CAIRO: Egyptian tycoon Naguib Sawiris, along with father Onsi and brother Nassef, were ranked among Forbes Middle East s 20 Richest People.
Naguib comes third on the list with a fortune worth $10 billion ¬- nearly quadrupling in 2007 – with his empire Orascom Telecom s expansion in Greece and Italy, according to Forbes.com. In addition, the company has mobile customers in seven fast-growing emerging markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
Onsi and Nassef, who ranked eighth and 15th respectively, recently opened cement plants in South Africa, Algeria and Iraq.
Self-made Onsi was forced to rebuild his construction company from scratch after it was nationalized by the government in the 1960s. He is now the chairman of Orascom Construction with a fortune worth $5 billion.
His youngest son Nassef, worth $3.9 billion, took over the construction division from his father in 1998. The company reported a record $298 million in profits last year, thanks in part to Nassef s expansion efforts.
The list comprises the region s 20 richest billionaires, who come from six different countries and made their money in nine different industries. Six of the region s wealthiest made their fortunes by working in banking.
Saudi investor Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud – worth $20.3 billion – came in first place as the region s wealthiest billionaire, who also ranked 13th in the world in March. In July, the prince took public his Kingdom Holding Co. – a conglomerate of banking, media, real estate and hotel investments – raising $2.3 billion. He also has a substantial stake in US financial giant Citigroup.
He recently announced that, with Bill Gates, he would take Four Seasons Hotels private for $3.8 billion, including debt.
Fifty-year-old Shari Arison from Israel is the only woman who made the list, after inheriting $4.3 billion.
All 20 billionaires were estimated to be worth $123 billion last March, a 10 percent increase from last year.
