Board of Directors
Alaa Arafa
Vice-Chairman and Managing Director
Dr. Arafa was born on 21st, of November 1958 in Alexandria and Graduated at Ain Shams University in Cairo (“Faculty of Medicine”). After graduation, Dr. Arafa joined his father in managing and developing industrial and commercial activities in Egypt for textile and apparel sector. Since then, such activities have gradually grown and led to the establishment of a Holding (“Arafa Holding” listed in Cairo Stock Exchange in 2004) that is, today, a prominent apparel and textile manufacturer and fashion retailer in Egypt and UK.
In addition to his major investments in fashion, Dr. Arafa has been actively investing in other industries including real estate, agriculture, energy, cement and food where he co-founded and was a key shareholder & Board member of Citadel Capital – the largest private equity firm in the Middle East and Africa. Also Dr. Arafa co-founded and served as a Board member of CIIC, one of the first and largest private investment banks in Egypt. In addition to serving as the Chairman of the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies, one of the most sophisticated non-profit think tanks and research Organization in Egypt.
Maria Luisa Cicognani
Non-executive Chairperson & Independent board member
Mrs. Luiza currently serves as the Non-Executive Director and Chairperson of the LSE-listed Mobius Investment Trust PLC, and serves as a Non-Executive Director and Chairperson of the remuneration committee at TBC Group PLC also a LSE-Listed company. Mrs. Luisa is also a Senior Advisor on the financial institutions at Frontera Capital Group in Abu Dhabi.
She previously served as a board member at UBI Banca in Italy and as a Non-Executive Board Member at Azimut International Holding SA in Luxembourg. Before that, Mrs. Luisa was heavily involved in financial institutions investment banking, M&A activities by holding managing director FIG at Renaissance Capital and Director of FIG at Merrill Lynch London’s office, and before that she spent 8 years at European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) London office.
Mrs. Luiza holds a bachelor degree with highest honors in business and administration from Bocconi University in Italy, a master degree in international relations from the International University of Japan, and a doctoral degree in Japanese studies and international economics from the Johns Hopkins University in Washington DC.
Ahmed Abohendeya
Mr. Ahmed Abohendeya is a representative of Rolaco EGB Investment.
He is a cassation advocate and a legal advisor for many institutions and individuals in Egypt and other Arab region and foreign countries, he is an authorized arbitrator at the Egyptian Ministry of Justice and the Cairo Regional Center for International Commercial Arbitration. He currently serves as the chairman of the Insurance Protection Fund and a board member of many reputable firms like Elsewedy Electric and the Housing and Development Bank.
Mr. Ahmed holds a license of law from Ain Shams University 1987.
Mohamed Daoud
Non-Executive Board Member
Mr. Mohamed Daoud sits on the Board of Arafa Holding. He is also Chairman and Member of the Board of Mohamed Ahmed Daoud and Partners for Trading; Mohamed Ahmed Daoud and Partners for Engineering and Industrial Investments and Mohamed Ahmed Daoud for Electrical and Mechanical Industries “Madeco.” He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree.
Ahmed Yazid
Non-Executive Board Member
Ahmed Yazid is currently the Investment and Business Development Manager at Orascom Development “OD”, involved in the execution of the Group’s M&A transactions, as well as initiating and incorporating new projects across all OD’s international projects. Prior to joining OD, Mr. Yazid was at Catalyst Partners “CP”, a Private Equity firm focusing on Medium Size Enterprises space in Egypt. Mr. Yazid was involved in the ‘Enterprise Development’ and ‘Investment Banking’ functions of CP, handling the transformation process of acquired companies. Previously, Mr. Yazid worked in Akanar Partners, an Investment Banking firm and participated in both buy and sell-side M&A and ECM transactions, across a variety of sectors. Mr. Yazid received his BA with honors in Economics from Modern Sciences and Arts University, Egypt.
Mohamed Zaghloul
Non-Executive Board Member
Mohamed Zaghloul is currently Board Member and VP of Hospitality Developments and Head of Project Financing for the Egyptian Engineers Group as well as the Co-Founder of Supply-Me a Consumer Finance Company. Mohamed graduated from the American University in Cairo with a bachelor’s degree in Construction Engineering. Since then, Mohamed has been able to expand his working field from construction project management, delivering projects like the renovation of Tiba Mall and the handover of The Radisson Blu Cairo Hotel. Following, Mohamed transitioned to property management and development, leading the enhancement of revenues and turnarounds of retail projects like Golf City Mall, hospitality projects like Radisson Blu Cairo and total development of the new property Cairo Complex which is a multi-purpose property. Mohamed’s role in managing properties entails analyzing market needs and shifting the properties to areas where the optimized monetization of the revenue is delivered. In 2016 Mohamed Co-Founded Supply-Me a Consumer Finance company that has been extremely active in the field of consumer commodities; his role is to devise and implement best strategies for consumer acquisition.
Mohamed Morsy
Morsy has more than 20 years of experience in the finance, banking and investment fields. He started his career in the Egyptian company for mobile services ‘’Mobinil’’ serving in building up the corporate network in the North Area and Delta moving in 1999 to the banking industry in corporate banking at the Arab Bank for more than 9 years then Barclays Egypt for another 3 years during his banking career he led some key debt restructuring and acquisition finance projects in addition to some syndication finance for mega projects.
Morsy joined Arafa Holding in 2010 since then he led some key restructuring and investment ventures including the restructuring of the Company’s JV in Portugal and the British Subsidiary Baird Group, where he serves a board member, and he led restructuring process for Goldentex Wool Company -the textile arm of the group- through comprehensive turnaround for all operational and administrative areas in addition to the establishment of the JV with Ermenegildo Zegna in Egypt, Camegit where he serves Vice chairman and Financial MD, Morsy also serves as a board member in Egyptian and offshore Arafa affiliates. Currently he holds the position of Chief Financial Officer and managing director for Financial Affairs at Arafa Holding.
Morsy was born on August 5th, 1978, received his Bachelor Degree in Finance from Alexandria University and received his accredited MBA from Michigan University in 2002. Morsy also received his certified corporate lending education by Chase Manhattan Bank in 2006.
Mohamed Talaat
Managing Director for Investments – Al Arafa Holding
Talaat has nearly 20 years of experience in the finance, investment, and retail fields. He started his career in corporate banking at the Arab African International Bank moving to the investment banking field with Beltone Financial, then co-founded the Egyptian Subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi based Investment Co. “Royal Group” that manages the private investments of H.H. Sheikh Tahnoun Ben Zayed Al Nahyan where he led several international investments for the Group in the renewable energy, real estate, financial services and hospitality fields. Talaat joined Arafa Holding in 2010 since then he led some key restructuring and investment ventures including the restructuring of the Company’s JV in Portugal and the British Subsidiary Baird Group, where he serves a board member, in addition to the establishment of the JV with Ermenegildo Zegna in Egypt, Camegit. He led the major change of ownership of Gruppo Forall, owner of the Italian men’s wear fashion house Pal Zileri. Talaat served as the Chief Transformation Officer and a board member of Pal Zileri in Italy and its international subsidiaries in USA, UK, France, China with a focus on the transformation program of the Company for three years. Upon returning to Egypt in 2016, he was appointed to lead the retail and wholesale business of Arafa Holding in Egypt where he is now the Vice Chairman and CEO of Concrete, leading its modernization, digitalization and international expansions. Talaat received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Cairo University, and his corporate lending education from Fitch Ratings, while he is also a CFA charter holder. Talaat served as a board member and Treasurer of the CFA Society in Egypt for 2 years and also served as a part-time instructor at the American University in Cairo for the CFA Program for 5 years.
Hani Berzi
Mr. Berzi has 35 years of experience in the food and beverage industry, having started his career in 1986 by joining Tasty Foods Egypt, his family’s snack food business. Mr. Berzi subsequently held the position of Sales and Marketing Vice President at Tasty Foods Egypt, after a sale of a part of its shares to PepsiCo, from 1990 to 1992. Mr. Berzi founded in 1993 Digma trading Co. specialized in distribution of food products and in 1996 he founded Edita food industries and remained as board member before he became the Managing Director and Chairman of the Board in 2006. Mr. Berzi is also a member of the Board of the Chamber of Food Industries and, a member of the Egyptian Centre for Economic Studies and is the Chairman of the Egyptian-Greek Business Council (Egyptian side) and is the Chairman of the Food Export Council and board member of the Export development fund. Previously, he was a member of the Boards of a number of companies, including Technopack in 1987, Rotopak in
1989 and Egypt Sack in 1997, and has also served as a Board Member of the Federation of Egyptian Industries. He graduated from Ain Shams University (Cairo, Egypt) with a BSc in Computer and Control Engineering.