This module develops the analytical and conceptual skills required to test the feasibility of a concept for a new venture. The module uses an active experiential learning approach where students have the opportunity to learn and apply a number of practical skills and techniques associated with the development of a new venture. Students will undertake a significant amount of field research; develop and think critically about business concepts; answer fundamental questions about strategic, marketing, financial, operational and human resource issues; and then research a decision about going forward to start their proposed venture.
Abdelhameed Sharara, is the CEO and cofounder of RiseUp; the Middle East and Africa’s top startup platform organising the famous RiseUp Summit with more than 5000 attendees from 52 countries every year. The company was awarded the top MENA ecosystem enabler in 2017 by Silicon Valley’s TechWadi as a result of connecting thousands of startups in the region to resources and helping promote entrepreneurial culture.
Before founding RiseUp with his co-founders and the whole startup community at the GrEEK Campus in November 2013, Abdelhameed worked at Injaz-Egypt where he helped in creating the first startups’ pipeline in all Junior Achievement countries worldwide.
Sharara taught English and soft skills to more than 7000 Egyptian youth and young professionals at Dale Carnegie Global, Berlitz and many universities in Egypt and MENA. He is also part of the ‘young global shapers’ community, initiated by the world economic forum, which is a network of young people who are exceptional in their potential. He also serves on the board of multiple organisations supporting entrepreneurship and innovation and Egypt and MENA, which includes TIEC (Egyptian government technology, innovation and entrepreneurship center) The American Chamber of Commerce and Edventures; Nahdet Misr Publishing Group education incubator.
As the Executive Chairman & CEO of Gemini Africa, Adly Thoma is leading the disruption of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the MEA region by bridging the gap between entrepreneurs and the business world through offering unique investment models, untapping business opportunities and creating innovative flagship programs. He promotes an innovative vision through Gemini Africa’s one-stop e-Hub where collaboration supersedes competition.
Thoma is a renowned worldwide project and risk management lecturer, postgraduate instructor and consultant within Egypt, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the Far East at multiple recognized institutions including the American University in Cairo (AUC), Ain Shams University and Cairo University. He is an adjunct faculty at the Dubai School of Government in cooperation with Harvard Kennedy School as well as a lecturer for the mini MBA program at the State University of New York.
Alexandra Abdel Nour is the 2nd generation at the head of HappyTex Egypt & HappyDye Egypt, a fully vertically integrated business in the textile industry – fabric knitting, dyeing, garment manufacturing including embroidery & printing. Having graduated with a double degree in History & Political Science (and minors in Literature & Business), from AUC/UCLA, she changed course and joined the family business 10 years ago. Her main focus is in restructuring, institutionalizing & digitizing the business as well as expanding markets locally (quality oriented), Europe and Latin America. A big believer in the core values of most family businesses and in supporting local industry, she is very much interested in taking the garment business one step further, B2C, both locally and internationally. Besides work, she is a board member of the Entrepreneurs Organization, a global community of entrepreneurs. She is also horseback rider, a Salsa dancer, enjoys investing in wellbeing and of course traveling the world.
Bassem Fayek is office co-leader for Boston Consulting Group in Cairo. He joined BCG in 2020 to establish the Cairo office, and is a core member of the Financial Institutions, Health Care, and Public Sector practices. Bassem advises Middle East public and private sector clients on strategy formulation, value creation, and modernization. His past projects have covered business strategy and value creation, operating and governance model development, organization and large-scale transformation, digitization, investment due diligence and execution, joint venture development, and supply chain optimization.
In Egypt specifically, he has worked with local national champions, regional and international investors, and public sector leaders on partnership development, market entry and growth strategy, sector strategy, and investment attraction. Before joining BCG, Bassem worked at Strategy& (previously Booz & Company).
Fadi Antaki the Founder & CEO at TFK, is a veteran tech venture builder and investor. He has invested in the region’s leading and fastest growing tech startups.
Antaki’s entrepreneurial experience enabled him to mentor and guide many entrepreneurs to overcome their challenges in management, generating traction and fundraising. Being an entrepreneur at heart; he founded TFK.me in 2020, the leading digital partner for Fashion brands in Egypt which is a curated Fashion marketplace having a portfolio of more than 200 partner brands and 135K+ customers.
His purpose is helping Fashion entrepreneurs grow and sustain their brands by offering them all the tools and services needed for their digital transformation to sell online so they focus on enhancing the quality of their products and collections.
Karim is the Co-Founder and Former CEO of Digital Republic linked by Isobar, and was responsible for one of the region’s fastest growing, full service digital agency networks in MENA.
Karim has a multi-functional and multinational success footprint in both the corporate and entrepreneurial business landscapes – a seasoned executive in the former and a successful business owner in the latter.
With 20+ years’ technology, marketing, telco and advertising experience, Karim’s expertise lies in all that is digital. Karim founded Digital Republic in 2009, pioneering the digital ad industry in Egypt and launching offices in Cairo, Dubai and Jeddah. One year later, Digital Republic was partially acquired by a major institutional investor, before Dentsu acquired a majority stake in 2016 and Digital Republic became Isobar MENA.
CEO and Founder of Enova Digital (N Media Worldwide LLC), Natalie Youssef Ramses is a graduate of the Wharton School of Business. Having founded Egypt’s first performance-driven digital agency in Egypt, Ramses spends the majority of her time running the booming agency where she has pioneered customized results-oriented offerings for clients that include Unilever, Dubizzle, EVA Pharmaceuticals, Ghabbour Auto and government-run telecommunications giant TE Data. In the meantime, she works on diversifying the family office of Ramses Youssef Atteya Group, with a portfolio that includes: the biggest manufacturer of blankets in Egypt, holdings in Soma Bay Hospitality, and Vantage brokerage among others.
Prior to Enova Digital, Ramses co-founded Zamia Import and Export, now the leading stockist and distributor of wall coverings in Egypt. Previously, she worked in investment banking on Wall Street in the Technology, Media & Telecommunications group of Credit Suisse in Manhattan. While not working on Enova Digital, Natalie spends her time enjoying her passions for driving change and entrepreneurship as a founder of the T20 Association and a mentor at AUC Venture Labs. Meanwhile, she serves as Vice Chairman of the Egyptian Junior Business association.
An entrepreneur and investor, Ramy Adeeb is Founder and General Partner at 1984 Ventures. He is also founder and CEO of Snip.it (Acquired by Yahoo, where he served as a product executive) and one of the earliest engineers at Tellme Networks (Acquired by Microsoft). Adeeb started his investing career at Khosla Venture where he worked with investors Vinod Khosla and Pierre Lamond on many investments including Groupme (acquired by Skype), Square (NASDAQ:SQ), and Storify (acquired by LiveFyre). He holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Science in Computer Science from Harvard University and an MBA from Stanford University.
