Nassef Onsi Sawiris ( ar, ناصف أنسي ساويرس; born January 19, 1961) is an Egyptian

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...

businessman, and the youngest of Onsi Sawiris' three sons (his brothers are

Naguib Naguib ( ar, نجيب ''Najib'') is a given and family name in Egyptian Arabic, a variant of the Arabic name Najib. It may refer to the following people: *Antonios Naguib, Egyptian Catholic patriarch * David Naguib Pellow, American ethnologist *Moha ...

and Samih). As of October 2021, his net worth was estimated at US$8.7 billion, making him the richest Arab and fourth richest African.

Early life

Nassef Sawiris received his secondary education from the

Deutsche Evangelische Oberschule Kairo ''Deutsche Evangelische Oberschule'' (DEO; ar, المدرسة الألمانیة الإنجیلیة الثانویة بالقاهرة) is an exclusive German school in Dokki, Giza, Egypt, in the Cairo metropolitan area. It is operated by the ...

. He then continued at

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

where he received a bachelor's degree in economics in 1982. Sawiris is Coptic Christian.

Career

Sawiris joined the Orascom group in 1982 and oversaw the construction activities of

Orascom Construction Orascom Construction PLC (OC) is an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor based in Cairo, Egypt. The company was Egypt's first multinational corporation and stands at the core of the Orascom Group companies. OC is active in mo ...

following the transfer of management control from his father Onsi Sawiris in 1995. He became CEO of Orascom Construction Industries following the company's incorporation in 1998. He served on the board of Besix, following OCI SAE acquiring a 50% stake in the company in 2004, and a member of the remuneration and nominations committee until 2017. He was on the board of directors of the Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchanges from 2004 to 2007, and was also a board director at the Dubai International Financial Exchange DIFX from July 2008 to June 2010. In January 2013, he became CEO of OCI NV when they acquired the former parent company OCI SAE. In 2015, he was elected a board member of

LafargeHolcim Holcim is a Swiss-based global building materials and aggregates flagship division of the Holcim Group. The original company was merged on 10 July 2015 with Lafarge to form LafargeHolcim as the new company and renamed to Holcim Group in 202 ...

, having served on Lafarge SA's board since 2008. In October 2015, it was reported that Sawiris had acquired a stake in Adidas AG via his investment company NNS Holding Sàrl Luxembourg. In 2016 he was appointed supervisory director of Adidas AG,

Herzogenaurach Herzogenaurach (; vmf, Herziaura) is a town in the district of Erlangen-Höchstadt, in Bavaria, Germany. It is best known for being the home of the major international sporting goods companies Adidas and Puma, as well as the large car parts m ...

, Germany. It was announced in July 2018 that Sawiris would replace

Tony Xia Tony Jiantong Xia () is a Chinese businessman. He is the chairman, CEO and owner of Recon Group. Early life and education Xia was born in Quzhou, Zhejiang. At the age of 14, he left home to attend university in Beijing. He was amongst the firs ...

as chairman of

Aston Villa F.C. Aston Villa Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their ho ...

following the purchase of a 55% controlling stake by NSWE, a company jointly owned and controlled by Sawiris' group NNS and American billionaire

Wes Edens Wesley Robert Edens (born October 30, 1961) is an American billionaire businessman and private equity investor. He is the co-founder of Fortress Investment Group and founder of New Fortress Energy. Edens is co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks NBA fran ...

. In August 2019, after Aston Villa were promoted to the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

, Tony Xia's remaining shares were bought out by NSWE, assuming full control over the club in the process. In October 2020, Sawiris founded Avanti Acquisition Corp, a

Special-purpose acquisition company A special purpose acquisition company (SPAC; ), also known as a "blank check company", is a shell corporation listed on a stock exchange with the purpose of acquiring a private company, thus making it public without going through the traditional i ...

Other activities

, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2013) *

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, mi ...

(CFR), Member of the Global Board of Advisors * Cleveland Clinic, Member of the International Leadership Board

Personal life

Sawiris is married to Sherine, they have four children, live in Cairo, and maintain a residence in New York City. He is a Christian.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sawiris, Nassef 1961 births Living people Businesspeople from Cairo Egyptian billionaires Egyptian nationalists Nassef Coptic businesspeople Coptic Christians University of Chicago alumni Aston Villa F.C. directors and chairmen