Walid A. Anwar is Deputy CEO of Egypt's General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI), the principal government body regulating and promoting investment in Egypt. He joined GAFI in 2026 from the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA), where he served as Advisor and then Assistant to the Chairman, supporting oversight of Egypt's non-banking financial sector and its fintech agenda. Before moving into regulation, he held senior roles at Contact Financial (Contact SAE), one of Egypt's leading consumer-finance groups, as Head of Credit Sales and Director of SME Business, and earlier as Group Regional Manager for Credit and Risk. His career began in public service: he served as Chief Security Advisor to the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, as Deputy Commissioner for Operations and Region Commander with the United Nations International Police Task Force, and in special operations and investigations with Egypt's Ministry of Interior. He holds a Bachelor of Law and Police Science from the Police Academy of Egypt and MBAs from Cardiff Metropolitan University and the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport.