1950: Onsi Sawiris founded a construction company in Upper Egypt
1961: The construction company was nationalized & Onsi Sawiris left for Libya where he continued his construction career
1976: Onsi Sawiris returned to Egypt and founded Orascom Onsi Sawiris & Co (the Predecessor Partnership) as a general contracting and trading company
1985: the Predecessor Partnership established its first overseas company, Contrack, in McLean, Virginia to pursue USAID and US government financed construction projects in Egypt
1990: By the early 1990s, the Predecessor Partnership had established itself as Egypt’s leading private sector building materials and construction contractor. Working with domestic and international partners, members of the Sawiris family also established several building materials manufacturing companies in Egypt
1991: Contrack was recognized as a Top 400 US Contractor by Engineering News Record (ENR) for time
1995: In the mid-1990s, Mr. Sawiris transferred management control to his son, Nassef Sawiris, who embarked upon an ambitious diversification strategy through investments in complementary businesses such as cement and building materials.
1998: The Predecessor Partnership was converted from a limited partnership into a joint-stock company and renamed Orascom Construction Industries S.A.E. (OCI S.A.E.), under which all the construction and building materials industries companies owned by the Sawiris family were consolidated.
1999: OCI S.A.E. launched an initial public offering of its shares on the Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchanges (now the Egyptian Exchange) at a value of approximately $ 600 million, instantly becoming company on the Egyptian Exchange.
2002: OCI S.A.E. launched an expansion strategy and added projects in Algeria and Tunisia for time, as well as significantly expanding its presence in Qatar.
2003: Orascom was recognized as a Top 225 International and Global Contractor by Engineering News Record f