Mr.  Khaled Bichara was appointed the current Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Orascom Telecom in November 2009. Khaled Bichara’s appointment came 10 years after he joined the group. Prior to his position, Khaled Bichara was the Chief Operating Officer of the company. Appointed in April 2009, as COO. Mr. Khaled Bichara was charged with attending to the affairs of the Technical, Commercial, IT and Marketing Department of the company amongst others.

This is not Mr. Khaled Bichara’s first stint at the charge of helms. In the last 15 years Mr. Khaled Bichara has been responsible for the running of several other companies, the bulk of which can be found in the telecommunication and information technology field.

In 2000 Mr. Khaled Bichara was the Chairman CEO of LINKdotNET, widely considered to be the largest private internet service provider in the Middle East. During this period, Khaled Bichara was greatly involved in the negotiation of a partnership with Microsoft which resulted in the launching of the first Middle Eastern Global portal aimed at giving users in the region a better internet experience. This was epitomized by the unveiling of MSN Arabia.

A number of years again, Mr. Khaled Bichara was once again in charge of the affairs of another company, Wind Telecomunicazioni. During this period Khaled Bichara‘s position as Chief Operating Officer for the company meant that he was directly involved in the structural reconstruction of the company’s organization and affairs which resulted in an improvement in the performance and results of the company. In three years, this restructuring turned the company into one of the forerunners of the mobile, fixed line and broadband integrated operators within the continent.

In 2000, Khaled Bichara was appointed as the Chief Internet Strategist of Orascom Telecom Holding. Three years later Khaled Bichara again increased his position in the company when he became a member of the board of directors.

Khaled Bichara was named the “Young Executive of the Year” by Business Today (Egypt). The recognition, which was the first of its kind, was in light of his commendable achievements in this field. Khaled Bichara was 32 at the time.

Khaled Bichara is also a member of the Internet Society of Egypt, the Egyptian Electronic Commerce Committee and the Egyptian software association. Khaled Bichara actively participates as a member of the Software community found in the Middle East. Alongside these, Khaled Bichara is a valued member on the advisory board of the Computer Science and Engineering Department at the American University in Cairo, the university from which he earned his degree.

In describing the reasons behind his appointment as the CEO of Orascom, the company press releases said “Khaled Bichara is dynamic, energetic and will be able to draw on his (Khaled Bichara) successful experience in the restructuring of Wind to gear the Group into a more aggressive period of growth and transform OTH into a more innovative, integrated and agile global company.”

IT · Middle East