Nassef Sawiris
Nassef Onsi Sawiris is an Egyptian billionaire businessman, investor, Executive Chairman of OCI Global, and co-owner of Aston Villa Football
Biography
Born in Aswan, Egypt, Nassef Sawiris is the youngest son of Onsi Sawiris, the founder of the multi-sector conglomerate Orascom Group. He attended the German International School (Deutsche Evangelische Oberschule) in Cairo before moving to the United States to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Chicago in 1982. Shortly after graduating, Sawiris joined his family’s business to manage construction operations, taking full leadership of Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) in 1998. Under his stewardship, the firm expanded internationally into a dominant regional construction force.
Sawiris subsequently engineered a major corporate pivot towards global materials, chemicals, and industrial commodities. In 2007, he sold OCI’s cement division to French building material giant Lafarge for over $12 billion, becoming a principal individual shareholder in Lafarge and later a board director of LafargeHolcim. He shifted his strategic focus toward nitrogen fertilizers, building OCI N.V. into one of the world's largest chemical and fertilizer production companies, listed on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange with major manufacturing operations across Europe, the Middle East, and the United States.
In recent years, Sawiris has built a diverse global sports and investment portfolio through his holding company NNS Group. In 2018, alongside American investor Wes Edens, he formed V Sports and acquired a controlling stake in Premier League football club Aston Villa, funding the team's promotion and stabilizing its finances. His broader holdings include a nearly 6% stake in German athletic apparel brand Adidas—where he has served on the supervisory board—and a significant stake in Madison Square Garden Sports, owner of the NBA's New York Knicks and NHL's New York Rangers. Through the Sawiris Foundation and personal donations, including a $24 million gift to the University of Chicago, he actively supports higher education and economic empowerment.
Career timeline
In their words
“We need to look at businesses with a long-term mindset, focusing on underlying fundamentals rather than short-term market noise.”