Dr. Mostafa Madbouly: The Engineer Who Led Egypt Towards Major Transformations
In a pivotal moment of moder Egyptian history, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi chose Dr. Mostafa Kamal Madbouly to form the Egyptian government on June 7, 2018, succeeding Engineer Sherif Ismail. This made the prominent architect and planner the Prime Minister during one of the most critical periods requiring a balance between construction and reform, and between development and long-term planning.
Dr. Mostafa Madbouly was born in 1966 and graduated from the Faculty of Engineering at Cairo University in 1988 with a specialization in architecture. He then pursued a distinguished academic career, earning a Master's degree in Urban Planning from Cairo University in 1992, a Diploma in Advanced Urban Management Studies from the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies in Rotterdam, Netherlands, in 1993, and a Ph.D. in Architectural Engineering (Urban Planning) in 1997, in partnership between Cairo University and Karlsruhe University in Germany.
Dr. Madbouly's academic background was just the beginning of a professional career that spanned Egyptian and international institutions. He progressed through urban planning positions, starting at the General Organization for Physical Planning, where he served as Vice President and then CEO. He later became the Executive Director of the Housing and Building National Research Center and then the Regional Director for Arab States at the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) from 2012 to 2014, gaining deep international experience in sustainable urban development.
In February 2014, Dr. Madbouly was appointed Minister of Housing, Utilities, and Urban Communities, a position that witnessed a major boom in Egypt's housing sector. He oversaw the launch of unprecedented national projects, most notably the Social Housing Project, the New Administrative Capital, and fourth-generation cities, leading him to be described as the "architect of modern Egyptian urban expansion."
Madbouly's name remained prominent in the executive scene during critical periods. President El-Sisi assigned him the duties of acting Prime Minister in November 2017 during the then-Prime Minister's medical treatment, which was considered a natural prelude to his assumption of the premiership a few months later.
Since taking office in 2018, Dr. Madbouly has worked to complete the economic reform process, while strongly pushing forward social protection files, improving the investment climate, and expanding the scope of national projects. He also managed crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the repercussions of the Russian-Ukrainian war on the Egyptian economy.
He has also paid special attention to infrastructure development, smart transportation, and digital transformation, which has enhanced the state's ability to interact with global changes and raised Egypt's ranking in international development reports.
Dr. Mostafa Madbouly is known for his planning vision that links reality with future opportunities, which is evident in the government's approach to building new cities, developing the Egyptian countryside, the "Decent Life" program, and development initiatives with social and economic dimensions.
Dr. Madbouly remains a model of a technocratic official who has been able to transition his expertise from academic halls and planning institutions to executive leadership, leaving his mark on Egypt's present and shaping the features of its future.
