Word: osman
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Osman: Now don't act like a Jew. French champagne, of course...
...fishing trip, the Lotzes drove toward the camp and managed to get themselves arrested. "I was afraid they would simply send us away," says Lotz. "Fortunately, they took us straight into the base." Once there, Lotz talked the commandant into calling his old friend Brigadier General Fuad Osman, a highly placed Egyptian intelligence officer. The conversation, as Lotz recalls...
...Osman: Rusty, do you want to rot in jail, or will you pay up with a bottle of champagne...
Since business success stories in Egypt are rare, Osman has become something of a hero. Trained in engineering at the University of Cairo, he got his start in 1946 by borrowing supplies from shopkeepers in his home town of Ismailia to build a one-car garage. Profit: $15. He went on to construct schools and gained national attention in 1952, when, in a record 60 days, he rebuilt a village that had been destroyed by British troops in retaliation for guerrilla attacks. Expanding outside Egypt, he put up an airport in Saudi Arabia and the new Parliament building in Kuwait...
Bonuses for Productivity. As an Arab, Osman naturally has an edge over outside bidders. He has also taken to heart modern methods of cost accounting. Because he built Aswan and has never had a major cost overrun, he dominates the field for Egyptian construction contracts, most of them military. He employs no subcontractors, passing on the savings to his employees in productivity bonuses that sometimes amount to two or three times their wages. That way, he always has a reserve of trained labor on call. "I have three basic points in every project," he says. "In order of importance they...