About Nassef Sawiris
In a July 2019 interview with ADNOC Insights, Nassef Sawiris discussed the rationale behind the joint venture between ADNOC and OCI, which created a global nitrogen fertilizer leader. Sawiris stated that the partnership allows the companies to optimize sourcing by serving regions from the most opportune production sites, reducing "criss-crossing cargoes" and providing customers with redundancy if one plant is down. He described the venture as a "win‑win proposition" that should add value for customers and both companies' bottom lines.
Sawiris noted that nitrogen fertilizers grow at around 2% per annum, driven by population growth and changing diets, and called fertilizer "the single largest value item in the food chain." He said the fertilizer industry had suffered from overcapacity but expressed cautious optimism about a brighter few years ahead due to consolidation. Sawiris also emphasized the importance of disciplined capital allocation and described Abu Dhabi as "our home," citing its operating stability and legal system as reasons for establishing OCI's headquarters there.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Nassef Sawiris's recent appearances.
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Transcript (15 segments)
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Michelle Kindy0:10
Volumes of high-value products efficiently as part of this strategy. ADNOC and OCI have recently announced forming a new joint venture, creating a global nitrogen fertilizer leader. Today we speak with Nassef Sawiris, CEO of OCI and the new joint venture. I am Michelle Kindy, and this is ADNOC Insights.
Welcome, Nassef, to ADNOC Insights. Thank you. So how does this new partnership with ADNOC add value to your business?
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Nassef Sawiris0:49
I think it crystallizes our various locations in terms of positioning them to serve certain... being created, you'd see products coming out of ADNOC going to Brazil and Latin America, and products coming out of the Mediterranean going into Asia and India, and basically criss-crossing cargoes all the time. Right now, that process of optimizing sourcing to our customers from the most opportune production site should add great value for our customers and for both partners and the joint venture. So we're very excited about it. And we give the customer redundancy: one plant is down, he has multiple plants that can source product.
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Michelle Kindy2:10
Fertilizers grow at around 2% per annum with the growth of population, plus the increased protein intensity and the better eating patterns. So fertilizer is a key ingredient to the farm economy. It's the most single largest value item in the food chain. So we think it will play quite an important role. The AG industry has been having some tough times in recent years; it's improving this year, and the fertilizer industry suffered from overcapacity.
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Nassef Sawiris3:11
The idea of how to monetize natural gas: our region has significant natural gas resources, and one of the obvious choices for monetizing natural gas is petrochemicals. And we got involved in fertilizers, and this was about 12, 14 years ago when we first started planning our first projects, and we found it to be intriguing and rewarding.
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Michelle Kindy3:42
So you have extensive experience in a number of businesses which are quite different from each other. How does that help you become successful?
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Nassef Sawiris3:52
I think you try to take away from one industry what could... what is very important is to emphasize that ultimately every business is a people's business, and you're as good as your youngest employee, as they say. So these are two principles that don't change across a lot of businesses. So you can deploy the capital wisely, but you still, at the end of the day, require the right well-trained, motivated human resources to make a success happen.
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Michelle Kindy4:43
So if you could go back and meet the 20-year-old you and give one piece of advice, what would that be?
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Nassef Sawiris4:50
I'd still go to the University of Chicago and study economics.
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Michelle Kindy5:11
So what are the most attractive... of distribution is key, a key opportunity. What are the key challenges that you encounter?
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Nassef Sawiris5:18
Sometimes we encounter overcapacity in the industry, which puts a strain on pricing and hence on cash flows. And that has to do sometimes also with cyclicality of the AG sector, but a lot of times with overexpansion. So we have to be mindful to right-size our growth ambition, not to create too much capacity that comes back to hurt our existing platform.
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Michelle Kindy5:49
So what makes Abu Dhabi so attractive?
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Nassef Sawiris5:53
Everything. I consider Abu Dhabi our home... welcoming and engaged human resources. So I think it's a perfect place to establish our headquarters.
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Michelle Kindy6:23
Thank you very much for joining us.
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Nassef Sawiris6:24
Thank you. Thank you.
