly was not.

The company, which was led by the former American president Donald Trump, was a household name, and Tevfik Arif eyed big opportunities in that.

To add brand recognition and prestige to the project in SoHo, the Bayrock Group founder suggested adding the Trump Organization to the plan.

Therefore, Tevfik Arif presented a plan that would give the Trump Organization 18% equity in the building in exchange for using the Trump brand in the name of the building.

All three involved parties signed the deal that marked the beginning of what would become Trump SoHo.

The first brick of the building was laid on Spring Street in 2006, and two years later, the 46-story building opened its doors to the public.

Tevfik Arif becomes hungry for more

All three companies aimed for perfection with Trump SoHo. For this reason, the building was equipped with floor-to-ceiling windows, enabling residents to enjoy the New York City skyline from any angle of the construction.

Trump SoHo consisted of apartments, hotel rooms, an open-air pool, restaurants, bars, spa facilities as well as event and banquet halls.

Handel Architects was the designer of the building's structure, while Rockwell Group took care of the interior design of Trump SoHo.

Both companies have extensive portfolios that include world-renowned projects.

Handel Architects has, for instance, designed the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Washington D.C. and the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York City.

Rockwell Group is known for the composition of numerous luxurious restaurants, bars and casinos all over the world. Among its recent clients are the W Hotel in Nashville, the Freehold Bar in Miami and the Kimpton Shinjuku Hotel in Tokyo.

The cooperation with the Trump Organization turned out to be a success, which made Tevfik Arif hungry for more.

He and the Trump Organization looked into constructing similar buildings in Arizona and Florida under the same licensing terms, but their timing could have been better.

As the two companies were planning their next move, the American real estate market was shaken by the 2008 global financial crisis.

The crisis changed the American real estate market to such an extent that it prompted Tevfik Arif to leave the country and re-focus on Europe and Asia.

Today, Tevfik Arif has largely resigned from Bayrock Group, but he remains a valued advisor to the company.