The eldest of the Zaghloul brothers once wrote a business plan for Wi-LAN Inc. But don’t let that scare you.

The eldest of the Zaghloul brothers also bought shares in Yahoo in March 2000, when they were hovering around $200-plus US.

“Today it’s trading at $19,” groaned Essam Zaghloul, eldest of three brothers who are gaining a certain notoriety in the telecommunications field.

Don’t let that scare you, either.

Mike Sturk, Business Edge
Zaghloul brothers (from left) Ashraf, Hatim and Essam keep their heads together in soccer — and in business.

Essam Zaghloul also happens to be president and chief operating officer of NTG Clarity Networks, which went public on the Canadian Venture Exchange (NCI-CDNX) in early March. The company is debt-free, and pulled in revenues of $8 million ($500,000 net profit) in 2000.

In other words, it’s a publicly traded, Canadian-based, telecommunications company which is solvent, and actually makes money.

In the unsettled tech climate, that qualifies as hard news.

So, why does the name Zaghloul seem to be cropping up with such frequency within the Canadian telecom sector?

Let’s begin introductions with Hatim, the youngest at 45, and the sibling whose star is currently drooping on the horizon.

Everybody’s heard of him. And thousands of Wi-LAN investors may be wishing they hadn’t.

Hatim Zaghloul is the University of Calgary physics PhD who co-founded Wi-LAN Inc. in 1992, and who watched in stunned horror as the company’s TSE share price took a swan dive from $94 Cdn into Dante’s Inferno last year.

Hatim is also a former director (he has since resigned) of Cell-Loc Inc., run by his friend, Michel Fattouche, and which has also stumbled into serious difficulties.

Hatim remains a director of NTG Clarity Networks, and eldest brother Essam once worked in Wi-LAN’s executive suite, where he authored that business plan. But there, Essam insists, similarities end.

Though he makes no effort to distance himself from Hatim, (the brothers describe family ties as “solid”), he insists the strategic attacks of the two companies share little in common.

“The companies are very, very different, in strategies and style. Hatim’s on the board of NTG, but Ashraf (the Toronto-based brother, and NGT Clarity’s chairman and CEO) and I manage,” said Essam, 48.

“Wi-LAN is in the product-development department, it is about selling equipment. But we sell services and applications, it’s a very lucrative field, and we’ve been profitable ever since we decided to go into the telco field.”

Still, he was pleased to concede: “Wi-LAN opened a lot of doors for us, including helping the family name become known.

“From the things they did right, we learned. From the things they did wrong, we learned as well.”

Born in Egypt, raised in London, the brothers followed each other to Canada, with Ashraf leading the way in 1979.

He was trailed shortly thereafter by Essam, his geology PhD in tow. Once in Calgary, Essam and his degree naturally gravitated to the oilpatch, where he honed his managerial skills.

His resume includes a stint in Middle East exploration for Shell, and a term with Husky, where he served as EOR co-ordinator.

At CanOxy, Essam worked closely with his friend Bernard Isautier, the fabled oilpatch wizard who’s currently struggling to fend off a takeover bid for Calgary-based Hurricane Hydrocarbons Ltd.

But in the mid-1990s, Essam linked up with his “middle” brother at NTG Clarity, a company started by electrical engineer Ashraf in his basement, in 1992. After absorbing a loss that first year, it’s been pretty much onward and upward ever since.

Simply put, the company engineers, designs, and builds software and wireless networks for top-drawer clients such as TELUS, Bell Intrigna and Videotron. NTG Clarity also set up Talisman Energy’s wireless network in Sudan.

Some clients turn to NTG for consulting. Others send their people to acquire Cisco and Microsoft equipment training in the company’s Etobicoke classrooms. All that said, business is good.

“For three years in a row, we’ve been profitable,” Essam said. “We have between $3 and $5 million in the bank today.”

And now, the eldest Zaghloul brother has his heart set on the 40-million broadband wireless subscribers which industry soothsayers predict will have entered the world market by 2005.

So, why is Essam Zaghloul anxious to tell the world how well his company’s been doing?

Because he and Ashraf are trying to raise $10 million, to finance expansion of services in the U.S. and beyond.

But don’t let that scare you.

“There’s no fire sale, we’re not desperate,” the eldest of the Zaghloul brothers hastened to add. “Our cash flow is such we can run operations, do acquisitions, develop our products, and leave some profit at the end of the day.”