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Ahmed Mourad Salah El Din Zulfikar (15 August 1952 - 1 May 2010) (Arabic: أحمد مراد صلاح الدين ذو الفقار) was an Egyptian Mechanical engineer, entrepreneur. He is one of the very first to introduce modern irrigation systems technology in Egypt at the end of the 1970s
Early life
Ahmed Mourad Salah El Din Zulfikar was born in Abbassia neighborhood of Cairo to a well-off family. His father was the famous actor, producer Salah Zulfikar (1926-1993), who was a police officer at the time, and his mother was Mrs. Nafisa Bahgat (1928-1988), a pioneer in social work, as she is one of the first founders of the Women’s Association for the Improvement of Health with her close friend, actress Faten Hamama. He has one sister, Mona Zulficar, lawyer
Despite growing up in the midst of an artistic family, his father, Salah Zulfikar, a famous actor, and his uncles, Ezzedine Zulfikar and Mahmoud Zulfikar, were famous directors and producers in Egyptian cinema at the time, Zulfikar was not enthusiastic about working in the movie business. Despite his few participations when he was a young child at the age of one and a half in the movie “Bint El Geeran” in 1954, as well as limited participations in the films “Regal bela Malameh” in 1970, and “I want a solution” in 1975. He also turned down an important role in the movie “Empire M” starring Faten Hamama, but he chose another path away from fame that he disliked & become what he always wished for, a mechanical engineer
Career
Zulfikar began his career as a mechanical engineer in Arab Contractors. He participated in many projects, including Suez Canal expansion project, as well as the construction of the 6th October Bridge and others from 1976 to 1979
In 1979, Zulfikar resigned from working for Arab Contractors and traveled to study modern irrigation technology in Germany and returned to Egypt and established his first own company (TOCEG Misr) at the age of 27 years
He worked for over three decades in the design and construction of modern irrigation systems and had a major role in converting tens of thousands of acres from flood irrigation to modern irrigation in the period from 1979 to 2010
He participated in the establishment of golf courses with automated irrigation systems according to international standards. Not to mention touristic resorts all over Egypt.
Held many positions, including:
• Chairman of the Board of Directors of TOCEG Egypt
• Member of the Board of Directors of the Egyptian Center for Agricultural Services, Chairman of the Board
• Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Egyptian Company for Contracting and Modern Irrigation ECMI
• Consultant for Inter Group and other agricultural institutions in Egypt
• Lecturer at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Irrigation Department, Ain Shams University
Personal life
He is married and has two sons, Salah and Karim
During his high school studies, Zulfikar used to travel to London every summer to work, like many of his generation at that time. But in a specific trip in the summer of 1972. Still a university student, Zulfikar traveled and did not return at the beginning of the academic year as usual. As he studied Business Administration and worked in a food & beverage company, he achieved success, and after a year and a half, became a director of one of the company's branches, at the age of only 21 years. But his father's will was a game changer. He arrived at London and asked Zulfikar to return to Cairo and leave everything he had achieved to take his college degree, and indeed he returned and completed his studies, worked and settled in Egypt for the rest of his life. Zulfikar received his BA in Mechanical Engineering from Ain Shams University in 1976
Death
Ahmed Zulfikar died in Cairo of a heart attack at the age of 57