Power Brokers: An Egyptian Billionaire and a UN Leader Reshaping Policy

Power in the modern world takes many forms. Naguib Sawiris wields it through capital, media, and cultural patronage. Ghada Wali wields it through multilateral diplomacy and policy at the highest levels of the United Nations. Sawiris built Orascom Telecom into one of the largest mobile operators in the Middle East and Africa before orchestrating its sale and pivoting to investments in technology, media, and entertainment. But his most enduring legacy may be the El Gouna Film Festival, which he founded on Egypt's Red Sea coast. In just a few years, it has become one of the most prestigious film events in the Arab world, giving Egyptian and regional filmmakers a platform that rivals the established European circuit. Wali's trajectory is different but equally formidable. As Egypt's former Minister of Social Solidarity, she designed and implemented the Takaful and Karama programs, cash transfer initiatives that reached millions of Egypt's most vulnerable families. When the United Nations appointed her as Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, she became one of the highest-ranking Egyptians in any international organization. What Sawiris and Wali share is a fundamental belief that Egypt's influence should be proportional to its history. A nation that built the pyramids and invented writing should not be a spectator in global affairs. Whether through the soft power of cinema or the hard power of international policy, both are ensuring that Egypt's voice carries weight in the rooms where decisions are made.