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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.

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. Ankush is the CEO of Al Mansour Automotive Group, a leading Egyptian and regional automotive distributor. With both global and local industry knowledge, Ankush provides an insider’s perspective on the automotive industry in Egypt. Particularly on policy, development, and the bet Mansour is making on manufacturing. Sign up to our newsletter to get Making It in your inbox every Thursday. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. From one of the smartest people in business and tech, this is an episode for both the novice and the pro, about what we should make of the recent technological breakthroughs, and what we’re yet to find out. Tarek is Managing Partner at Algebra Ventures, one of Egypt’s leading venture capital firms. Algebra turned 10 in May 2026. So we also discuss the journey of backing Egyptian founders through three devaluations, a pandemic, the end of free money, and the hyper AI moment we're all living through. Tarek is the first guest we’ve invited on Making It twice. 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.

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 our region show their work and talk about what’s next.  From EnterpriseAM, the Arab world’s business daily. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this special feed drop, Patrick shares an episode of EnterpriseAM’s new show, Morning Drive. It's a 10-minute rundown of the biggest business stories that will shape your day. To get new episodes straight in your feed every morning, follow EnterpriseAM | Egypt wherever you're listening right now. We’ll be back with a new season of Making It soon, so stay tuned. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 for creation. For the last decade, he has been at the helm of Marakez. Ushering in iconic projects like Mall of Arabia and District 5, Dasha has pushed forward a philosophy that centers innovation, team effort and homegrown partnerships. In conversation with Patrick, Dasha opens up about his early years as a lawyer and entrepreneur, the challenges posed by Egypt’s unique real estate financing model, the way buyers should assess developers, and how favoring recurring revenue through retail and commercial properties was key to Marakez’s success. They speak at length about the changes taking place along Egypt's North Coast, the ethos and architecture of Marakez’s Ramla, and what his team has in store this summer.  This episode was produced as a part of our four-part special Destination Sahel.  In case you missed it, check out these two episodes from our archive: How Gourmet Egypt survived the float of the EGP  How Karim Awad has grown EFG Hermes from a regional giant into a global player Learn more about how you can advertise with EnterpriseAM by emailing Moustafa Taalab [email protected] See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 everything from interest rates to what the new US administration means for trade, finance, and the world order. We get into whether Arab business leaders pay enough attention to India, banking as a service, innovation in financial services, and a lot more. As with every episode of Making It, this isn’t just a show for industry nerds: It’s part of our masterclass on leadership. We go deep into why Ahmed invites the entire bank to “scru my strategy,” how he gets his leadership team on the same page (while avoiding groupthink), as well as how he makes decisions, decides what to work on himself, and structures his org chart.  What does the year ahead look like? In a nutshell, Ahmed tells us that 2025 is “the year where we will be delivering on some of Mashreq’s key strategic objectives.” That includes “continuous innovation, regional expansion, and building state-of-the-art client experiences.” Already a major player in the corridors linking MENA to Asia, the United States, and Europe, Ahmed aims to make the bank the dominant digital player in our region, talking openly about “banking as a service” as concepts including open finance and embedded finance move toward center stage in the so-called platform economy.  However it plays out, you can be sure that client experience is at the heart of everything Mashreq has planned. “Focusing on driving client experience — and client excellence — is key,” Ahmed told us. And that goal requires Mashreq to ensure that it has the right kind of people running the show, which means that the bank’s org chart was “built for collaboration, speed of decision making, and — most importantly — innovation and efficiency.”  Being a nimble organization that’s able to execute on its key objectives also makes Mashreq well-positioned to jump on opportunities, including those that have long been underplayed, such as India. Today, the UAE has freetrade agreements with India, while “the influx of capital in and out has tremendously increased over the past few years,” Ahmed says. India is one of the many trade corridors that Mashreq is heavily interested in, and has created a “state-of-the-art solution with the biggest seven banks in India” to allow Mashreq clients to digitally open bank accounts in India, eliminating the need for physical presence in India.  Closer to home, Ahmed sees plenty of potential in sustainability and ESG, whether you’re looking at the UAE, Saudi Arabia, or Egypt. Across these three key geographies — which Ahmed maintains will continue to work together, rather than compete, for economic strength — sustainable agriculture, ESG investments, and renewable energy continue to be areas of interest. “The amount of commitments and spend, whether it's here in UAE, Saudi and Egypt, is tremendous,” Ahmed says. In this episode of Making It, we dug into all these topics and more, including where Mashreq wants to be in 10 years’ time and other major corridors where Ahmed sees opportunity. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 three fundamental aspects investors look for in a business and how to leverage them for fundraising, as well as how to choose a business partner or investor, and when to choose private equity as an option. ** Subscribe to Enterprise, our 6am briefing on business, finance and economics in Egypt (also free) at www.enterprise.news. Making It is grateful for the generous support of: CIB, Egypt’s number-one private-sector bank and the partner of choice for CEOs and leaders of businesses at all stages of their growth stories. The United States Agency for International Development, which has a 40 year history of inspiring Egyptian success in partnership with the Government and people of Egypt.You can learn about Actis here: https://www.act.is/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 plays in enabling affordable healthcare. ** Subscribe to Enterprise, our 6am briefing on business, finance and economics in Egypt (also free) at www.enterprise.news. Making It is grateful for the generous support of: CIB, Egypt’s number-one private-sector bank and the partner of choice for CEOs and leaders of businesses at all stages of their growth stories. The United States Agency for International Development, which has a 40 year history of inspiring Egyptian success in partnership with the Government and people of Egypt. You can check out IDH here: idhcorp.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 MLS, providing data analytics services to every level of a sports franchise. We discuss the ups and downs of going from a local luxury to a global essential service and how owning the value chain of data collection and analysis made Arqam FC a viable investment for Statsbomb. ** Subscribe to Enterprise, our 6am briefing on business, finance and economics in Egypt (also free) at www.enterprise.news. Making It is grateful for the generous support of: CIB, Egypt’s number-one private-sector bank and the partner of choice for CEOs and leaders of businesses at all stages of their growth stories. The United States Agency for International Development, which has a 40 year history of inspiring Egyptian success in partnership with the Government and people of Egypt. You can check out Arqam FC here: arqamfc.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 entry caused by manufacturing and deployment of hardware components, the technology can help bring a greater portion of the informal economy into the system.  Hisham and Nancy take us back to how they went from building software in Egypt to working at tech companies that arguably changed the world, and share with us their favorite stories about meeting Steve Jobs. ** Subscribe to Enterprise, our 6am briefing on business, finance and economics in Egypt (also free) at www.enterprise.news. Making It is grateful for the generous support of: CIB, Egypt’s number-one private-sector bank and the partner of choice for CEOs and leaders of businesses at all stages of their growth stories. The United States Agency for International Development, which has a 40 year history of inspiring Egyptian success in partnership with the Government and people of Egypt. You can check out MagicCube here: magiccube.co See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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, cinema and entertainment arms of the business equipped him with a critical ethos - solving for experience and not function.  ** Subscribe to Enterprise, our 6am briefing on business, finance and economics in Egypt (also free) at www.enterprise.news. Making It is grateful for the generous support of: CIB, Egypt’s number-one private-sector bank and the partner of choice for CEOs and leaders of businesses at all stages of their growth stories. The United States Agency for International Development, which has a 40 year history of inspiring Egyptian success in partnership with the Government and people of Egypt. You can check out Majid Al Futtaim here: majidalfuttaim.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.