 |
| Image Credit: Getty Images |
This
article is majored around the life of the wealthiest man in Egypt and Africa's
fourth richest person NASSEF SAWIRIS. Nassef was born 1961, the 57 years
old man is the youngest of the three boys from his family, He graduated with a bachelor’s
degree in Economics in 1982 and has since set his footprint on the book of
history as a very intelligent wealthy man and also a generous philanthropist,
he is credited for helping to grow the Egyptian economy by creating 29,
108 jobs. Their family made bulk of their money from their construction company
but has since expanded to telecommunication and many other ventures which is
making them rich by the day. This man understands the saying that 'building
a system helps you run your business' because he has a firm system
that is running most of his businesses and making him so much money with
little or no effort. His company Orascom Construction Industries owns large amount of shares in many world known
companies in different countries.
Nassef is a very odd thinker if i may,
if your thought is this, his would probably be diferent and this has been
working out perfectly for him judging from his networth of over$6 billion,
he was qouted saying “I don’t believe in master plans. I believe in a
vision that stays dynamic and suits the area, the people that live in it, your
clients, and the circumstances.” He said when he started with Orascom he
didn’t even know it could lead to a career for him but today it has become such
a large conglomerate not just in Africa but around the world. He sits as a
board member to different organisations, Sawiris is affiliated with 62 executive boards in seven organizations
spanning eight different industries. Some of these board memberships
include being vice chairman of the BESIX Group, director at Nile City
Investments, managing director at Orascom Construction Industries and has
been a board on the Egypt's local Stock Exchange.
5 Lessons from his Life
1.Spot an opportunity
Not so long ago, few saw telecommunications taking off in
Africa, but now the sector is the continent’s fastest growing. Orascom Telecom
is now the leading mobile phone operator throughout Africa, the Middle East and
Pakistan, with 11 million subscribers. The firm has long been one of the
largest mobile phone operators in the world, with a presence in twelve
countries, including Algeria, Pakistan, Canada and North Korea. Until this year
it ran Egypt’s leading mobile network, Mobinil, and has even expanded into
North Korea, where it has become the secretive communist state’s first mobile
phone operator. Naguib has also entered the European mobile market, with his
Weather Investments vehicle, buying mobile operators in Italy and Greece.
2. Invest in the future
Onsi Sawiris always said that the greatest investment he’d
ever made was in his sons. He is now effectively retired, and has each of his
three sons running arms of the family empire. Eldest son Naguib, who was
educated in Zurich, is executive chairman of Orascom Telecom and a media owner
in Egypt. He is said to be the intellectual guru of the family, with strong
connections in the Cairo political elite and liberal sympathies. Nassef, a
graduate of Chicago University, is chief executive of Orascom Construction
Industries. Observers of the Egyptian political scene say he is an advocate of
a progressive, liberal future for Egypt. He is an investor in the newspaper
al-Masry al-Youm, which was launched in 2004 and has earned a strong reputation
for pioneering an independent editorial agenda, and also launched the satellite
TV network OTV. Samih is responsible for holiday resorts in the Middle East
such as El Couna and Taba Heights and has turned his attention to other tourist
developments. The Sawiris siblings are revolutionaries when it comes to Egypt’s
corporate culture. Educated and trained in the West, they keep a lean group
structure, hire managers on the basis of merit rather than family connections
and recruit expatriate talent with generous compensation packages
3. Know a good offer when you see one
In February, Naguib Sawiris sold most of his stake in the
group’s mobile operations to its French partner, France Telecom. Following the
completion of the sale, France Telecom will own 95 per cent of Mobinil while
the Sawiris family will retain a 5 per cent “economic interest”, according to a
statement. The family sold its 20 per cent stake in Mobinil for 202.5 Egyptian
pounds (€25.31) per share – a 61% premium on its closing price before the sale
was announced. The whole deal was valued at around €1.5 billion.
4. Target emerging markets
The company has been awarded $355 million to build science
and technology centre in Qatar. It is also expected to be involved in Qatar’s
preparations for the 2022 World Cup. Recently Naguib dropped support for the
Qatar consortium targeting a buy-out of Egyptian investment bank EFG Hermes
after EFG shareholders backed an alternative tie-up with Qatar’s QInvest, yet
the family retains close links with the country.
5. Fight on
The Egyptian government nationalised Sawiris’ first
construction business back in 1971, after Sawiris fell victim of the socialist
government of President Nasser and was prevented from leaving the country for
six years, eventually relocating to Libya. Undeterred, he returned to Egypt and
rebuilt during the more business-friendly presidency of Anwar Sadat, creating
what eventually became Orascom Construction Industries, which his son Nassef
took over in 1995. In more recent times U.S. affiliate Contrack was forced to
withdraw from Iraqi contracts worth $325 million as a result of terrorist
attacks and rising security costs, but the company has weathered the storm.
Orascom managed to weather the recession storm, with Naguib saying in October
last year that he was in discussions with partners to help finance a bid for
Orange Switzerland, the France Telecom SA mobile phone unit, for $2.8bn.
These lessons would help me and you build our own very empire
that will put us all in the history books as some of the richest entrepreneurs
of our time, God's willing. Jot them down somewhere if possible and let them be
your guiding principles to help you to success.
Please if you liked this article, share us with your friends
and don’t forget to drop your comments, so we can serve you better.
THANK YOU
.jfif)
0 Comments