Ali al-Dahwi

10 March 2010

Ali al-Dahwi is chief executive officer, Zain Iraq

Ali al-Dahwi

Company: Zain Iraq
Position: Chief executive officer (CEO)

Biography: Ali al-Dahwi is CEO of Zain Iraq, part of the Kuwaiti telecoms group formerly known as MTC. Al-Dahwi left Baghdad in 1972 to complete a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering at the University of Texas in the US.

He later worked in software development at US firm Accugraph as executive vice-president for international operations, before moving to Telnix, also in the US, where he served as chairman and CEO.

He returned to Iraq in 2004 as general manager of MTC Atheer, securing a 15-year licence for the mobile operator in 2007. Al-Dahwi oversaw MTC’s acquisition of competitor Iraqna, from Egypt’s Orascom Telecom in 2007, and merged the two entities to form Zain Iraq.

Today, Zain is the largest mobile provider in Iraq with more than 10 million subscribers. The firm is the first and only operator to offer the BlackBerry mobile device in Iraq.

Contact: +964 154 10960
Company website: www.zain.com

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