A note from Patrick

More from Making It All episodes →

1. 

   10 Sep 2026 · 48 min

   The mechanics of retail with Baraka’s Ahmed Ragab

   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.

2. 

   3 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 9 min

   Why Rep. Neveen El Tahri is optimistic

   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.

3. 

   27 Aug 2026 · 49 min

   The Chinese takeover with Ankush Arora

   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.

4. 

   20 Aug 2026 · 50 min

   Decoding AI with Tarek Assaad

   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.

5. 

   13 Aug 2026 · 3 min

   Making It: A preview

   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.

6. 

   14 Jul 2025 · 1 hr 4 min

   Special: Doing it differently | Marakez Exec Vice Chairman Dasha Badrawi

   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…

7. 

   2 Mar 2025 · 43 min

   Special: Building an innovative bank — and how to lead it — with Mashreq Group CEO Ahmed Abdelaal

   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…

8. 

   2 Dec 2020 · 40 min

   How to fundraise with Actis Partner Hossam Abou Moussa

   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…

9. 

   18 Nov 2020 · 43 min

   Growing a diagnostics powerhouse with Integrated Diagnostics Holding CEO Hend El Sherbini

   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…

10. 

    11 Nov 2020 · 41 min

    Playing moneyball with Arqam FC CEO Ali ElFakharany

    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…