About

Orascom Financial Holding is a technology-driven financial services investment company led by an experienced team with financial and technology experience. OFH seeks to invest in companies that are transforming the traditional financial services industry with innovative products and services underpinned by emerging technologies and a consumer-centric approach. Our aim is to support our communities and businesses by enabling accessible, transparent financial solutions through our investments. Orascom Financial Holding is traded on the Egyptian Exchange under the symbol OFH.CA.

portfolio

Board of Directors

Onsi Sawiris

Chairman

Onsi Sawiris is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner at HOF Capital with AUM of $200m, where he focuses on cloud-based technologies, fintech and enterprise SaaS. He is also heading investments at Gemini Holding, the Sawiris family office.

Onsi currently sits on the boards of Drop Technologies, ItaliaOnline, Riverbank, OPTii Solutions and Mach Music.<br /> He leads portfolio acceleration at HOF and helps founders secure commercial traction by identifying synergies within the firm's global investor network of over 70 LPs.

Prior to HOF, Onsi worked in TMT-focused M&A at Arma Partners, a specialist technology investment bank.<br /> Onsi holds a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Nils Bachtler

Board Member & CEO

Nils previously held the position of Corporate Strategy Senior Director at Gemini Holding, with a focus on the group’s Financial and Real Estate investments. Nils sits on the board of several portfolio companies, as well as directly managing Delicious Foods Egypt as founder and CEO.

Prior to joining Gemini Holding Nils was part of Palm Hills’ corporate strategy and business development team, mainly focusing on the turnaround of existing projects as well as identifying new opportunities.

Prior to that, Nils assumed several roles at Orascom Telecom Holding “OTH” and its subsidiaries. As part of the Corporate Strategy Department he worked on several bids (i.e. Saudi Arabia, and Qatar). Later on, he was in charge of developing OTH’s Mobile Banking initiative across Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Nils holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the American University in Cairo.

Hassan Abdou

Board Member

Hassan Abdou is an experienced CEO, investor, entrepreneur and operations manager with 30 years of work experience. He first joined the Sawiris group in 2003 as Chief Executive Officer of Weather Investments II and Gemini Technologies overseeing a diversified portfolio of investments. In 2005, he led the buy side team and was instrumental in the largest LBO in European history when Weather Investments bought Wind Telecom of Italy for a total amount exceeding 17 billion Euros. Wind Telecom was operationally and financially restructured and sold as part of a larger telecom asset in 2010. In his tenure with the group he ran several major acquisitions and exits for the family. In 2017, Mr. Abdou re-joined the Sawiris group in the position of Executive Chairman of the family office Gemini Holdings.

In 2011, Mr. Abdou was appointed to the Advisory Board for the Business School of the American University in Cairo and is on the management and advisory boards of various companies around the world. From 2011 until 2017 he was an independent, private equity investor doing various deals in the Middle East, Europe and the US. He began his career in 1991 in project management with ExxonMobil in the US and Europe and later as management consultant in the Boston Consulting Group's New York office. He later went on to be Fund Manager of the Horus Private Equity Fund in Egypt and Chief Investment Officer of EFG-Hermes Private Equity.

Hassan received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, from the university of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s degree in finance from the Wharton Business school. He later went on to earn an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Rana Abadi

Independent Board Member

A senior executive with over 25 years of leadership and managerial experience in the Telecom, audit and finance sectors.

Functions led include operations, finance, internal controls and governance, multi company and government negotiations, conflict resolution, strategic planning, budgeting, public relations, management of programs, and effective leadership. Functions sizes varied from 50 to 200 staff personnel from Director to technical staff.

A high performing person with proven record of accomplishment in startup and mature operations. Ability to develop strategic long-term partnerships and communicate effectively with all levels of stakeholders including shareholders, decision makers, government, and international and local organizations.

Currently; a board member of CIT (chamber of information and technology) as a telecom expert, an independent board member and Audit committee member of the united bank of Jordan, and an independent board member and Audit committee member of global Corp. financial services , in addition to being recognized as one of the top 50 Egyptian women impacting the economy of Egypt.

Emad Barsoum

Independent Board Member

Emad Barsoum has a 30-year professional track-record combining corporate senior executive management and private equity investing. He is currently the founder and Managing Director of Ezdehar, an Egyptian private equity fund manager with first class investors such as the EBRD, the European Investment Bank, and several HNWIs targeting investing in Egyptian mid-cap growth companies. The fund was raised at a particularly difficult timing and now the firm is one of the most prominent PE players in Egypt. Previously, he was co-founder of 8 Miles LLP, a UK based, Africa focused private equity manager with $200M supported by investors like the IFC, CDC, and the African Development Bank. The fund invested in several African countries such as Egypt, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Uganda. Prior to 8 Miles, Emad spend 10 years with Orascom Telecom in roles such as CEO of Wind Hellas (Greece) leading one of Europe’s largest debt restructuring, Chairman and CEO of the OrasInvest group (Middle East) growing the firm from $20M to $180M in 5 years, and CFO of Djezzy (Algeria), setting up the company and leading it to profitability and extraordinary margins in record time. Prior to OT, Emad had spent 10 years in New York, working for engineering firms such as Parsons Brinckerhoff on earthquakes’ impact on complex suspension bridges like the Golden Gate Bridge.

Emad holds an MBA from INSEAD, France, a PhD and M.Sc. in Engineering Mechanics from Columbia University in New York, and a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering from Cairo University. Emad also serves as an investment committee member for Sanad, a financial inclusion impact fund managed by the German Finance-in-Motion, sits on the investment committee of Egypt Ventures, a VC fund sponsored by the Egyptian government, and is a mentor with several organizations such as Endeavor and Flat6Labs, supporting entrepreneurs and family businesses to scale their companies.

Emad holds also several board roles, including chairman of the board of AluNile (the leading aluminum/glass manufacturer in Egypt) and Global Leasing Company, and sits on the board of Hesni Group, a textile manufacturer.

Team

Nils Bachtler

CEO

Bassem Youssef

CFO

Sara Nashaat

Legal Counsel

Youssef Heiza

Associate

Nourhan Maamoun

Legal Associate

Mohamed Gamal

IR Senior Manager

Member Bio image

Onsi Sawiris

Chairman

Onsi Sawiris is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner at HOF Capital with AUM of $200m, where he focuses on cloud-based technologies, fintech and enterprise SaaS. He is also heading investments at Gemini Holding, the Sawiris family office.

Onsi currently sits on the boards of Drop Technologies, ItaliaOnline, Riverbank, OPTii Solutions and Mach Music.
He leads portfolio acceleration at HOF and helps founders secure commercial traction by identifying synergies within the firm's global investor network of over 70 LPs.

Prior to HOF, Onsi worked in TMT-focused M&A at Arma Partners, a specialist technology investment bank.
Onsi holds a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Member Bio image

Nils Bachtler

Board Member & CEO

Nils previously held the position of Corporate Strategy Senior Director at Gemini Holding, with a focus on the group’s Financial and Real Estate investments. Nils sits on the board of several portfolio companies, as well as directly managing Delicious Foods Egypt as founder and CEO.

Prior to joining Gemini Holding Nils was part of Palm Hills’ corporate strategy and business development team, mainly focusing on the turnaround of existing projects as well as identifying new opportunities.

Prior to that, Nils assumed several roles at Orascom Telecom Holding “OTH” and its subsidiaries. As part of the Corporate Strategy Department he worked on several bids (i.e. Saudi Arabia, and Qatar). Later on, he was in charge of developing OTH’s Mobile Banking initiative across Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Nils holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the American University in Cairo.

Member Bio image

Hassan Abdou

Board Member

Hassan Abdou is an experienced CEO, investor, entrepreneur and operations manager with 30 years of work experience. He first joined the Sawiris group in 2003 as Chief Executive Officer of Weather Investments II and Gemini Technologies overseeing a diversified portfolio of investments. In 2005, he led the buy side team and was instrumental in the largest LBO in European history when Weather Investments bought Wind Telecom of Italy for a total amount exceeding 17 billion Euros. Wind Telecom was operationally and financially restructured and sold as part of a larger telecom asset in 2010. In his tenure with the group he ran several major acquisitions and exits for the family. In 2017, Mr. Abdou re-joined the Sawiris group in the position of Executive Chairman of the family office Gemini Holdings.

In 2011, Mr. Abdou was appointed to the Advisory Board for the Business School of the American University in Cairo and is on the management and advisory boards of various companies around the world. From 2011 until 2017 he was an independent, private equity investor doing various deals in the Middle East, Europe and the US. He began his career in 1991 in project management with ExxonMobil in the US and Europe and later as management consultant in the Boston Consulting Group's New York office. He later went on to be Fund Manager of the Horus Private Equity Fund in Egypt and Chief Investment Officer of EFG-Hermes Private Equity.

Hassan received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, from the university of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s degree in finance from the Wharton Business school. He later went on to earn an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Member Bio image

Rana Abadi

Independent Board Member

A senior executive with over 25 years of leadership and managerial experience in the Telecom, audit and finance sectors.

Functions led include operations, finance, internal controls and governance, multi company and government negotiations, conflict resolution, strategic planning, budgeting, public relations, management of programs, and effective leadership. Functions sizes varied from 50 to 200 staff personnel from Director to technical staff.

A high performing person with proven record of accomplishment in startup and mature operations. Ability to develop strategic long-term partnerships and communicate effectively with all levels of stakeholders including shareholders, decision makers, government, and international and local organizations.

Currently; a board member of CIT (chamber of information and technology) as a telecom expert, an independent board member and Audit committee member of the united bank of Jordan, and an independent board member and Audit committee member of global Corp. financial services , in addition to being recognized as one of the top 50 Egyptian women impacting the economy of Egypt.

Member Bio image

Emad Barsoum

Independent Board Member

Emad Barsoum has a 30-year professional track-record combining corporate senior executive management and private equity investing. He is currently the founder and Managing Director of Ezdehar, an Egyptian private equity fund manager with first class investors such as the EBRD, the European Investment Bank, and several HNWIs targeting investing in Egyptian mid-cap growth companies. The fund was raised at a particularly difficult timing and now the firm is one of the most prominent PE players in Egypt. Previously, he was co-founder of 8 Miles LLP, a UK based, Africa focused private equity manager with $200M supported by investors like the IFC, CDC, and the African Development Bank. The fund invested in several African countries such as Egypt, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Uganda. Prior to 8 Miles, Emad spend 10 years with Orascom Telecom in roles such as CEO of Wind Hellas (Greece) leading one of Europe’s largest debt restructuring, Chairman and CEO of the OrasInvest group (Middle East) growing the firm from $20M to $180M in 5 years, and CFO of Djezzy (Algeria), setting up the company and leading it to profitability and extraordinary margins in record time. Prior to OT, Emad had spent 10 years in New York, working for engineering firms such as Parsons Brinckerhoff on earthquakes’ impact on complex suspension bridges like the Golden Gate Bridge.

Emad holds an MBA from INSEAD, France, a PhD and M.Sc. in Engineering Mechanics from Columbia University in New York, and a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering from Cairo University. Emad also serves as an investment committee member for Sanad, a financial inclusion impact fund managed by the German Finance-in-Motion, sits on the investment committee of Egypt Ventures, a VC fund sponsored by the Egyptian government, and is a mentor with several organizations such as Endeavor and Flat6Labs, supporting entrepreneurs and family businesses to scale their companies.

Emad holds also several board roles, including chairman of the board of AluNile (the leading aluminum/glass manufacturer in Egypt) and Global Leasing Company, and sits on the board of Hesni Group, a textile manufacturer.

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