Famous Egyptian Business People

Mohamed Al-Fayed is a businessman whose son Dodi Fayed's death in a car crash alongside Diana, Princess of Wales became international news. Apart from being one of the richest businessmen in the world, Al-Fayed is also a humanitarian. In 1987, he established the Al Fayed Charitable Foundation, which aims at helping children living in poverty and children with life-limiting conditions.

Ashraf Marwan was an Egyptian billionaire businessman and diplomat. He is best remembered for his work as a spy for Mossad, Israel's national intelligence agency. In 2002, it was revealed that Ashraf Marwan had been working for Egyptian Intelligence and that he may have misled Mossad with wrong information in the years leading up to the Yom Kippur War.

One of the wealthiest businessmen from Egypt, Nassef Sawiris has helmed Orascom Construction Industries as its CEO. The youngest son of construction magnate Onsi Sawiris, he became the richest Arab in 2021. He was also 4th on the Forbes list of Africa's Billionaires in 2022.

Born to Egyptian parents in New York, Mohamed A. El-Erian grew up in the U.S., Egypt, and France, with his diplomat father. Educated at Cambridge and Oxford, he later served as the CEO of PIMCO. Apart from being a Bloomberg columnist, he has also written bestsellers such as When Markets Collide.

Naguib Sawiris is an Egyptian businessman and former CEO of Orascom Telecom Holding. He is credited with building the telecommunications, information technology, and railway sectors of Orascom. Naguib Sawiris contributed immensely to the diversification of Orascom and turned it into the largest private sector employer of the country. In 2021, he was named Africa's eighth-richest person by Forbes magazine.

Alaa Mubarak is an Egyptian businessman best known as the eldest son of the former President of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak. Along with his father and brother Gamal, Alaa Mubarak was arrested in 2011 before being convicted for corruption in 2014. In September 2018, Alaa Mubarak was arrested again for manipulating the stock market. He was acquitted in February 2020.

Samih Sawiris is an Egyptian-Montenegrin businessman and former chief executive officer of Orascom Development Holding AG. He is credited with founding Orascom Hotels and Development and Orascom Projects for Touristic Development; the two companies were integrated to create Orascom Development Holding AG. Sawiris acquired companies like Thomas Cook before stepping down as CEO and chairman of his company in 2021.         

Taher Elgamal is an Egyptian entrepreneur and cryptographer. Widely regarded as the father of SSL, Elgamal is best known for his work at Netscape Communications Corporation where he developed Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) which helped establish a secure and private communications on the Internet. In 2019, Taher Elgamal was honored with the prestigious Marconi Prize along with Paul Kocher.