Osman's Success in The Arab Countries
In 1950, Osman traveled to Saudi Arabia. The Persian Gulf area was experiencing a huge boom in the construction sector, largely related to the oil boom. Osman was able to take advantage of this, and within a short period of time was carrying out multi-million dollar projects in Kuwait, Libya, Iraq, and the UAE, amassing a great deal of wealth. Osman mentions that in most of these countries, he found the construction markets dominated by monopolies and cartels of foreign companies.
In 1956, Osman returned to Egypt. By this time, the Egyptian revolution, led by Gamal Abdel Nasser, had taken place. Osman returned with a bang, winning a $48 million contract for Nasser's pet project, the Aswan Dam. However, Osman's entrepreneurial style was not compatible with Nasser's socialist revolution. Despite this, the Arab Contractors continue to thrive in Egypt, since Nasser's confrontational strategy with Israel required construction such as bunkers, airports, missile silos, etc.
In 1961, Nasser's regime fully nationalized the Arab Contractors. Osman was abroad at the time, and faced a choice of whether to return, or continue pursuing his wealth abroad. Osman returned to Egypt, claiming that he felt it his duty to his country and his employees. Osman pledged that the company would continue to operate at the same level regardless of who it was owned by, which seemed difficult at the time. Osman had practiced a wage-incentive program within his company, which would be illegal for any public sector company. However, after his success at the Aswan Dam project, Nasser allowed Osman to continue running the company, and a special law was passed to allow public sector companies, that did a substantial part of their business abroad (which was the case for the company), to be able to flexibly determine wages and incentives.
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