Onsi Sawiris always says that the greatest investment he made were his sons, who, after coming home from studying abroad, took over the leadership of Egypt’s Orascom conglomerate and expanded its operations into three major sectors – construction, telecommunications and tourism.
Onsi is in retirement mode these days but does spend time talking business with his sons. Orascom Telecom, led by son Naguib Sawiris, is doing a good job in tapping into virgin markets such as post-Saddam Iraq, and is now among the world’s heavyweight mobile operators with more than 15 million subscribers in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The tycoon runs the gigantic Egyptian based Orascom Telecom, and offspring of the Orascom Group of Companies founded by Onsi Sawiris in 1950.
It has more than 20,000 employees and US$6bn a year of sales, with its latest valuation on the Egyptian stock market coming in at just over US$2bn. Nearly half of the shares are in the hands of the Sawiris family, and right now they couldn’t be happier – its subscriber base is forecast to expand 32% a year in its key markets until 2008.
Last year, Orascom said it would concentrate on five key markets – Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan and Tunisia, but has used the last few months to purchase potentially lucrative stakes in telcos in Italy and Bangladesh. The company heads the Iraqna consortium that was awarded the license to operate Iraq’s mobile phone network, and is developing a new television station in Iraq. The work in Iraq has helped nearly doubled Sawiris’ wealth in the past year.
Sawiris has also spearheaded a push in the global mobile industry to develop cheaper GSM phones for developing markets.
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