Egypt-based Falak Startups is a business accelerator backed by the country’s Ministry of International Cooperation and Egypt Ventures.
Falak’s goal is to help businesses grow through investment and mentorships.
While the country has many venture capital companies, investors from Asia and Europe are interested in Egypt due to the latter’s thriving start-up ecosystem. Egypt and Saudi Arabia are emerging as important markets for these investors now.
Apart from a significant amount of money entering the Middle East and Africa, the fintech sector comes under focus now, as it can provide financial opportunities to these thriving businesses.
Post-COVID, e-commerce, EdTech, and HealthTech sectors in this part of the world have grown as well.
While Egypt has room for more Venture Capitalists, Falak organizes panels and events to connect startups with VCs to help them seek investors and pitch their ideas.
This mentorship helps firms get investors, access capital, grow, hire larger teams, form alliances, and contribute to the country’s development.
To improve Egypt’s start-up ecosystem, proper assistance and guidance are needed, along with capital. Falak enlightens these upcoming companies on how to pitch their business ideas to the VCs, apart from helping them to draw the roadmap to implement the business blueprint.
Nihal El-Chami, Head of Programme and Marketing at Falak Startups, said, “Since Egypt’s entrepreneurship environment is fresh, VCs should educate startups about such criteria to help them build a successful business, form a team, and receive funding. In addition, they can learn from seasoned entrepreneurs to avoid making the same mistakes.”
“In other circumstances, companies may have funding but need more industry experience to expand and operate well. For example, when Uber and Careem were created, several entrepreneurs asked us to help them implement the same idea, despite having yet to gain expertise or knowledge of the laws necessary to secure a licence,” she remarked.
“Most startups face conflicts and disagreements among team members, which might lead to closure. So, we invest in businesses with diverse talents, knowledge, and duties. A corporation may survive market difficulty or economic volatility by choosing the proper staff,” Nihal El-Chami added further.
While a start-up may have an excellent business idea, the market may need more time to be ready for it, as VCs’ investment tastes change frequently.
As per Nihal El-Chami, over 72 Egyptian firms in transportation, logistics, e-commerce, EdTech, FinTech, and HealthTech have been helped by his company’s investments.
“Our initiatives have encouraged market players to improve their offerings to preserve competitiveness and back startups. 14 Egyptian businesses have raised over $150 million in the first half of 2021, which has never happened before,” she said.
Talking about legislative help from the Egyptian government, Nihal El-Chami said, “Today, registering a business is more accessible than in years before. With the Ministry of International Cooperation’s help, companies can be written in a week. So, Egypt has made efforts to simplify startup documentation. In certain nations, registration only takes a day.”
Photo credit: Falak Startups