• At Investopia 2025, Sawiris suggested merging Dubai and Abu Dhabi stock exchanges to attract more listings and increase liquidity.
• He revealed that 1,500 Egyptian companies moved to the UAE in 2024, with many considering listing on Dubai and Abu Dhabi exchanges.
• Sawiris suggested merging Dubai and Abu Dhabi stock exchanges to attract more listings, enhance liquidity, and strengthen the UAE’s financial market.

Stock Exchange

What happened?  Egyptian billionaire, Naguib Sawiris, recently made statements at Investopia 2025 in Abu Dhabi. In his statements, he discussed the increasing financial strength of UAE’s capital markets in the region. 

Sawiris explained that in 2024, around 1,500 Egyptian companies moved to the UAE with many looking to list on the stock exchange. He further states that his advice is that the Dubai and Abu Dhabi stock exchanges should merge to attract more listings.

The UAE has three stock exchanges, the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, Dubai Financial Market and Nasdaq Dubai. If united, Sawiris argues that it would encourage firms to list in the region and improve liquidity.

“Last year, we saw 1,500 Egyptian companies move their headquarters to the UAE, and many of them are keen to list on the stock exchanges here in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, my one advice for the exchanges here is to unite, which will be such a powerful change that will drive more and bigger companies to list here.”

Naguib Sawiris, CEO and Chairman of Ora Developers

Egypt

What did he say about Egypt? The Chairman and CEO of Ora Developers also stated that there are “overambitious” mega projects being launched in Egypt which the Sawiris says “ “requires a lot of mega money that requires us to perhaps stop and take a look at the expenditures first before committing.”

Sawiris also states that these projects require a lot of foreign currency and that the country should rethink them. Reuters reports that he said “ mega projects that require a lot of foreign currency and we should have a second look at these projects.” 

Additionally, Sawiris also states that the dollar situation in Egypt is unstable and the pressure on local currency coupled with inflation no less than 30% are concerns that need addressing.

Advice for the Youth It is worth noting that Sawiris recently appeared in an interview on ON channel with Egyptian media personality Lamis El Hadidi. He said that his three pieces of advice for the youth is hard work, perseverance, diligence and faith in God.

The businessman also advised the youth they should never believe that something is impossible. He further advises that intelligence alone is not enough to reach success and that intelligence without hard work and perseverance does not lead to success.