Naguib Sawiris is the Chairman of Weather Investments‘ parent company and formerly served as Chairman and CEO of Orascom Telecom Holding and Orascom Investment Holding S.A.E.
Born on June 15, 1954, in Cairo, Egypt, Naguib Sawiris is the eldest son of businessman Onsi Sawiris, founder of the Orascom Group, and Yousriya Loza Sawiris. His brothers, Nassef and Samih, are also billionaires.
Naguib received his Diploma from the German Evangelical School in Giza and a Diploma of Mechanical Engineering with a Master’s degree in Technical Administration from ETH Zurich.
Since joining Orascom in 1979, Sawiris has been instrumental in expanding and diversifying the company, transforming it into one of Egypt’s largest conglomerates and the country’s largest private sector employer.
Under Sawiris’s leadership, Orascom diversified into railway, information technology, and telecommunications sectors. In the late 1990s, management decided to split Orascom into separate operating companies, including Orascom Telecom Holding (OTH), Orascom Construction Industries (OCI), Orascom Hotels & Development, and Orascom Technology Systems (OTS). OTH was established in 1997 and later rebranded as Orascom Investment Holding S.A.E. (OIH), where Sawiris currently serves as Managing Director and CEO.
In August 2012, Sawiris was appointed chairman of La Mancha Holding. In 2014, he raised over US$4 billion by selling his telecommunications stake to Russian company Vimplecom.
In early 2015, Sawiris acquired a majority stake in the pan-European television channel Euronews, eventually selling his stake to Alpac Capital in December 2021.
Sawiris made headlines in September 2015 when he offered to purchase an island off Greece or Italy to assist refugees fleeing the Syrian conflict.
Most recently, on January 31, 2024, the Iraqi government announced a contract with Ora Developers, a company associated with Sawiris, to develop Ali Al-Wardi City, the largest residential city in Iraq.
Spanning 61 million square meters approximately 25km southeast of Baghdad, the city will feature 120,000 housing units, green spaces, urban amenities, and smart city technology aimed at sustainability and environmental preservation. The project is named after Iraqi intellectual Ali Al-Wardi and aims to alleviate population pressure on Baghdad.
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