Dr. Ahmed Abu Ismail

The former Minister of Finance was born in the center of Samanoud on March 24, 1915. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce from Cairo University and obtained a PhD in Economics from the University of Birmingham in England in the economics of transportation. He was appointed as a professor of economics at the university and then as the dean of the Faculty of Commerce at Cairo University in 1959. He was also a member of the board of directors of the railway, Al-Ahli Bank and Bank of Egypt. He was instrumental in establishing Kuwait University in 1967 and was appointed as the head of the Economics Department there. He was appointed as the dean of the Faculty of Economics and Political Science in 1973. He assumed the position of Minister of Finance in 1974. He established the Bank of Cairo Far East in 1978 and appointed as Chairman of its Board of Directors for a period of 15 years. Then he assumed the position of Secretary General of the New Wafd Party in 1984 and chaired the Planning and Budget Committee of the People’s Assembly for more than 5 terms.

He was a unique model of a human being, as he was a brilliant university professor. Many ministers in Egypt and all Arab countries were his students. He was also a visionary man ahead of his time, with development projects that serve society, combat poverty and unemployment, and are studied as goals for sustainable development for the year 2030. He has provided many national services and projects in the city of Samanoud when he was a deputy in the People’s Assembly in the seventies. He established the sewage network, as well as introduced the electricity and telephone networks to it, and established a drinking water station. He was interested in technical education and established the School of Agriculture, the Mahalla Zayat Hospital, many health units, schools, and Al-Azhar institutes. He also built a Bridge at the entrance of Samanoud due to the high number of accidents to preserve the lives of the city’s residents.