Making It

What should we be teaching our kids in the age of AI? What should we be changing on the policy-level nationwide, and where do we start?  On this episode of Making It, Professor Sherif Kamel joins Patrick for another AI deep dive, zooming into how the technology is taking shape in our classrooms.  Sherif is the Dean of the Onsi Sawiris School of Business at the American University in Cairo (AUC). He sits on the board of the Central Bank of Egypt, and he's served on boards including CIB and the Egyptian American Enterprise Fund. As someone who’s witnessed and led Egypt’s adoption of the personal computer, the internet, and the mobile internet, Sherif has a unique outlook on the AI-fueled moment we’re living in. We discuss the acceleration of tech, how humans have always been central to its development, how AI is used in education today — particularly at AUC — and the trade-off we have to make when we adopt AI as a thinking tool.  He also shares his views on what governing AI on the state-level could look like, the affordability of these tools, and how, given everything, learning institutions should instill the future generation with the skills that will enhance their “complex problem-solving, ambition, curiosity, forward-thinking, communication.”  Sign up to our newsletter to get Making It in your inbox every Thursday.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How do you help build a brand as successful as Gourmet without really knowing much about food? On this episode of Making It, Patrick talks shop with Dalia Sultan, Chief Innovation Officer at Gourmet Egypt, and the force behind the "Handcrafted by Gourmet” label. A banker by trade, Dalia was thrust into the business of food by chance. She starts off by talking about her early days at Gourmet, moving from marketing to product to ushering the company’s leap into manufacturing, alongside her brother Amgad. She speaks about where she gets inspiration for recipes, how ideas reach the shelf, what it takes to control quality, the struggle that comes with training a team that many in the industry want to poach, and how she sees robots in a not-so-distant kitchen. Dalia also opens up about the challenges of working with her partner for several years, how they overcame the hard stuff, and what the next steps are for both the company and her family. Sign up to our newsletter to get Making It in your inbox every Thursday.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Banque du Caire is going public in a landmark IPO.  On this episode of Making It, Hussein Abaza, the CEO of Banque du Caire, joins Patrick to take us through the strategy behind the sale. Hussein is a legend in the banking community; he’s the former CEO of CIB and has long been a spokesperson for Egypt among international investors. In the first half of the episode, Hussein tells us about how BdC moved away from the typical state-owned lender model to an institution that he believes now operates as a private bank. We then get into the IPO itself: why now, how it’s structured, his pitch to international investors, how BdC makes money, and the indispensable value of its nationwide network of 200+ branches. Abaza also makes the case for treating NBFIs as partners, not competitors. And finally, he offers sound insight into what the next generation of bankers should prioritize. Sign up to our newsletter to get Making It in your inbox every Thursday.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Will AI eventually replace lawyers? On this episode of Making It — the third installment in our AI series — Lamyaa Gadelhak joins Patrick to refute that claim. It will transform the industry, she explains, but it will not replace it. Lamyaa is Partner at Baker McKenzie and Chair of its Global Project Finance Group, based in Cairo. As one of the country’s best known corporate lawyers, Lamyaa speaks to Patrick about how she’s been using AI, personally and professionally. They discuss attorney-client privilege, the subtleties and cultural norms an AI agent cannot comprehend, and the keys to being a good lawyer in an age where data is the most valuable commodity. “As long as people are interacting, there is always the need, perhaps, for someone to advocate for you.” Lamyaa then weighs in on how future lawyers should navigate the field today, a field where accumulated human skills will trump one’s knowledge of the law by a wide margin. At least that’s Lamyaa’s bet. Toward the end of the conversation, her and Patrick delve into AI regulation, government policy and data sovereignty. Sign up to our newsletter to get Making It in your inbox every Thursday.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.  Mounir built MNT-Halan in about 17 years, and soon 20% of the Egypt side of the business will be up for grabs. In the first part of the episode, Mounir takes us through what motivated the decision. He makes the case for returning FDIs, that the so-called Egypt discount is over, and he tells Patrick what it would take for this IPO to “pop.” In the back half, we glimpse the day-to-day operations of MNT-Halan and how they journeyed to the top over the past decade. According to Mounir, distribution and retention are key. You need the right tech and the right team, sure, but the route to growth is simple: make yourself available to the customer. And of course, we ask him about AI and whether or not we might be in the early stages of a credit bubble. Sign up to our newsletter to get Making It in your inbox every Thursday.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What do you risk when you build your business on top of the world’s frontier AI models? Youssef Rizk says, “Look at Google’s graveyard.” Youssef is the CEO of Windfall and co-founder and CTO of Wondercraft, which is the company we rely on to produce our other show Morning Drive, using the AI voice of our very human executive editor. On this episode of Making It, we discuss the present moment in tech, and take a pause to ponder the future. We unpack AI at the application layer and then think through how it impacts how the work gets done, and who gets to do it. Does AI replace people? Or does it add more work? Sign up to our newsletter to get Making It in your inbox every Thursday.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For a few months, alarms have sounded across the board cautioning of an impending credit bubble. Are they warranted?  On this episode of Making It, Hazem Moussa joins Patrick to break down how a bubble in the credit industry actually forms, what regulators should watch out for, the risks on both sides, and the responsibility that lies on the client side — us, the consumers.    Hazem is the co-founder of Contact Financial Holding. He’s often credited as the architect of Egypt’s consumer finance industry.  In April, Hazem announced that he’s stepping down from Contact after a 25-year run. So we begin with him taking us through his final days at Contact, how he planned his exit all along, and the difficult choices he had to make along the way.  In the second half of the episode, he weighs in on the rapid expansion of NBFIs. On the one hand, the central bank has been tightening the screws on how banks fund non-bank institutions. And on the other hand, the lending train doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Hazem’s take is that there is no harm in being careful; as a community, we need to be cognizant of the risks, but regulators too need to respond by not “trying to control everything.” Hazem was a guest on Making It back in 2019. You can listen to the previous episode here.  Sign up to our newsletter to get Making It in your inbox every Thursday.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is Egyptian food having a moment? And more importantly, is our cuisine finally claiming its seat at the global table?  Hoda El-Sherif says, “It’s coming.” Hoda is the co-founder and CEO of Flavor Republic, and the force behind Cairo Food Week. On this episode of Making It, Hoda argues that Egyptian food belongs on the same table as the great cuisines of the world. That’s the thesis behind Cairo Food Week, whose fourth edition runs between 24 September and 4 October.  Hoda and Patrick dive into our burgeoning food industry and how it’s changed over the last few years, chefs who are carving their spot on the global map, the gaps that still exist in the market, and the lessons Egypt can learn from countries that have championed their culinary narratives, making gastronomy tourism a matter of state policy. With a sprinkle of AI and its impact on the making and marketing of food, in true Making It fashion.  Check out Cairo Food Week’s full calendar of events. Listen to Morning Drive from Sunday to Thursday.  Sign up to our newsletter to get Making It in your inbox every Thursday.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.   Ragab is the CEO and Partner at Baraka Retail Group. This past May, Ragab sold control of Baraka Optics to Maghrabi, via a merger through acquisition, where Maghrabi bought 51% of his company. He chose not to walk away, even though he could have.  Baraka launched in 1979 as a wholesale business focusing on optics. Today, they operate in a number of industries: optics, fashion and e-commerce. Ragab explains the why behind the decision, and then breaks down the projected outcomes. He also shares his ethos as a manager, how he keeps up with trends “in a classic industry,” and how he thinks about the question of succession. Sign up to our newsletter to get Making It in your inbox every Thursday.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. Neveen is a legend in banking and finance. She is a serial entrepreneur, the first woman to sit on the board of the Egyptian Stock Exchange and the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority, and a member of parliament. Neveen was not always optimistic, but she recently saw the puzzle pieces come together. She dives into policy, privatization, the many opportunities ahead of Egypt, and her personal belief that changes on the policy level will eventually trickle down. Sign up to our newsletter to get Making It in your inbox every Thursday.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.