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Naguib Sawiris, The Egyptian Billionaire

December 24, 2023

Naguib Sawiris, The Egyptian Billionaire

Despite being born with the finest trappings, he carved out a life semi-independent of his family’s fortune. Never settling, he took hold of the available resources and created something greater.

Naguib Sawiris owns stakes in gold mines through his closely held company, La Mancha Resources. The Luxembourg-based entity’s investments include stakes in Evolution Mining and Endeavor Mining. He raised more than $4 billion when he sold his stake in telecommunications company Vimpelcom in 2011 and 2012.

Naguib Sawiris Biography

Naguib Sawiris was born on June 15, 1954, in Egypt. The oldest of three sons born to Yousiriyya and Onsi Sawiris.

His father, the son of a lawyer. Founded a construction company in 1950. That became one of Egypt’s largest contractors, building roads and waterways along Egypt’s upper Nile region.

The business was nationalized in 1961 by President Gamal Abdel Nasser and renamed 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 six years, relations between Libya and Egypt were fraying and Onsi moved back to Egypt where he started anew for the third time, founding Orascom Construction Industries.

Through partnerships with international companies working on local projects, Orascom grew to be one of the largest private builders in Egypt by the mid-1990s.

Joined the family business

Naguib joined the family business in 1979, after studying at the German Evangelical School of Cairo and earning a Masters in technical administration from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.

At Orascom, Naguib helped expand the company’s operations into IT and telecommunications. It had split into three separate operating companies by 1990: Orascom Telecom, headed by Naguib, Orascom Development and Hotels, led by middle son Samih, and Orascom Construction Industries, overseen by the youngest, Nassef.

Under Naguib’s leadership, Orascom Telecom grew quickly by penetrating markets such as Iraq, Bangladesh, and North Korea, which were perceived as too poor and underdeveloped by competitors.

Not wanting to limit himself to emerging markets, Naguib sought to invest wherever he saw a deal.

He formed Weather Investments in 2005, funded partially with his stake in Orascom Telecom, and led a record $15 billion leveraged buyout of Italy’s Wind Telecomunicazioni.

Sawiris merged Weather Investments, renamed Wind Telecom, with Russia’s Vimpelcom in April 2011, creating the world’s sixth-largest mobile telecommunications provider.

Naguib is one of four billionaires in the family, and the only one who has entered politics.

He co-founded the Free Egyptians Party (Al Masreyeen Al Ahrrar), in June 2011, in the wake of the Egyptian revolution. Advocating a secular, free-market agenda, the party has opposed Egypt’s Islamist parties.

Following the election of President Morsi and facing death threats, Naguib left Egypt with his family in June 2012. He came back to Egypt with his father and eight family members the following May.

How Did Naguib Sawiris Start?

Although Naguib Sawiris had every intention of paving his own way through life, things didn’t exactly go according to plan.

In 1979, soon after his education, he got into the family business, known then as the Orascom construction industries (OCI). To everyone, it seemed as if he had folded in but he was about to prove them wrong.

Steadily he began to rise, ushering in a new phase of the company. Orascom construction industries began to stretch their tentacles into new terrains under the management of the youthful Naguib Sawiris.

A visionary, he had already seen the new world and what would take to launch his company into the next era; the era of technology and telecommunication.

He took charge and diversified the company’s holdings by investing in transportation (railway), telecommunications, and Information & Communication Technology (ICT).

The overwhelming success of his establishments led to the company’s division into several parts; Orascom construction industries (OCI), Orascom Hotel & Development OHD), and Orascom technology holdings (OTH) during the late 1990s.

Sawiris sons takes over the management

Each of the three Sawiris scions was given a division to run and do so to this day. Nassef Sawiris is the CEO of OCI, Samih Sawiris is the head of OHD and Naguib Sawiris was the man behind the highly successful and progressive turnout of OTH.

In just a little over a decade, Naguib Sawiris’ company went from 200 thousand telecom users in 1998 to about 100 million by 2011. Within those years, he had quickly penetrated the rising telecom markets in countries like Bangladesh, Algeria, Pakistan, Tunisia, war-torn Iraq, and complicated North Korea.

His decision to invest in controversial countries stirred up dust internationally and locally, but as usual, his bets paid off.

Koryolink was the first telecommunication company in North Korean history, and it was founded by Naguib Sawiris.

A lot of hard work, sacrifice, smart decisions, and incredible business ethics went into the establishment of this empire. He did not stop there.

Naguib Sawiris Businesses

Every success-oriented entrepreneur has a vision of taking his business to the global stage, and the same can be said of Naguib Sawiris.

Back in the early months of 2005, he launched a company called Weather Investments which acquired majority shares in WIND Telecoms, an Italian-based telecommunications company.

In 2006, Weather Investments made another investment, buying up the TIM Hellas Company in Greece and then renamed it, WIND Hellas.

His telecom holdings went global when in April 2011, Wind Telecom merged with the Russian-based telecom company, Vimpelcom.

The 6.5 billion dollar deal was widely publicized and resulted in the creation of the new telecom holding.

This new company ranked as the sixth-largest mobile service provider in the world with over 180 million users in 20 different countries.

The terms of the contract granted Naguib a 30% stake in the newly merged holding. Making him its largest individual shareholder, and also stipulated that all non-GSM operations and Egypt-based assets of OTH would be melded into Orascom Telecom Media and Technology holdings. It was decided that he would oversee OTMT as its executive chairman.

Going into gold

Insight coupled with the ability to take risks is a valuable tool in every investor’s arsenal. Naguib Sawiris is a man that’s known for both qualities and more.

That is why together with his family, he decided to invest in a natural resource with a stable market value in any economic situation.

The acquisition of the Canadian-based La Mancha Resources, a global gold manufacturer, was led by Naguib in 2012.

It was the starting point from which they would acquire more gold-producing holdings across the world.

Over $490 million was spent on this invaluable purchase which now has about 20% shares in mining industries like Endeavour (West African) gold mining company and Australian Evolution mining.

With his strong leadership qualities and high business acumen, it came as no surprise when he was appointed as the chairman of the La Mancha Group in August 2012.

Value in diversity

Naguib Sawiris is a firm believer in diversification as a means of acquiring more wealth and also maintaining it. His investments vary and are usually high-risk ventures.

For instance, in 2018, he decided to sell parts of his shares in Evolution Mining and invest in Eastern Europe and parts of South America.

Not many could see the potential of this investment, but he could and had evidence to show for it with his previous successes.

In addition, he plans to invest in the emerging real estate market in his country.

His reach extends into the finance industry with a bank like Beltone Financial Holding among his assets.

Like all humans, Naguib Sawiris experienced a moment of loss when he tried but failed to acquire CI capital holding.

A financial asset like that would have resulted in the ownership of the largest investment bank in Egypt as was his intention.

Failures like that do not hinder men from their status. He also stunned the business world when he announced his decision to invest half of his fortune in gold.

According to him, the present global crisis spells trouble for the world’s future economy and now is the time as any to invest in gold; a natural resource, which provides a dependable and profitable opportunity for investors.

He predicted that the current $1,300 per ounce of gold would increase to $1,800 per ounce due to impending economic downfall. Instead of sitting back and playing the game of chance, he took proactive steps with this high-risk investment.

His decision ensured that in whichever scenario, Sawiris’ wealth is secure and constantly growing.

Naguib Sawiris’ other interests include stakes in an advertising company; OTV (Orascom TV), the Al Masry al-youm newspaper, and Egypt’s main mobile phone company, Mobinil.

Naguib Sawiris Net Worth

According to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Naguib Sawiris’s net worth is $6.04B at the time of publishing this article.

Cash: $5.10B
OIH EY Equity: $15.2M (Public asset)
EDV CN Equity: $735M (Public asset)
EVN AU Equity: $146M (Public asset)
OFH EY Equity: $19.8M (Public asset)
ORAS EY Equity: $24.6M (Public asset)

Breakdown of his assests

The majority of Sawiris’s fortune is held in cash and closely held assets, most of which come from the sale of his stake in Russian telecommunications company VimpelCom for almost $4.1 billion in 2011 and 2012.

He acquired 20% of Vimpelcom in 2010 as part of a deal to sell most of his telecommunications assets, including Italy’s Wind Telecomunicazioni and 51% of Cairo-based Orascom Telecom Holding, for $1.5 billion-plus the Vimplecom shares.

He told Bloomberg News in a 2011 interview his profit from the VimpelCom deal was about $300 million. The value of his cash investments is based on an analysis of dividends, insider transactions, taxes, and market performance.

Sawiris controls most of his investments through Luxembourg-based holding vehicles which he’s estimated to control with his father, Onsi. Their stakes in the holding companies aren’t disclosed.

Naguib’s share is calculated at 70%, based in part on the ownership structure of another asset owned by the Sawiris family: publicly traded fertilizer company, OCI, which is controlled by Onsi and Naguib’s brother, Nassef.

Through an entity called OTMT Acquisition Sarl, Sawiris indirectly owns 37% of publicly traded Orascom Investment Holding, a Cairo-based company formed from the merger between Vimpelcom and Orascom’s former parent company, Orascom Telecom Holding.

He also owns an estimated 70% of La Mancha Resources, which he acquired in 2012 for $492 million to invest in gold assets. Through La Mancha, he owns stakes in publicly traded gold miners Endeavor Mining, Evolution Mining, and Golden Star Resources.

In April 2018, he told Bloomberg News that he was one of the largest gold-mining investors in the world. Manal Abdel-Hamid, a spokesperson at Orascom Investment Holding, declined to comment on the net worth calculation.

Naguib Sawiris Family

The Sawiris family are Egyptian Coptic Christians who own Orascom, a conglomerate spanning telecommunications, construction, tourism, industry, and technology.

In 2008, Forbes estimated the family’s net worth at US$36 billion. Onsi Sawiris’ three sons run various companies within the group: Naguib Sawiris (born 1954) Samih Sawiris (born 1957) Nassef Sawiris (born 1961).

Onsi Sawiris founded Orascom in 1950 and has grown into a conglomerate that includes Orascom Telecom Holding and Orascom Technology Solutions (OTS).

Industries (OCI) (Orascom Construction and Industry), Orascom Hotels and Development (OHD) (Orascom Hotels and Development), operated by Nassef Sawiris, are operated by Samih Sawiris.

Naguib Sawiris is an investor in Egypt’s leading mobile operator, Movinil, which has operations in Algeria, Tunisia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and even North Korea.

Naguib Sawiris is also an investor in Al-Masri Ayoum, a highly influential independent Egyptian newspaper, and an owner of television-related companies, notably OTV (Orascom Television).

Naguib Sawiris Wife: Ghada Gamil Sawiris

Ghada Gamil Sawiris was there at the beginning, long before Naguib became a larger-than-life icon of wealth and business wisdom.

Of course, he’s always had the privilege of Orascom. His father’s phenomenally successful engineering and construction business. To bolster his background, yet no one could have predicted the sprawling scope of his own future.

No one could have guessed he’d go on to create one of the world’s biggest telecommunications empires.

Or that his charisma and fearlessness would make him both media darling and scapegoat; that he’d become a business legend in his own time, with all the dazzle and drama that comes with it.

The point is Ghada never planned for this, never chased this, never particularly desired this. Damn it, she wasn’t even sure she liked him at first.

How they met

He was just a confident guy who spotted her on the stairwell of his aunt’s apartment block. Memorized her license plate number, tracked down her phone number, and had the gall to call up her father and request a date.

Her father was dismissive but Naguib persisted. Of course, the chutzpah was irresistible. They met, they clicked and three months later, they wed. She was barely in her twenties.

As Ghada recalls, “His sense of humor sealed the deal. Naguib was different. He was very open-minded and I liked that.” The rest was just fate.

A fabulous fate but an unplanned destiny nevertheless; which is probably what sets Ghada apart from the rest of her cohorts.

On paper, she may have more right (and riches) to a life of laid-back luxury than her peers, but in reality, she’s far more unassuming, unaffected, and unpretentious.

She may be the queen bee, but she’s too grounded to take liberties.

Indeed, for the first decade of her marriage, she worked solidly – and through three pregnancies! She kicked off her career as a software engineer at American University in Cairo’s computer science department until Naguib convinced her to invest her skills in his company.

Her own business

According to Ghada, “Working for my husband was very hard. I was never going to be friends with anyone because they kind of feared me. No matter what you do, your colleagues still think ‘She’s the boss’s wife; she must be spying on us’. But I stuck it out for a good few years until I had my third baby and felt it was time to leave.”

Never one to rest on her laurels, she set about starting her own business: Juke Box, one of the first dedicated music stores in Egypt. The concept proved so successful she quickly added two more branches, one in Heliopolis and the other in the Red Sea resort of El Gouna.

Painfully, she discovered she was getting robbed by her own employees! So, Ghada decided to liquidate her business and move on to more rewarding pastures.

Why Naguib Sawiris Established the Sawiris Foundation

Naguib’s Samih Sawiris speaking in an interview explained why Sawiris established the foundation:

“It’s in fact a social responsibility when a person has benefited from opportunities in the country or countries in which he lives. They need to give back because success in life is not just down to hard work and perseverance but there is also a lot of luck and luck is a gift from God. So when God gives you something, you should give it a little back. Our decision as a family was taken a long time ago, around 17, 18 years when we were blessed by good fortune and we decided to establish the Sawiris Foundation for Social Development.

The organization’s main aim is to return some of the wealth that had accrued to the people of Egypt in particular because Egypt is a poor country and it requires extensive efforts and people can’t depend solely on the state. The person who established this foundation was my mother. She came up with the idea and she was the one who convinced the others to fund it and we went along with it. Of course, for my mother, this had been her way of life as she had been doing social work for 50 years so the work was not new to her. Establishing a dedicated foundation through which to channel her work took place only 20 years ago. My mother has been engaged in doing public work all her life.”

The goal of the foundation

The Sawiris Foundation for Social Development was established in April 2001 with an endowment from the Sawiris family. It constitutes one of the first family donor foundations dedicated to social development in Egypt.

The foundation was founded on the belief that development is only sustainable when its beneficiaries are equal partners in the process. They aspire to be a recognized pioneer in the provision of innovative and sustainable development initiatives. Promoting increased empowerment of, and participation by the people of Egypt.

The mission is to contribute to Egypt’s development. Create sustainable job opportunities, and empower citizens to build productive lives that realize their full potential. They support initiatives that encourage job creation through training, education, and access to microcredit.

They also enhance efforts to improve health and further the endeavors of local communities to improve infrastructure and gain access to basic services. Two important prerequisites for higher productivity and the increased empowerment of citizens.

Milestones

1954: Naguib Sawiris is born in Egypt.
1976: His father Onsi returns to Egypt due to Libya’s political instability.
1979: Joins the family’s Orascom Group.
2005: Leads $15 billion leveraged buyout of Wind Telecomunicazioni.
2008: Buys a 25-year mobile phone license in North Korea.
2011: Co-founds the Free Egyptians Party.
2012: Leaves Egypt after the election of President Morsi.
2013: Returns to Egypt with his family.

Conclusion

Naguib Sawiris, husband to Ghadil Sawiris and a father of about four children has no doubt acquired quite a fortune and a legacy built to last for generations to come. Bold and courageous, he rewrote his life’s story from just another rich man’s heir to a symbol of wealth, business, and political wisdom.

He shocked the world when he announced his decision to step down as chairman of Orascom Telecom Media and Technology on the 1st of January, 2017. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that he played a key role in making Orascom Industries a diversified and successful conglomerate that employs over 100,000 thousand Egyptians.

Retired or not, the work never stops as he plans to invest about $500 million into the different economic sectors of his country and build up his political career. Whether it’s the business, politics, or social aspects of his life, he has always strived to produce excellent results.

Naguib’s success is not based on just what he was given or even his social class. Iit is defined by what he did with what was given to him.

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