Onsi Sawiris always says that the greatest investment he ever 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 plenty of 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. Orascom has operations in countries including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia and Iraq, and boasts more than 20,000 employees. Its subscriber base is forecast to expand 32% a year in its key markets until 2008, and Sawiris has also spearheaded a push in the global mobile industry to develop cheaper GSM phones for developing markets.
Orascom Telecom Holding tripled first-half net income in 2007 to US$995m, boosted by the sale of an Indian subsidiary of Hutchison Telecom. The Cairo-based group holds a 19.3% stake in Hutchison Telecom, which sold its Indian subsidiary Hutchison Essar, generating a US$708m gain for Orascom – and this is reflected in the huge boost in the Sawiris family’s bank balance.
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