Nassef Onsi Sawiris is an Egyptian billionaire businessman with an estimated net worth of US$8.7 billion, making him the fourth richest African and the wealthiest Arab.
Nassef Sawiris Earnings and Networth
Full Name - Nassef Onsi Sawiris
Date of Birth - January 19, 1961
Age - 61 years
Profession - Businessman
Height - N/A
Nationality - Egyptian
Source of wealth - Established Business
Annual Salary - N/A
Net worth - US$8.7 billion
Last updated - December 2022
Nassef Sawiris Biography and Early Life
Nassef Onsi Sawiris was born in Cairo, Egypt, on January 19, 1961, as the youngest of three sons to Yousiriyya and Onsi Sawiris (his brothers are Naguib and Samih). In 1950, his father, the son of a lawyer, established a construction company.
It had become one of Egypt's largest contractors by the time Nassef was eight, building roads and waterways along Egypt's upper Nile region. However, president Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the company in 1961, renaming it El Nasr Civil Works Company.
Frustrated with being reduced to the status of an employee at his own company, Onsi relocated to Libya and established a new general contracting firm.
After the Camp David Accords signing, relations between Libya and Egypt deteriorated, and Sawiris returned to Egypt, abandoning the family business for the second time. Instead, Onsi established a new company, Orascom Construction Industries.
By the mid-1990s, Orascom had become one of Egypt's largest private builders through partnerships with international companies working on local projects.
Nassef attended the German International School of Cairo in high school and Nassef Sawiris attended the Deutsche Evangelische Oberschule Kairo for his secondary education. He bagged an Economics degree from the University of Chicago in 1982.
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Nassef Sawiris Career and Earnings
He rejoined his father and two older brothers at OCI, which had expanded into communications and real estate by that time. In 1982 Sawiris joined the Orascom group 1982 and overseer Orascom Construction's construction activities after his father, Onsi Sawiris, passed away in 1995.
Following the incorporation of Orascom Construction Industries in 1998, he was named CEO. He was a member of the remuneration and nominations committee at Besix until 2017, after OCI SAE acquired a 50% stake in the company in 2004.
At the end of the decade, the company was divided into three separate entities: Orascom Telecom, led by Naguib; Orascom Hotels and Development, led by Samih; and Orascom Construction, now led by Nassef.
As CEO, he focused on expanding the company internationally and into a new sector, cement, and building materials, which he sold to Lafarge for $12.8 billion in 2008.
He acquired the Egyptian Fertilizer Company in the same year, launching his career in the fertilizer industry. Orascom's fertilizer business increased through internal growth and acquisitions to rank third among producers of nitrogen-based fertilizers globally.
Orascom Construction Industries received a $1 billion investment from a group of investors in January 2013. This is to assist the Sawiris family in moving the company's listing from the Cairo Stock Exchange to NYSE Euronext Amsterdam.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates led the group of investors. At the time of the announcement, Sawiris stated that the action was taken to facilitate future sector consolidation, reduce Egypt's national risk, and assist in lowering borrowing costs.
On January 25, 2013, the business, now known as OCI, began conducting business in Amsterdam. Abdul Samad Rabiu is not his father's only child; he has 42 siblings who are also successful in their respective fields.
Nafiu Rabiu and Rabiu Rabiu, the chairman of IRS Airlines, are two of Abdul Samad Rabiu's well-known siblings. Two years later, OCI separated its construction division into a new business with a dual listing on Dubai and Cairo stock exchanges.
It was revealed in October 2015 that Sawiris had purchased stock in Adidas AG through his investment firm, NNS Holding Sàrl Luxembourg. He was made a supervisory director at Adidas AG in Herzogenaurach, Germany, in 2016.
Following the acquisition of a 55% controlling stake by NSWE, a business owned and managed by Sawiris' group NNS. It was declared in July 2018 that Sawiris would succeed Tony Xia as chairman of Aston Villa F.C.
Tony Xia's remaining shares were acquired by NSWE in August 2019 following Aston Villa's promotion to the Premier League, granting NSWE full ownership of the team.
Avanti Acquisition Corp, a special-purpose acquisition company, was established by Sawiris in October 2020.
Some of his Achievements and Awards
- Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)
- Member of the Global Board of Advisors; Cleveland Clinic
- Member of the International Leadership Board
- Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2013) at the University of Chicago.
