51吃瓜

Opinions differ as to whether the precipitated a culture of entrepreneurship. Some say that gives the revolutions too much credit over the already-growing sentiment among the youth; others believe it directly stimulated a new mentality.

鈥淛anuary 25 [2011] was all about, 鈥榃e can change our destiny,鈥欌�� reflects Con O鈥橠onnell, an angel investor and co-founder of聽聽and co-founder and business development lead at聽. 鈥淚t gave the youth an enormous amount of confidence to break out of a system that made them apathetic: There鈥檚 no point doing it, it won鈥檛 work. No point doing it because it鈥檚 too bureaucratic.鈥�

What is certain, however, is the startup scene in Egypt has grown substantially in the past five years. New institutions and players have emerged, including the聽,听 补苍诲听聽(leased from the American University of Cairo), which houses many startups鈥� and mentors鈥� offices as well as entrepreneurship events. Of the nearly 50% growth in ecosystem stakeholders since 2010 across the Middle East, Egypt claims a quarter of these new institutions supporting entrepreneurship.

It used to be that 鈥渢he idea of starting a business was alien to everyone,鈥� says O鈥橠onnell. 鈥淵ou couldn鈥檛 go and ask for someone鈥檚 daughter鈥檚 hand in marriage. [They鈥檇 ask] what do you do? I鈥檓 an entrepreneur. Are you a doctor or engineer? There鈥檚 even a government website where they ask for your profession, and they only have five choices.鈥�

This burgeoning startup culture grows at speed to be proud of, argues Gamal Sadek, co-founder of聽, an award-winning traffic information mobile app operating in Cairo and Alexandria. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 unusual for societies to adapt so quickly, as we have adapted.鈥�

While the startup ecosystem may be growing, starting a company in Egypt comes with its challenges. 鈥淢aking business in Egypt is really tough,鈥� remarks Mahmoud Abdelfattah, founder of聽, a price comparison website featuring over 1 million products across four countries鈥� online retailers. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really hard for small companies.鈥�

Challenges abound such as electricity shortages, congested traffic jams that slow your ability to manage multiple meetings a day, a close-knit monopolistic corporate culture in which established companies rarely engage with startups, or 90-day payment cycles that may be the death of a cash-strapped startup.

However, woven in with these challenges is another narrative wherein young Egyptians are starting social enterprises, for-profit businesses solving social and environmental challenges.

鈥淲e鈥檙e becoming leaders in building more sustainable societies. It鈥檚 one of the stories we should be boasting about,鈥� says Dina Sherif, co-founder of聽, a social impact training, advisory and investment firm based in Cairo and operating regionally.

Ahead of the Curve has invested in two such companies:聽聽renovates kiosks to not only modernize the aesthetics of Cairo streets, but to also increase the functionality of these major retail hubs by giving people access to relevant information via community bulletins, a place to recycle their garbage and turning these kiosks into civic hubs. Tatweer has recently moved beyond their pilot phase of five kiosks and aims to renovate 500 kiosks in the coming years. Another company,听, aims to tackle traffic by getting cars off the streets and offering membership-based buses that cater to the upper- to middle-classes (who statistically drive the most cars on the roads) by equipping the buses with Wi-Fi, and ensuring their cleanliness, comfort and safety.

Yet these encouraging examples 鈥渕ay run out of gas if there aren鈥檛 success stories,鈥� cautions O鈥橠onnell. 鈥淭his is the time to show up in Egypt and invest,鈥� adds Sadek. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 lacking in the ecosystem by far are the VCs [venture capitalists]. There are so many opportunities, but we see the opposite 鈥� there is a big gap in [local] financing available.鈥�

Instead, investors from outside the region are starting to take notice. 鈥淣ow you have these guys from Sweden and from the UK coming and cherry-picking the startups that were right under [the local investors鈥橾 noses,鈥� O鈥橠onnell exclaims. 鈥淲ake up!鈥�

*[This feature was originally published by聽, a partner institution of聽51吃瓜. Other podcasts can be found at the Kerning Cultures聽.]

The views expressed in this article are the author鈥檚 own and do not necessarily reflect 51吃瓜鈥檚 editorial policy.