Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris, chairman of the Middle East’s biggest mobile-phone operator Orascom Telecom Holding SAE, says nothing drives him more than being told something’s impossible.
“When I go anywhere and someone says ‘impossible,’ I laugh,” he told a gathering of young businessmen in Cairo last month. “In 90 percent of the cases, the impossible happens. A key feature in an entrepreneur is self-confidence. He must believe he’s Superman.”
The 56-year-old is trying to practice what he preaches. Undaunted by his failure to forge a deal with South Africa’s MTN Group Ltd. in June, Sawiris is now in talks to merge his phone business with Russia’s OAO VimpelCom, two people familiar with the matter said on Aug. 20. The transaction would create an entity valued at more than $25 billion.
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