Ahmed Hassan Said is a prominent Egyptian businessman in the IT sector and has become a leading political figure as a result of the

Arab Spring The Arab Spring ( ar, الربيع العربي) was a series of Nonviolent resistance, anti-government protests, Rebellion, uprisings and Insurgency, armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in T ...

uprising and the ouster of former President

Hosni Mubarak Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak, (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011. Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in t ...

. Said was at

Tahrir Square Tahrir Square ( ar, ميدان التحرير ', , English language, English: Liberation Square), also known as "Martyr Square", is a major public town square in downtown Cairo, Egypt. The square has been the location and focus for political dem ...

when the

Egyptian Revolution of 2011 The 2011 Egyptian revolution, also known as the 25 January revolution ( ar, ثورة ٢٥ يناير; ), began on 25 January 2011 and spread across Egypt. The date was set by various youth groups to coincide with the annual Egyptian "Police ho ...

started. Said was one of the founders of the

Free Egyptians Party ) , founded = , headquarters = 2 Hassan Sabry Street Zamalek-Cairo , membership_year = 2011 , membership = 100,000 , ideology = Egyptian nationalismLiberalismSecularism , position = Centre to centre-right , national = , affiliation1_title ...

(FEP). A party that was founded in April 2011 and is backed by leading business, political, and cultural leaders. FEP supports the principles of a liberal, democratic, and secular political order in post-Mubarak Egypt. Said was the first President of FEP. He also played a key role in the creation of the Egyptian Bloc. He won a seat in the parliamentary election of November 28–29, 2011. Said participated in FEP's political rally of October 9, 2011 among the Maspero demonstrations that led to the massacre of many protesters. He was injured and hospitalized as a result of the military's action against the demonstrators. He was also key in forming the National Salvation Front and was its secretary-general July 2013 to January 2014 after Mohamed ElBaradei stepped down from being the coordinator-general of the Front.

Background

Ahmed Said was born in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

, on December 28, 1961, to Eng. Hassan Said and Faten Fathi. He has a younger brother, Hisham Said. In 1979, Ahmed obtained his General Certificate of Education diploma from Dar El Tifl School in Cairo. In 1985, he received his bachelor's degree in Political Science from The

American University in Cairo The American University in Cairo (AUC; ar, الجامعة الأمريكية بالقاهرة, Al-Jāmi‘a al-’Amrīkiyya bi-l-Qāhira) is a private research university in Cairo, Egypt. The university offers American-style learning programs ...

(AUC). At AUC Said was elected President of the Student Union. Ahmed showed signs of early talent in swimming. He was able to win the Open Championship of Egypt at the age of 15. He later dominated the 100m

Butterfly stroke The butterfly (colloquially shortened to fly) is a List of swimming styles, swimming stroke swum on the chest, with both arms moving symmetrically, accompanied by the butterfly kick (also known as the "dolphin kick"). While other styles like ...

event on both the local Arab and African level from 1977 until 1984, when he stopped competing. His African record remained unbroken until 1987. His swimming career was crowned by representing Egypt at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

in Los Angeles. In 1988, he went on to earn an MSc in

Public Policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public p ...

from the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

. He completed his PhD from Cairo University in 2002.

Professional life

On the professional level, Ahmed has extensive experience in planning and management consultancy. His areas of expertise also include local government, decentralization and Management Information Systems Development. During his work with the Egyptian Cabinet from 1994 to 1998 he managed the national illiteracy project. In 1997, along with his brother Hisham, a former IBM executive, Said founded the Global Brands Group, an IT company that has become one of Egypt's leading technology providers. The company partners with such major IT firms as

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

Dell Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies. Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...

, Avaya, and others. He is married to Nivert El Sherif whose great-uncle is the Egyptian “Dean of Arabic Literature” Dr.

Taha Hussein Taha Hussein (, ar, طه حسين; November 15, 1889 – October 28, 1973) was one of the most influential 20th-century Egyptian writers and intellectuals, and a figurehead for the Nahda, Egyptian Renaissance and the modernism, modernist movem ...

. They have two daughters and one son.

References

External links

*AUC (June 28, 2010) Ahmed Said, AUC Alumnus, speaks at the Eighty Seventh AUC Bachelor's Commencement. * /www.youtube.com/watch?v=inbzkeIoyD4 * /www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxj3NikvL2k {{DEFAULTSORT:Said, Ahmed Hassan Egyptian democracy activists Living people 1961 births People of the Egyptian revolution of 2011 Alumni of the London School of Economics