Andrew Shaw

Position: Managing director, Dubai Cable Company

Biography: Andrew Shaw was appointed managing director of Dubai Cable Company (Ducab) in 2007. Prior to this, he was chief executive officer (CEO) of Shanghai-based Prysmian Cables & Systems, where he was responsible for three manufacturing units.  Shaw was previously managing director of Prysmian in Malaysia, but began his career in the Gulf, working for the UK/Dutch Shell Group in Oman. Since Shaw’s appointment, Ducab has completed a series of major expansions with the acquisition of a second factory in Abu Dhabi and the commissioning of the UAE’s first copper rod factory in mid 2008. It is now one of the region’s largest energy cable manufacturers, employing more than 1,000 people in three facilities. Shaw qualified as a mechanical engineer at Imperial College London in 1984 and has an MBA from the London Business School.

Contact Tel: (+971) 4808 2500

Hussain Salman al-Lawati

Position: Vice-chairman and managing director, Oman Cables Industry (OCI)

Biography: Hussain Salman al-Lawati is co-founder of Oman Cables Industry (OCI), which was established in 1984 in Muscat, Oman. As managing director of OCI, Al-Lawati is responsible for the overall strategic management of the company. Al-Lawati has more than 40 years’ industrial experience, 33 of which have been in the electrical and cable industry. Al-Lawati is chairman of the Oman Chamber of Commerce & Industry’s industry and specifications committee. In 2005, OCI expanded further by investing in a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) manufacturing plant in Muscat, and again in 2007, when it concluded an agreement for an aluminium rod and conductor manufacturing plant, located next to the Sohar Aluminium smelter at Sohar Port. A feasibility study has been completed and an agreement between Oman Oil Company and OCI was concluded in 2008.

Contact Tel: (+968) 2444 6464

Khaled Alireza

Position: Chairman, Saudi Cable Company

Biography: Khaled Alireza is chairman of Saudi Cable Company, which was established in 1975. Alireza is also chairman of global holding company Xenel Industries, which he founded in 1973. Xenel conducts various industrial, medical, petrochemicals, oil and gas, electricity, water, power, telecoms, maintenance and operation activities. In addition to his work with Xenel and Saudi Cable Company, Alireza sits on the boards of several local companies including steel company Hidada, solvent manufacturer Safra and Nippon Electric Saudi Arabia. Alireza is also a member of the US-Saudi Arabian Business Council. He is a trustee of the Al-Falah Advisory Committee at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Oxford University Centre for Islamic Studies in the UK. Alireza earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in industrial engineering and operation research at the University of California.

Contact Tel: (+966) 2638 0080

Hikmat Saaduddin al-Zaim

Position: Chairman and managing director, Riyadh Cables Group.

Biography: Hikmat Saaduddin al-Zaim is a member of the family that runs the Al-Zaim Group, which is a major shareholder in the Riyadh Cables Group. Al-Zaim Group is a prominent Saudi-owned company principally involved in construction, engineering, manufacturing, trading, real estate and technology. Group sales were more than $3bn in 2007. The Saudi Modern Company for Cables Industry (Riyadh Cables Group of Companies) was established in 1984 by Hamdi Saaduddin al-Zaim, who still sits on the board of directors. The group consists of four major companies: Riyadh Cables, Riyadh Cables & Metals, Riyadh Electric Wires and Riyadh Telephone Cables. The largest cable manufacturer in the Middle East, with a market share of almost 25 per cent, Riyadh Cables has an annual turnover of more than SR5bn ($13.4bn).

Contact Tel: (+966) 1265 0850

Sadek el-Sewedy

Position: Chairman, El-Sewedy Cables

Biography: In his role as chairman of El-Sewedy Cables, Sadek el-Sewedy has spearheaded the company’s international growth, establishing cable companies in Ghana, Sudan and Syria since 2005. In May, El-Sewedy announced the establishment of a plant in Aden, Yemen, with the local Hassan & Massoud Company. El-Sewedy has also been behind the company’s investment in new technology to drive the company through the financial downturn. The El-Sewedy family began their operations in Cairo in 1938 as electrical equipment traders, before developing the business into cable manufacturing in the 1960s, and established Egypt’s first private sector cables factory in 1984. El-Sewedy Cables is the second-largest cables producer in the region. El-Sewedy obtained his BSc in Electrical Engineering from Cairo University in 1986 and since then has been heavily involved in the family business.

Contact Tel: (+202) 2418 7361

Hesham Helal el-Sewedy

Position: Chairman and CEO, Energya Industries

Biography: Cairo-based Energya Industries, which has been operating since the 1930s, is a multi-disciplined business group operating under the umbrella of Helal el-Sewedy Holding. Hesham Helal el-Sewedy is a member of the Saudi family that founded Helal el-Sewedy in the kingdom in the 1960s. Under its Energya Cables division, which operates in more than 12 countries in Africa and Asia, the company owns two major energy cable producers: Jeddah Cables Company, which represented 10 per cent of the region’s energy cable production in 2008, and Egypt’s Giza Cable, which was established in 1984. Aside from his duties as chairman and CEO of Energya Industries, Hesham el-Sewedy has helped launch several social initiatives, including the Egypt Education Initiative in 2007, which is expected to benefit 820,000 children in 2,000 schools, and an Egyptian division of the charity Young Arab Leaders.

Contact Tel: (+202) 2290 3561