My guest today is helping organize it. He's a board member and Country Director for GEF 2026, and he's spent his career in exactly this space — marketing, digital transformation, and getting Egyptian businesses ready to be seen, trusted, and backed. CEO of digital agencies Trace and Ask Aladdin — Alaa Khalifa. Welcome to Capital Markets.
Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here.
As a board member and Country Director for GEF 2026, you helped bring this festival to Cairo. But beyond the prestige, what does landing it actually signal to a global investor choosing between Cairo, Lagos, and Riyadh?
Egypt holds a very special position — it sits at the crossroads of Africa and the Middle East. Any of the other capitals would have been a great fit, but Egypt is the greatest fit. When we bid to host the next edition, I was certain we were going to win it because of that strategic position.
We had four other countries bidding to host the event, and we knew that strategic position made Egypt the unique destination for the third edition of the Global Entrepreneurship Festival. It all started when I was in Ghana for the preparations for the second edition. I thought, why doesn't Egypt get it? We need to submit a powerful presentation, show them what we can do, and go for it.
Absolutely, congratulations to us for that. On the Egyptian market specifically — you've spent years making businesses visible and investable. What's the single biggest mistake Egyptian startups and SMEs make when presenting themselves to international investors?
The biggest mistake is focusing on the product instead of the business. Many founders spend nearly 90% of their presentation on features and technology, but investors want simple answers to specific questions: Can this scale? Can this make money? Why this team? International investors invest in growth models, not products — products are everywhere. That's where marketing becomes vital. A startup can have excellent technology, but if it can't clearly demonstrate market size, customer acquisition strategy, unit economics, and expansion potential, investors will walk away.
You mentioned scalability — the Egyptian Investment Minister recently said Egyptian startups have to scale across Africa to reach unicorn status. From a go-to-market standpoint, what's actually stopping a good Egyptian company from expanding regionally today?
A few things, but the most important is financing. I expect the next unicorn will come from Cairo once we ease financing, simplify investment rounds, and provide the right incubators and accelerators. The government has made this a top priority — they know entrepreneurship drives today's economy, the AI economy. That's why it's so important to support small and medium businesses: building distribution networks, local partnerships, and payment infrastructure. The progress made over the last ten years has been phenomenal, and it's creating the right environment for startups to grow into unicorns. I'll say it again — in the next ten years, the next unicorn is going to come from Cairo, Egypt. Mark my word.
Absolutely — and that's why Egypt is pushing SMEs as a bigger engine of jobs and growth. In your opinion, what has to change so this stays more than policy language and turns into companies that can actually raise funding and export?
Raising funding is the backbone of any startup or SME — not just for investing in technology, but in marketing, brand-building, and amplification, which matters even in the age of AI. What you're creating as a startup has to solve a real problem for someone else — if it doesn't, it's not a unique idea, and if it's not unique, it's not really entrepreneurship. Then you're competing with hundreds of other businesses and spending double your marketing budget just to win market share. But when you bring a unique idea that solves a real problem for a lot of people, you create a new ecosystem — you disrupt the current one. It's not only about funding; it's about mindset. With the right mindset, you can build an unbeatable, invincible startup.
Absolutely — and all of that has us looking forward to November and GEF 2026. Alaa, we really appreciate you coming on the show. Thank you.
