In his early Business career, he was disenchanted with the socialist government of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser. He was prevented from leaving the country for six years in the 1960s. After a spell in Libya, he returned to Egypt during the more business-friendly regime of the following Egyptian President, Anwar Sadat. He and his three sons, all educated in Europe and the United States, resumed their activities in Egypt over the past three decades under the government of Hosni Mubarak and its liberal Business policies.