I like to work, and I like my work and I like the telecom business. His brothers are Nassef Sawiris and Samih Sawiris. The 75-years-old inherited a stake in diamond firm, DeBeers, and ran the company until 2012, when he sold his family’s 40 per cent stake in DeBeers to mining giant AngloAmerican for $5.1bn. Nicky Oppenheimer of South Africa is the third richest person in Africa with a net worth of $8bn. (NS): One was sold because of my risk assessment of Iraq, and I don't think putting an extra $1.25 billion in Iraq is a sensible thing to do just to stay in there. (NS): I think with the current debt situation, private equity has a lower voice today, but we are always looking to private equity for a smaller stake. Bekker, who retired as the CEO of Naspers in March 2014, returned as chairman in April 2015. google_ad_client = "ca-pub-5689805440782123"; So we're seeing prices going up and we will not imitate that, if I may say. MME's John Defterios spoke to Naguib Sawiris and asked him whether Orascom Telecom's recent divestments -- of its Iraqi mobile company Iraqna, and a stake in Hutchinson Telecommunications -- were a prelude to the sale of the entire group. In December 2020, he acquired a five per cent stake in New York-listed firm ― Madison Square Garden Sports ― owner of the NBA Knicks and the NHL Rangers teams. How do your change your strategy to respond to this capital? (JD): In fact are you looking at a partner in that market already as a result of the growth? His real time net worth is $7.4B. In 2014, Oppenheimer started Fireblade Aviation in Johannesburg, which operates chartered flights with its fleet of 3 planes and 2 helicopters. For 85 years until 2012, the Oppenheimer family occupied a controlling spot in the world’s diamond trade. In recent years, Rupert has been a vocal opponent of plans to allow fracking in the Karoo, a region of South Africa where he owns land. (JD): Indeed, but does it make it more difficult now that competitors have more cash and are willing to spend? We believe that they are market which is untapped. Cevital owns European companies, including French home appliances maker Groupe Brandt, an Italian steel mill and a German water purification company. His brothers are Nassef Sawiris and Samih Sawiris.He is the son of Onsi Sawiris who established the Orascom Group.. Education. For the tenth year in a row, Aliko Dangote is the continent’s richest person, worth $12.1bn, up by $2bn from last year’s list, thanks to a roughly 30 per cent increase in the share price of Dangote Cement, which is by far his most valuable asset. He runs OCI, one of the world’s largest nitrogen fertilizer producers, with plants in Texas and Iowa; it trades on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange. Net worth: $5.6 billion . His brother Nassef is also a billionaire. A rash of deals this year saw Naguib jump more than two hundred places up Forbes' 2007 Rich List, from 278 to 62. In brief: The eldest son of Egyptian billionaire Onsi Sawiris, Naguib runs Orascom's telecom division and has expanded it into unpredictable but lucrative wireless markets such as … The eldest son, Naguib Sawiris, is arguably the most successful with an estimated fortune of $10 billion. The yacht’s owner is Naquib Sawiris. 1. In 1994, he became the first black partner at law firm Bowman Gilfillan in Johannesburg, and then started a mining services contracting business. Sawiris is an investor and a scion of Egypt’s wealthiest family. We are currently in a joint venture with the local company there, to provide expansion on the fixed line and we are quite sure that 2008 will see will the surprise of us becoming the first mobile operator in North Korea. (NS): When you have Cambodia with six players already, we are not going to get a seventh in a country with less than 10 million people. The combined firm, called BUA Cement Plc, trades on the Nigerian stock exchange; Rabiu owns 98.5% of it. Naguib Sawiris is a scion of Egypt’s wealthiest family and has a net worth of $3.2bn. Is that an option? These are all things which will decorate the company, but which will not create value. Issad Rebrab is the founder and CEO of Cevital, Algeria’s biggest privately-held company. (JD): In fact, you changed your strategy as a result. Rabiu, who is the son of a businessman, inherited land from his father. The 60-year old’s largest asset is a nearly six per cent stake in sportswear maker, Adidas. This could be the top of the market. What do you think of that market? We're seeing some acquisitions from regional players, which don't make sense in our opinion, for very high prices, even in India it's considered to be on the high side at $19 billion. He built a fortune in telecom, selling Orascom Telecom … Cevital owns one of the largest sugar refineries in the world, with the capacity to produce 2 million tons a year. Naguib Sawiris $3.2 billion 9. His mobile phone network, Globacom, is the third largest operator in Nigeria, with 55 million subscribers. The eldest son of Onsi Sawiris, the man who founded the Orascom family business, he has certainly inherited his father’s entrepreneurial spirit. These Nigerians and South Africans dominate the top 10 spot on Forbes’ Africa billionaires list, which is an annual ranking of the richest Africans compiled and published by … He became CEO of Orascom Construction Industries following the company’s incorporation in 1998 and served on the board of Besix, following OCI SAE acquiring a 50 per cent stake in the company in 2004, and a member of the enumeration and nominations committee until 2017. E-mail to a friend, MME speaks with Egyptian billionaire & businessman Naguib Sawiris, Head of Orascom Telecom, part of Sawiris family's Orascom conglomerate, Orascom Telecom has a $2 billion "war chest", looking for acquisitions, Sawiris tells MME: "My ambition is to become one of the major players". Does Orascom need to have a strategy for that very large market? Nassef Sawiris Sawiris, the youngest of Onsi Sawiris sons ― Naguib and Samih ― moved up from the fourth spot in 2019 to the second spot in … His oil exploration outfit, Conoil Producing, operates 6 oil blocks in the Niger Delta. Motsepe also has a stake in Sanlam, a listed financial services firm, and is the president and owner of the Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club. The son of Onsi Sawiris, who founded a construction company, Naguib Sawiris was an entrepreneur from a young age, he said. Nassef Sawiris of Egypt is the second richest person in Africa with a net worth of $8.5bn. (NS): Yes I could see that, but, no I have to tell you something about the Sawiris family. The group moved into manufacturing in the 1990s, starting with textiles, moving onto flour milling, salt processing, and sugar refining by the end of the decade. He built his fortune in telecoms and oil production. According to Forbes, he made his first million at age 26 selling lace and distributing soft drinks. (CNN) -- Deal-making clearly runs in the Sawiris family. Fourth on the list of the richest men in the African continent is Johann Rupert from South Africa. He also bought Italy’s Wind Telecomunicazioni before merging it, along with a number of his telecom assets, with Veon Ltd. in 2011. A father and his three sons have made their way to being listed among Egypt’s and Africa’s ten richest men. His mobile empire included the Italian firm Wind Telecomunicazioni S.p.A. (known in Canada as Wind Mobile), as well as the Egyptian mobile phone company, Mobinil. Have your say. Ghada Sawiris was there at the beginning, long before Naguib became a larger-than-life icon of wealth and business wisdom. The group now owns and operates over 18 subsidiaries, operating in ten African countries. After serving 8 months in jail on charges of corruption, Rebrab was released on January 1, 2020. The PUNCH highlights the top 10 richest people in Africa, all of whom happen to be men. Naguib Mahfouz (Arabic: نجيب محفوظ ‎, romanized: Najīb Maḥfūẓ, IPA: [næˈɡiːb mɑħˈfuːzˤ]; 11 December 1911 – 30 August 2006) was an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature. Through his Media Globe Holdings, Sawiris owns 88% of pan-European pay TV and video news network Euronews. (JD): When one thinks of a partner for you they think of the major telecom operators like Vodafone or France Telecom. The company is best known for the brands Cartier and Montblanc. As Chairman and CEO of Orascom Telecom, he's taken the company beyond the home market of Egypt to Algeria, Pakistan, Tunisia, Iraq and Bangladesh. AS AN EXPERT, WE HELP YOU TRADE YOUR FOREX, BINARY and BITCOIN ACCOUNTS FOR 25% WEEKLY PROFIT. He also bought Italy’s Wind Telecomunicazioni before merging it, along with a number of his telecom assets, with Veon Ltd. in 2011. Sawiris is an investor and a scion of Egypt’s wealthiest family. Egyptian businessman Nassef Sawiris did that and more. Egyptian billionaire Sawiris led the growth of the country’s phone company Orascom, which culminated in a merger with Italy’s Wind Telecom and VimpelCom in … The company next moved into cement production, growing rapidly and moving into other African countries. All three sons have followed in the footsteps of their father, the founding patriarch of the Orascom Group, Onis Sawiris. Age: 59. The value we created was not higher than the value we sold at and so it was not really justified, and that's why we sold. (NS): Yes of course, it drives the prices higher and you've seen the recent licenses in Egypt go for $3 billion, in Saudi Arabia $6 billion. But Naguib Sawiris, 56, isn't sweating it, even if he is the second richest Egyptian in Forbes magazine's list of global billionaires. Koos Bekker is the 10th richest man in Africa with a net worth of $2.8bn. Email us at mme@cnn.com, or send an i-report. In early January 2020, Rabiu merged his privately-owned Obu Cement company with listed firm Cement Co. of Northern Nigeria, which he controlled. (NS): Well, as you know very well, the Chinese have not really opened their markets, and we've been shouting and screaming and saying that it's not fair, that they're not opening their markets while they're trying to go everywhere. With $4.8bn, he is the seventh richest man in Africa, Forbes list states. In 2008, Forbes estimated the family's net worth at $36 billion. We have seen some positive signs from the North Koreans. google_ad_width = 300; But frankly speaking, between you and me, I prefer to be the acquirer than to be acquired. In 1997, he bought low-producing gold mine shafts and later turned them profitable. Source of wealth: Son of billionaire Onsi Sawiris, Nassef is known for being the richest man in Egypt, best known for owning a 30% stake in the fertilizing producer OCI. He is the chairman of Swiss luxury goods firm Compagnie Financiere Richemont. 2. He owns a 7% stake in diversified investment firm Remgro, which he chairs, as well as 25% of Reinet, an investment holding co. based in Luxembourg. With a net worth of $2.5bn (in 2011 it was $2.9 billion), Naguib Sawiris, the eldest son of Egyptian billionaire Onsi Sawiris, built … I am looking for something where I can go in and make a difference and create immense value, just like we did with Iraq and even add to it. It sold a 2% stake in Tencent in March 2018, its first time reducing its holding, but stated at the time it would not sell again for 3 years. With Osni Sawiris now effectively retired, his three sons – all educated in western universities – each run different arms of the family empire, Orascom. The fortune of each is $1.1 billion and $2.9 billion, respectively. Eldest son Naguib, … Naguib Sawiris’s wife. He is regarded as one of the first contemporary writers of Arabic literature, along with Taha Hussein, to explore themes of existentialism. So why not celebrate now? He is known for asking Greece or Italy to sell him an island, on which he would create a state for all refugees. 4. And he owns the Yalla Horse Stables. The list of Africa’s billionaires is an annual ranking by documented net worth of the wealthiest billionaires in Africa, compiled and published by the American business magazine, Forbes. Nigerians and South Africans dominate the top 10 spot on Forbes’ Africa billionaires list, which is an annual ranking of the richest Africans compiled and Sawiris holds a diploma of Mechanical Engineering with a Masters in Technical Administration from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zürich) and a Diploma from the … (JD): In fact your brother Nassef has gone into North Korea with a quite sizeable investment; this is a market that's not really tapped to date but a play for the future. John Defterios (JD): You have some two billion dollars more money in the coffers right now, what is the best way to redeploy those assets in your opinion as you see today? Mohamed Mansour $2.5billion 12. For example, Naquib’s brother Samih Sawiris is Chairman of Orascom Development. Latest: Sword kills strange monsters Ziddi It is a fact now that telecom operations are becoming scarce and you can't really grow any bigger unless you really join someone, so we are leaving all the options open you know. Youngest son of Onsi Sawiris, an Egyptian businessman who founded Orascom conglomerate in 1950, Nassef now leads the reins. According to Bloomberg, he has a 6% stake in Adidas. They seem to be peace-loving, and they see that dismantling their nuclear things is a positive thing and should be greeted by us and by everybody. Naguib Sawiris is a self-confessed fighter, "righteous and defiant", who's not afraid of risk. He owns at least 720 square miles of conservation land across South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe. His brother Nassef is also a billionaire. Naguib Sawiris is a scion of Egypt's wealthiest family. Science & technology, etc inherited land from his father 36 billion the acquirer than to be men JD:! 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