12 Hours in Qina with S3Geeks, The Future of Upper Egypt

12 Hours in Qina with S3Geeks, The Future of Upper Egypt

Never had to upper Egypt before, this statement was broken last August with a 12 hours visit to Nag’ Hamady, Qina in Upper Egypt surrounding by a group of bright young men creating the future of Egypt and Upper Egypt while working on S3Geeks one of Egypreneur projects.

Had a very fruitful experience discussing the future of S3Geeks, best approach to building an entrepreneurial community in upper Egypt while enjoying one of the most delicious meals I ever had.

Raising funds and incorporating ..

Raising funds and incorporating ..

Hello Everyone,

During July had been my first experience directly communicating with investors to raise funds for my business, I had been having my friend Karim from Easy-up do it for me and we already got 6 investors interested but per the regulation of the Nilex I needed 25 to incorporate based on the model we had been working on.  But to accelerate things up, I had the chance to be in the position myself.

I consider the experience to be overall positive and I learned a lot from it. made a few mistakes; but normal for first timers I presume.

I did postpone launching the business web-site and start executing the business model till I get the funds I need – as I might need to optimize or even change the business model during negotiation , which put me in the position of doing “nothing” for the time I was mainly focused on raising the funds only.

Also role playing, looking at the situation from the investors’ point of view and asking myself the questions I’m expected to be asked during the meetings could have made a difference. Something I need to work on for upcoming opportunities.

As a big fan of ReWork I completely believe in their point of view expressed in “Outside money is plan Z”. Yes, I wish I’d go forward with no outside money, but it’s just feels exhausting for a long time. ReWork state the following reasons on why to consider outside money your plan Z:

  1. You give up control
  2. “Cashing out” begins to trump building a quality business
  3. Spending other people’s money is addictive
  4. It’s usually a bad deal
  5. Customers move down the totem pole
  6. Raising money is incredibly distracting

I really believe in these points even stronger now, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t need plan Z sometimes.

And I also believe in this as much too:
What were your first experiences raising funds? What tips would you advice a young entrepreneur to take into consideration while going through his first incorporation experience?

Two inspirational web companies for Entrepreneurs

Hi Everyone,

While getting ready to launch my company Al-Adham Web Solutions I was looking for inspiration about successful web companies. I didn’t need to go far from some tools that became essential to me. I’ll take you through a short introduction to the Two web companies I’m inspired with while thinking about my start-up.

First is Envato

Second is 37Signals

Egypreneur.com

Egypreneur.com

Through Egypreneur I’m seeking to establish a support network for sharing ideas and experience for those who started, starting or planning to start their own businesses. And for those who want to watch and learn too until they have a chance to get their hands dirty..

Egypt-Designers.com

Egypt-Designers.com


This group is the first step in establishing an online community for Egypt’s design professionals that will offer a communication and interaction portal that will help design professionals in Egypt excel in their careers and businesses and open opportunity for collaboration too, Insha’ Allah.

DeveloperMan.com

DeveloperMan.com

That blog is going to be my contribution to the development community, DeveloperMan is considered my developer brand, you know it’s sort of representation to my childhood SuperPower dreams; SpiderMan, BatMan, SuperMan, so thought to start with DeveloperMan.

#coE2010 Question to Mr. Arif about supporting a network of shared workplaces in the region


Watch on TwitVid: http://www.twitvid.com/QPYBX

As my entry in the contest to win a trip to  Celebration of Entrepreneurship conference in Dubai, I posted the following video asking Mr. Arif Naqvi CEO of Abraaj Capital about supporting a network of shared workplaces in the region. I had been using the Hub Cairo and discussing its vision, objectives and future with Ulrike the founder of the Hub Cairo.

I firmly believe that the idea can be transformational not only in Egypt but in different parts of the MENASA region as Abraaj Capital defined it.

Hope to meet Mr. Arif Naqvi for our 5 minutes interview and discuss it further and very much looking forward to expanding my connections during the conference and get more information and experience about entrepreneurship in the region that will come in handy while working on Egypreneur

Also, very much looking forward to be a part of the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Egypt through Egypreneur. We’re having some progress that will be announced soon.

As the views does count in winning the contest I’d appreciate your RTs, likes and spreading the video as much as you can.

The Salam Project 2009!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7gKStCakvU

Asalamo Alikum Everyone,

I was very happy being a part of the Salam Project 2009 on YouTube, amazing experience really being a part of that community.


Watch on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ckFXjDyq2w

Brother solitair1’s video just came a bit late and hadn’t been included:


Watch on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7gKStCakvU

Participants: theamericanmuslimah, SFAvfx, naiyyer, StrainSop, fredu89, MrCoolAbu, madina55, zahratalain missshiekh, SaboorahAmatuRahmaan, muslimslife, LekiiLekii, Mahmouddal82, SipahiWarrior, Egyptianguy1987 returnofthekhera, LoadingPleaseStandby, DeenandDawah, SunnahKnight, muslimkidstv, Histamine89, ruuhcassini, IslamResponses, qwertyfshag, Mahmouddal82, chestezzz, yeesshaa, Zulkarnayn, Amagdy1, solitair1

Special thanks to sister TheAmericanMuslimah, for the amazing initiative, that got me real happy 🙂

Great Women in Islam

Hi All,

This is a brilliant video about the value of women in Islam, going through the life of Aisha (RA) the wife of prophet Mohamed (PBUH)!!

God bless our great mother, and may anyone who curse her, either be guided or cursed in life and afterward!

Abdo

* Video credit goes to Truthpath on YouTube

Google Ebda2 – Project Management Tools

Google Ebda2 – Project Management Tools

s a part of Google Ebda2 Crash Course to entrepreneurs who passed the competitions initial phase, I would like to share the resources I mentioned during the presentation and chat more about project management and available tools.

I wanted to strengthen on the fact that project management for entrepreneurs should be approached as a very simple subject to get stuff done, by then project management for a startup entrepreneur is not a complete body of knowledge to educate – at this stage – but it’s only about deliverables.

Why am I proud of my father today?

Why am I proud of my father today?

Today, my father came to update me with the result of a legal case that seemed to have a story.

While attending a business networking dinner in London last September, I was sitting on the table with with a freelance writer who writes for the guardian, a lawyer who used to work in Egypt and a handful of finance/investment people, I was selling them on the potential of Egyptian entrepreneurs with a handful of examples we have chosen to feature with Egypreneur’s TLondonB campaign.

When we came to discuss what’s happening in Egypt, being ruled by the military and how it is perceived in the eyes of youth like myself, the story shared by my father seemed to grab everyone’s attention and initiate an interesting conversation.

After the discussion the journalist wanted to follow-up for a feature, but the story didn’t reach an end by this time.

Today, it did!

About ten years ago, yes that’s 10 years ago. My father was working as the executive director of the gardening department at the district of Maadi. Basically he was in charge of all the greenery in Maadi, my father’s bosses were former Army generals, whom in a meeting with the department, the former Army general ordered everyone to plant 1000 trees within a specific time frame within a specific area, seems like just for the sake of PR saying government planted X trees .etc

While everyone among my dad’s colleges was writing this down as a direct order from a superior officer, my father seemed to boldly disagree, stating that technically speaking, it’s impossible to plant 1000 trees in the gardens under his management, stating that will transform it into a forest not gardens. My father’s sense of direct disagreement was not something a former Army general is used to, so he seemed to GROWL on his comments while my father’s colleges are pointing for him to skip it, ignore it, don’t do it, even throw the 1000 trees in the Nile but never say NO to the general.

Technically it was impossible to plant more trees in the gardens, not even a fraction of this number, so while his colleges, used mislabeled plants as trees, order the number and then disposed them, built walls with them, my father did stick with his professional opinion to consider ordering 1000 trees a waste of government resources that’s needed somewhere else and that the maximum number of trees that can be planted is 320, which they already planted.

My father seemed to pay the price of this refusal as he got a management cut in his salary, working for the government doesn’t pay off any good anyway and it didn’t seem to make a difference, yet, my father has decided to take the case to the court.

But why?

In the battles we go through in life, it’s not about winning something, it’s not about defeating someone, but it’s about sticking with what’s right and what’s fair. Misusing government resources should be a crime, it is wrong and you shouldn’t be charged for refusing to do what is wrong.

If you accept something that goes against your values, goes against what you really stand for, you start losing your essence!

That’s when going to battle is not a matter of losses or gains, but it’s a matter of principles and values.

It’s not right to order a misuse of government resources and if you are ever ordered of that, you have the right to refuse!

IMG-20140120-00372

IMG-20140120-00373

I read the court order with pride, starting back in 2003/2004, my father led a 10 years long legal battle against a government body, for no reason except to prove what’s right and to give a reason for everyone who is given choices between what’s right and what’s easy.

Today, I feel like I have got my first ever slap on the face from my father

I got this man’s DNA!

Appointed President of Cairo ToastMasters Club

Appointed President of Cairo ToastMasters Club

During August, I was appointed President of Cairo ToastMasters Club, being involved with the community of entrepreneurs in Egypt, running Egypreneur, a very entrepreneurial future is in the making now for Cairo ToastMasters Club.

I’ll be doing a lot of promotions to ToastMasters and want to expand the membership of its members beyond the club to starting new clubs all around Cairo.

Microsoft Geeks Day, Entrepreneurship Session

Microsoft Geeks Day, Entrepreneurship Session

So, I was invited by some awesome Microsoft Student Partners to speak about entrepreneurship during an event they organized called Microsoft Geeks Day. Being a Microsoft Geeks Day, I thought Bill Gates would be the best figure to discuss. The whole session was just a punch of videos with comments and discussions around them, that I believed conveyed the image better than a thousand words can.

Some of the videos I presented during my session are below, I guess you can figure out the whole content from the videos, Enjoy!

Bill Gates from Pirates of Silicon Valley
Bill Gates Negotiation Skills, makes a big difference from Pirates of Silicon Valley
It’s not about how big you start, but how big you THINK
You want Xerox to consider something called the Mouse
People skills from Pirates of Silicon Valley
Sherif Ahmed of 7elme; Push your dreams forward

Sherif Ahmed of 7elme; Push your dreams forward

Yes, being an entrepreneur in Egypt is very challenging, the most challenging bit is finding energy and positivity to persist and keep pushing until you reach your destination and get what you want to get done, done!

I had been exploring ways to spread positivity for myself internally and in public and came to a few practices that includes waking up early, going for morning jogging, join fellows in tweeting positive expectations of the day using #Club7 Twitter HashTag. Personally, I enjoy living in the future more, when something undesirable happens, I speak in a future tone about what we’re going to do about it, how we’re going to fix things and make it right.

Egyrpeneur logo

Last April, while recruiting for Egypreneur Crew, the special forces that will be spreading positivity and entrepreneurial thinking in Egypt through Egypreneur a network of entrepreneurs that I started. I had the pleasure of meeting Sherif Ahmed and after a few minutes of casual chat, he was in.

Throughout my work with Sherif as a part of Egyrpeneur, his energy, dynamism and persistence in getting stuff done had been truly impressive that I expressed to him once that I wish to have a cloning mechanism to have 10 like him that would make a huge difference in the projects and organizations they join.

While having discussions with Sherif developing strategies and planning for projects one of the most frequent words he used is the word “Push” and there is an interesting story behind that.

Sherif Co-Found 7el.me a network of dreamers where you can submit your dreams and receive support through a “Push” button from fellow network members, as you navigate through the network now, you’ll see plenty of dreamers and dreams who would probably appreciate a push, a remark of support towards achieving their dreams.

7elme push your dreams forward

Let’s imagine what the future would be like when everyone of us is pushing the dreams of his/her surrounding? How Egypt and the world might be when we find a sign of positivity, hope and potential we all go … Push, Push, Push!

Giving birth to new companies, social ventures, ideas, talks, successes and dreams coming true.

Here is a video interview with Sherif about his vie about the kind of people to getting stuff done while working on his startup 7elme.

You can follow 7elme on Twitter, join their Facebook Page and post your dreams on their network 7el.me

Amr Deabes, Entrepreneurs Driven NewEgypt

Amr Deabes, Entrepreneurs Driven NewEgypt

Being involved in the entrepreneurship scene in Egypt, running Egypreneur; I’m certain that entrepreneurship is the vehicle for the bright future of Egypt.

Having the opportunity to speak at TEDxTanta, I used it as an opportunity to reflect this meaning by reflecting entrepreneurs as the “Modern Knights” who are already and will be leading Egypt towards the desired change in the social and economic fronts, you can watch my talk from here.

Hopefully, there are plenty of bright examples that’s making a difference economically and socially right now. One of my favorite is Amr Deabes and Egyptian entrepreneurs who found Ability Contact Center; a contact center that’s fully operated by Egyptians with special needs. We usually consider Egyptians with special needs a load on their families and on their society accordingly.

While everyone is working on mobilizing different forms of “support” for those with special needs; Amr Deabes stepped up to giving them a chance to shine and turn their abilities, passion and patience into a productive tools in the society. I met Amr first time during Startup Weekend Cairo and had this interview with him for Egypreneur:

Reda one of the bright employees of AbilityCC, gave an inspiring speech during the weekend:

Seeing examples like Amr and Ability CC ignites my energy to work further on developing Egypreneur and mobilize as much support as we can to participate in creating the environment to more entrepreneurs to step up to solving social problems, while making an economic impact; Imaging how our new Egypt will be with thousands like Amr.

Walid of @Bey2ollak, Helping tens of thousdands get by!

Walid of @Bey2ollak, Helping tens of thousdands get by!

We’re all suffering from traffic in Egypt, six Egyptian entrepreneurs gathered to create one of Egypt’s most popular and useful mobile applications, Bey2ollak!

Bey2ollak

As it’s described: “Bey2ollak, howa mobile we internet community te2dar menoh te3raf aw te2ool 3ala el shaware3 wel ma7awer wel kabary eza kanet za7ma aw fadya. www.bey2ollak.com

In case you haven’t used Bey2ollak before, through the app used by more than 100,000 users, you can take better decisions and save plenty of time while navigating through our chaotic traffic.

For the application to be useful; a constant supply of updates, or tweets with #Bey2ollak HashTags should be be posted regularly, users who believe in the idea and use the app are constantly updating the traffic status wherever they go, Walid Mostafa Bey2ollak’s Operations Manager dedicated his time day and night to make sure that process is going smoothly and accurately.

I had the pleasure of meeting Walid multiple times and had some very insightful discussions about finding solutions to the traffic dilemma we’re experiencing everywhere in Egypt, as we’re strapping to launch Za7ma Campaign.

With someone as insightful, dedicated and effective like Walid and with bringing talents, expertise and resources together, I’m sure a difference can be made in our traffic experience in Egypt, in the short and long terms.

This is an applause to Walid for his impressive dedication and insights and for every Egyptian who steps up to make our lives easier.

Follow Walid on Twitter from here: @Rezo007, check Bey2ollak website http://bey2ollak.com and download the mobile application from here: http://app.bey2ollak.com.