Podcast · Business
by EnterpriseAM · English · Business
Six days a week, we help top executives make sense of the Arab world’s companies and economies — and every Thursday, our editor-in-chief, Patrick, talks shop with the people who run them. Making It is an hour where the founders, CEOs, investors, and policymakers making the biggest decisions in ou
8 Oct 2026 · 49 min
MNT-Halan’s IPO has been the talk of the market for a few weeks. So on this episode of Making It, Mounir Nakhla, the founder and CEO of MNT-Halan, joins Patrick to talk about why his company is going public, and why now is the right time.
1 Oct 2026 · 1 hr 4 min
What do you risk when you build your business on top of the world’s frontier AI models?
24 Sep 2026 · 47 min
For a few months, alarms have sounded across the board cautioning of an impending credit bubble. Are they warranted?
17 Sep 2026 · 53 min
Is Egyptian food having a moment? And more importantly, is our cuisine finally claiming its seat at the global table?
10 Sep 2026 · 48 min
After almost 50 years of competition, why would two companies choose to merge? Is it as simple as the big entity buying the smaller one, or is there more to the story? On this episode of Making It, Ahmed Ragab joins Patrick to share how things actually played out for him.
3 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 9 min
Foreign investors see a lot of potential in Egypt. Their optimism, however, is not necessarily shared by many inside Egypt. So where does the gap lie? On this episode of Making It, Neveen El Tahri joins Patrick to make the case for optimism.
27 Aug 2026 · 49 min
When Chinese cars first appeared in Egypt around a decade ago, they were met with backlash. Now, they’re everywhere. Why? And how? On this episode of Making It, Ankush Arora joins Patrick to break down how this happened, and why the pace of adoption is accelerating now.
20 Aug 2026 · 50 min
Past the doom and gloom, what the heck is actually going on with AI at the moment? On this episode of Making It, Tarek Assaad joins Patrick to decode the latest in AI.
13 Aug 2026 · 3 min
Making It is an hour where the founders, CEOs, investors, and policymakers making the biggest decisions in our region show their work and talk about what’s next.
14 Jul 2025 · 1 hr 4 min
For the last few decades, Sahel has cemented its place as a go-to summer destination for many. Clear waters. Crisp weather. Buzzing nightlife. Last year, the Ras El-Hekma deal swung the spotlight on the potential of Sahel as a regional investment hub. But what exactly are we building up there? In this special episode of Making It, we speak to Marakez Executive Vice Chairman Dasha Badrawi. Dasha stumbled onto the real estate industry in the mid-2000s, and he has been at its forefront ever since. Having been brought up in the UK, his ties to Egypt remained unwavering, and so did his penchant…
2 Mar 2025 · 43 min
After more than five years at Mashreq’s helm, Group CEO Ahmed Abdelaal is a well-known face in the regional banking industry and beyond. Ahmed has led the bank through an ambitious expansion strategy that has seen it recently open Mashreq Oman, in addition to Mashreq Neo in Egypt, as well as its digital banking platform for corporate clients in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar. We recently sat down in Dubai with Ahmed to speak at length about how he and his team see the road ahead. Resilience and adaptability, he thinks, will be key in a year that’s filled with uncertainty about…
2 Dec 2020 · 40 min
In 20 years of working in private equity, Hossam Abou Moussa has seen the makings of great businesses across industries in Egypt and other emerging markets. At Actis, he is a partner in the private equity business, as well as chief operating officer of the unit. Actis is one of the leading investors in emerging markets, and currently operates roughly USD 10 bn under management. In Egypt, they have invested in some of Egypt’s biggest companies, including CIB, Edita, International Diagnostics Holding, and Fawry. In our last episode of the season and the year, Abou Moussa outlines the…
18 Nov 2020 · 43 min
Hend El Sherbini took over her mother’s testing facility MK Lab in Egypt and rebranded it to Al Mokhtabar in 2004, with the intention of providing affordable and quality testing beyond Cairo. 16 years later, El Sherbini sits atop Integrated Diagnostics Holding, a merger of Al Mokhtabar and Al Borg. IDH is the first Egyptian company to list on the London Stock Exchange, and has since become a regional player with over 450 facilities across Egypt, Sudan, Nigeria and Jordan. El Sherbini speaks to the merits of institutionalizing her family business and highlights the role consolidation…
11 Nov 2020 · 41 min
Ali ElFakharany got hooked on sports data as a university student, and the blog he started to analyze the Egyptian Premier League blossomed into a company in 2017. But the local market was not ready for Arqam’s services, and so Ali turned to Europe. In 2019, Arqam was acquired by UK-based Statsbomb in a share swap agreement that retained Arqam’s team and Ali leading the data product. Today, Arqam’s data collection center in Egypt has become an essential service to 42 European and US clubs, including teams from the English Premier League, Germany’s Bundesliga, and the…
4 Nov 2020 · 42 min
Hisham Shawki and Nancy Zayed launched MagicCube in 2014 with the intention of eliminating the redundancy of hardware-based security currently used in mobile and IoT devices. The primary target of their technology is the USD 48 bn POS hardware market, a strategy that attracted investments from Visa and CIB’s VC arm CVentures. Beyond financial services, the security platform has major applications in industrial machinery, medical devices, and autonomous vehicles. The implications on emerging markets looking to improve financial inclusion are undeniable. By removing costly barriers to…
28 Oct 2020 · 43 min
With brick and mortar retail seeing declining growth in developed markets fueled by competition from e-commerce, Majid Al Futtaim tells a story that might look a little different in emerging markets. Malls here still see growing popularity and Majid Al Futtaim’s retail brands are household names in Egypt and the region. Ahmed Galal Ismail led Majid Al Futtaim Ventures for 10 years prior to his current role. Today, Ismail leads Majid Al Futtaim Properties, the arm responsible for malls, hotels, communities and project management within the conglomerate. His tenure managing the fashion,…
21 Oct 2020 · 43 min
If your business sells time — yours or your team’s or both — then this week’s episode is for you. Lawyering is perhaps the world’s second-oldest profession — and the source of endless jokes, the vast majority of them (pleasantly?) tasteless. Today’s episode features a lawyer — and an awfully nice one, at that — but think of him as a stand-in for every business in the service industry, from ad agencies to engineering consultants, PR types and accountants. From attracting and retaining talent, to creating culture and monetization, Bahaa…
14 Oct 2020 · 42 min
The majority of Egypt’s population are unbanked and have no access to financial services. Thanks to fintech players like Fawry, this is changing quickly — and for the better. When Ashraf Sabry founded Fawry in 2008, he knew he wanted to leverage his experience and technology in a business that had recurring revenue. Flash forward and, a decade later, Fawry is now a payments platform that connects over 29 mn customers through 166K service points across the country, and can be used for over 850 services ranging from utility bills and school tuition, to traffic fines and insurance.…
7 Oct 2020 · 44 min
Zooba sells taamiya, not falafel. When Chris Khalifa launched Zooba in 2012, the goal was to elevate Egyptian street food from cheap, delicious, everyday sustenance to a global brand. By 2020, Zooba’s value proposition had already shaped a loyal following at home and abroad with branches in Egypt, a franchise agreement in the GCC, and a New York outpost — opened just before covid-19 hit. Chris talks to us about what it takes to change people’s perception on how much street food should cost through the power of a strong brand. We discuss introducing new food to foreign…
24 Jun 2020 · 43 min
Omar Hagrass, CEO of Trella On this week’s episode of Making It, we remotely sit down with Omar Hagrass, the CEO and co-founder of Trella, a digital trucking marketplace. The company’s application acts as a hub for shippers and carriers, eliminating the time-consuming and inefficient manual process of using brokers. Trella is a relatively new company, raising an impressive USD 600k pre-seed round led by Algebra Ventures in 2019. They joined and graduated the Y Combinator program shortly after, acquired their Egyptian rival Trukto to become the largest trucking marketplace in the…
10 Jun 2020 · 37 min
Hoda Mansour, Managing Director of SAP Egypt and Frontier Markets Hoda Mansour was twice recognized by Forbes as one of the most influential businesswomen in the Middle East for her work in SAP in the UAE, Oman, and Egypt. SAP’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software is among the most widely used across the world, at a time when the livelihood of many businesses hinges on establishing a digital presence. She details the reasons multinationals find Egypt attractive, and outlines how to prepare for the mass adoption of automation services and its impact on the workforce. Making It…
3 Jun 2020 · 41 min
Algebra Ventures Managing Partners Tarek Assaad and Karim Hussein From a background of senior positions at multinationals, Algebra Ventures Managing Partners Tarek Assaad and Karim Hussein are driven by a belief that tech and entrepreneurship can enable tangible change in a region where basic services can often be major inconveniences. Established in 2015, Algebra Ventures is a USD 54 mn venture capital fund that invests in early stage tech startups in the MENA region. The fund is the largest of its kind in Egypt. Assaad and Hussein outline the most important features they look for in…
13 May 2020 · 31 min
Sahar Salama, Founder and CEO of TPay Mobile In a country with low banking penetration and high mobile adoption, Sahar Salama saw a business opportunity in creating a payment solution through telecom operators. She used her experience at Link Development to create a direct operator billing model and launched TPay Mobile in 2014. Launched in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE simultaneously, they now operate in over 18 markets across MENA covering almost 51 mn transactions a day. The company made headlines in 2017 by making the first wholesale acquisition of a fintech company in Egypt when they…
6 May 2020 · 39 min
Having served as Executive Advisor for Microsofinance at Banque du Caire and then as head of the microfinance and SMEs division at the Bank of Alexandria, Amro Abouesh believed in private sector financing as a means to enable social mobility within the low income sector of society. By founding Tanmeyah in 2009, Amro effectively launched private microfinance in Egypt and helped bring in Egypt’s leading private equity, commercial and investment banks. Today Tanmeyah sits at the top of the industry with over 270 branches across the country and an EGP 3.5 bn portfolio. Abouesh walks us…
29 Apr 2020 · 39 min
Laila Sedky and Adel Sedky, Founder and CEO of NOLA As Founder and CEO of one of the most recognizable brands in the confectionary business, Laila and Adel understand the business of selling happiness. Their tenure at Nola saw them grow the brand beyond the flagship store in Zamalek to a confectionary giant with 25 stores across 7 cities. From leading the local cupcake craze to making pivotal decisions on the sustainability of their brand and the subsequent reorienting of their customers, all while dishing out fresh and exciting takes on classic Egyptian desserts, Laila and Adel are experts…
22 Apr 2020 · 47 min
Mohamed El Kalla, CEO of Cairo for Investment and Real Estate ( CIRA ). As the head of one of the largest private sector education operators, El Kalla is someone who understands the business of education. He has seen the seismic shifts in the industry over the past few decades: from family-owned businesses to corporations, from Cairo and Alex to the other governorates, from the super wealthy to the middle class, from individual shareholders to IPOs and private equity, and from the classroom to your home. CIRA has even led the way on a number of these trends. His tenure saw him lead the…
23 Jan 2020 · 29 min
TAM Gallery, formerly Arts Mart, started off as an online gallery that aimed to give new artists a chance to break into the Egyptian art world. Fast forward less than a decade later, TAM has three arms each aiming to give new artists and entry into the commercial world — and to bring new potential buyers into the market. The online gallery is still going strong, but is now complimented by a physical art space in 6th of October City as well as TAM Corporate that integrates art into public spaces. Lina Mowafy, the cofounder of TAM Gallery, started the business when, as a budding artist,…
16 Jan 2020 · 36 min
If you’ve ever been starving in Egypt without a kitchen anywhere in sight, it’s likely that you’ve tried a snack by Edita. Since its founding in 1996, the maker of such brands as Todo, Molto, Bake Rolz and Twinkies, expanded its product offering, grown its manufacturing capacity, and has even launched a factory in Morocco. It did this during the economic storm that came with the EGP float and 2016 and the high interest rate environment that has only just begun to subside. Today, Edita has done more than hold its own against some of the biggest global fast moving consumer…
19 Dec 2019 · 32 min
Hazem Moussa will forgive you if you’ve never heard of Sarwa Capital, because unless you’re a finance geek (like us), Sarwa is hardly a company whose name you’ll hear every day — even though there’s a reasonable chance Sarwa has been involved in your financial life one way or another. They own Contact Cars (the website and the car finance business). They sell insurance, mortgages and leasing solutions— as well as white label finance for car dealers. Oh, and they invented the notion of securitized bond offerings in Egypt. The son of a prominent diplomat,…
Six days a week, we help top executives make sense of the Arab world’s companies and economies — and every Thursday, our editor-in-chief, Patrick, talks shop with the people who run them. Making It is an hour where the founders, CEOs, investors, and policymakers making the biggest decisions in ou
Making It is a English business podcast from EnterpriseAM. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.
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