The Board of Directors at Orascom Development Egypt (ODE) has announced the appointment of Omar El Hamamsy as CEO, effective as of 1 September 2020.
El Hamamsy joins ODE from McKinsey & Company, where he is Senior Partner at their Middle East office, having previously been at the company’s Belgium office. In his 18 years at McKinsey, he has led many practices, including Travel and Transport.
In his work with clients, his focus has led to comprehensive transformations of multi-national companies in the Middle East and Europe. He has also worked on a number of cross-border acquisitions and integrations for these companies.
His clients at McKinsey spanned many sectors, with his support extending over a range of topics, from strategy, organisation, sales and marketing, operations, and finance. Prior to joining McKinsey, El Hamamsy worked for six years at AT&T’s Bell Labs in the US, where he managed a global engineering team for wireless product development. He holds a Masters degree from Stanford University.
El Hamamsy also sits on the regional Board of Directors of Injaz Al-Arab, a non-profit organisation focused on youth education, where he leads the Board’s Operations Committee.
Samih Sawiris, Chairperson of Orascom Development Holding (ODH), said, “After a thorough and rigorous search process we are delighted to welcome Omar El Hamamsy on board as the new CEO of ODE. He has excellent business experience and the drive to help us continue our turnaround story and take ODE to the next level of growth and development.”
Sawiris added, “Omar’s 18 years of service at McKinsey have been marked by outstanding performance. He has demonstrated remarkable talent and sound judgment in what he does. The Board and I have complete confidence that he is the right person to lead the Group into the future and we look forward to working with him and the Executive Team over the next few years to continue the exceptional growth of our business.”
Samy Saad, Chairperson of ODE, said, “I would like to welcome Omar El Hamamsy onboard. His expertise in many industries, multitude of business relationships and wise judgment will be a great addition to ODE’s next phase of growth.”
“I am excited by the opportunity to build on the great foundation and momentum achieved by the Orascom Development team and lead the company through the next stage of its strategic development and expansion,” said El Hamamsy.
The new CEO’s appointment marks the end of the interim roles created in February 2020 for the transitional phase. Abdelhamid Abouyoussef, who held the position of ad-interim CEO, will take up a new position as the Chairman of Orascom Hotels Management (OHM), the Group’s hotels management company. Ashraf Nessim who held the position of ad-interim Co-CEO, will continue his role as the current Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
Sawiris noted, “On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Abdelhamid Abouyoussef and Ashraf Nessim for their quick step in, hard work and commitment in leading and stabilising the company during the most challenging of times in the wake of the sudden loss of our previous-esteemed CEO, coupled with the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic.”
