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Nassef Sawiris | Biography, Career and Networth

Nassef Sawiris is the richest man in Egypt, and the fourth richest man in Africa, with an estimated net worth of $8.4 Billion

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Meet Nassef Sawiris | Biography, Career and Networth

Nassef Sawiris is the richest man in Egypt, the richest Arabian and the fourth richest man in Africa, with an estimated net worth of $8.4 Billion, according to Forbes Magazine. He is the youngest son of Onsi Sawiris, the founder of Orascom Conglomerate.

The Egyptian businessman has also served on the Board and as chief executive officer of several companies such as Orascom Construction Industries, OCI NV and LafargeHolcim. He also founded Avanti Acquisition Corp, a Special-purpose acquisition company in 2020

Bio Data

Full Name 

Nassef Onsi Sawiris

Date of Birth 

January 19, 1961

Gender Male
Marital Status Married
Religion Coptic Christain
Career Businessman
Networth  $8.4 Billion
Companies & Investment  Orascom Construction, OCI, Adidas, Madison Square Garden Sports and LafargeHolcim
Nationality  Egyptian 

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Nassef Sawiris’s Biography

Nassef Sawiris was born on January 19, 1961, to Yousriya Loza Sawiris and the billionaire businessman Onsi Sawiris, who founded the Orascom Group conglomerate, Egypt’s first multinational corporation 

The Conglomerate was first established by Onsi Sawiris as Onsi & Lamei Co, a construction company in 1952. The business was nationalized in 1961 under then Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and later became known as the El Nasr Civil Works Company.

Frustrated at being reduced to an employee at his own company, Onsi moved to Libya, where he built a new general contracting company. After the signing of the Camp David accords, relations between Libya and Egypt deteriorated and Sawiris moved back to Egypt, leaving the family business behind for the second time.

Not relenting Onsi Sawiris re-established the company in Egpyt as Orascom for Constructions and Trade,  a general contracting and trading company in 1971. The name was later changed to Orascom for Construction Industries, and the investment portfolio expanded in the 1980s and the 1990s to include tourism, hospitality, computing, and cell phone networks.

The Company operates several cement plants in Egypt, Algeria, Turkey, Pakistan, Iraq, North Korea and Spain, which had a combined annual production capacity of 21 million tonnes. It also runs a wind farm in Egypt and a nitrogen fertilizer plant in the United States.

Education

Nassef Sawiris received his secondary education from the German International School of Cairo He then furthered  at the University of Chicago where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1982

Nassef Sawiris’s Career

Nassef Sawiris Companies

Nassef Sawiris joined the Orascom group in 1982 and oversaw the construction activities of Orascom Construction following the transfer of management control from his father Onsi Sawiris in 1995. He became CEO of Orascom Construction Industries following the split of the conglomerate into three separate entities in 1988.

Orascom Telecom was headed by the family’s oldest brother Naguib, and Orascom Hotels and Development was headed by the middle brother Samih.

As CEO,  Nassef focused on expanding the business abroad and into a new sector cement and building materials a division he sold to Lafarge in 2008 for $12.8 billion.

That same year, he entered the fertilizer business with the purchase of Egyptian Fertilizer Company. Through the expansion of its own operations and acquisitions, Orascom’s fertilizer operation grew to become the world’s third-largest nitrogen-based fertilizer producer.

He also served on the board of Besix, following OCI SAE acquiring a 50% stake in the company in 2004, and was a member of the enumeration and nominations committee until 2017. He was on the board of directors of the Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchanges from 2004 to 2007 and was also a board director at the Dubai International Financial Exchange DIFX from July 2008 to June 2010.

In January 2013, he became the  CEO of OCI NV when they acquired the former parent company OCI SAE. In 2015, he was elected a board member of LafargeHolcim, having served on Lafarge SA’s board since 2008. In October 2015, it was reported that Sawiris had acquired a 6% stake in Adidas AG via his investment company NNS Holding Sàrl Luxembourg. In 2016 he was appointed supervisory director of Adidas AG, Herzogenaurach, Germany.

It was announced in July 2018 that Sawiris would replace Tony Xia as chairman of Aston Villa F.C. following the purchase of a 55% controlling stake by NSWE, a company jointly owned and controlled by Sawiris’ group NNS and American billionaire Wes Edens. In August 2019, after Aston Villa were promoted to the Premier League, Tony Xia’s remaining shares were bought out by NSWE, assuming full control over the club in the process.

Nassef Sawiris’s Networth

Nassef Sawiris presently has a net worth of $8.4 Billion making him the richest Egyptian, Arabian the fourth richest man in Africa and the 237th man in the world, according to the Forbes Magzine.

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