In this interview, Hanan Abdel Meguid, founder and CEO of Kamelizer, talks about her long career in the field of entrepreneurship and technology. She also talks about the entrepreneurship scene in Egypt and women. In addition, she discusses her family, the values they taught her and their support of her in every step of the way. Finally, she talks about the COVID–19 pandemic and its impact on business and entrepreneurship in Egypt.
Hanan graduated from the American University in Cairo (AUC) with a B.Sc. of computer science in 1993. She majored in computer science by chance, but she later truly found herself and her passion in it, especially in software development. She talks at length about the role of the AUC in her life and how she spent long hours in the University’s laboratory. She then formed friendships that would last until after graduation and would also turn into business partnerships. Upon graduation, she co-founded her company Microlabs, inspired by the global Microsoft. Despite the company’s success, disagreements between the founders led to its closure two years later. Hanan talks about the trauma of this experience and the lessons learned from it. She later worked for a government entity, the Egyptian Cabinet’s Information and Decision-making Support Center (IDSC) for about a year. However, she asserts that as she worked there, she kept searching for an opportunity to make her own ideas happen. While she worked there, she was fascinated by the internet—the Center was among only two government entities that had internet access back then. She felt she could see the future with her own eyes and that she needs to be part of that ongoing change. She later on moved to LINKdotNet, which helped establish many important websites on the internet, some of which are still online today, such as “Masrawy” and “Yalla Kora.”
As for her family, Hanan states that they always supported her, even when they had some doubts about her launching her own company at first. She said her father was always asking the question “Why not?” rather than “Why?” He also taught her the importance of self-confidence. As for her mother, she said she taught her both pride and self-discipline. She says her parents were not interested in marrying her off, like some Egyptian traditional families are, but were more interested in her education, her skills, and her career.
Hanan recalls the Egyptian Revolution, and says that when it happened, she discovered that she is driven by making a difference in her work, specifically in the market. She says money is important, but making a difference and innovation are even more important for her. One of her friends invited her once on a tour at the Greek Campus, affiliated with the AUC, and she found herself pointing at one of the offices and asking him to reserve it for her. This is when Kamelizer was born. Regarding the name, she says it has to do with the qualities of camels, who are beautiful animals that are patient and persistent, and keep reserves of food and drink for difficulty days, and these are the qualities that Hanan wanted to see in her business. Kamelizer is an angel investor, interested in working with technology startups at the seed stage, and taking them to the next stages where they have a product they own and can sell.
Hanan has also received an Eisenhower fellowship, a fellowship for innovative young leaders, where she spent seven weeks in the USA. It was difficult back then for her to leave her family and her job, but she approached the matter with a “Why not?” mentality as usual, and she says the experience was one of most important in her life.
When asked about whether she keeps a specific quota for women-led startups in her company, she said that she does not. However, she was proud to state that she invests in several companies co-founded by women, even if this was not intentional. She says that women understand other women, and that their problems could be the same or similar at least. As for whether men tend to do some jobs and women others, she said that some women do administrative jobs because they believe they are the only suitable option for them. She, however, says that this is wrong, and that women are more brilliant and capable than men. She asserts that women only need not deal with the world as “women”, meaning, they should not use womanhood as an excuse for slacking. She, at the same time, criticizes the lack or scarcity of women-friendly laws and guidelines at many companies. She also says that women may take more difficult decisions when it comes to their social life if their work matters to them. Moreover, she states that she, herself, found difficulty with work–life balance at some points.
Hanan asserts that some women entrepreneurs tell her that investors ask them intrusive questions, such as questions about their marital status and whether they plan to start a family soon. She wonders why men are not interrogated the same way, though they also get married and have children, and have a share in domestic duties. She, in addition, adds that women create “support groups” for themselves when they are in the same workplace, and that the more women exist in the workplace, the higher the interest in women’s labor becomes. She says that she noted this correlation herself.
As for the novel coronavirus pandemic, Hanan said that regardless of losing loved ones, the pandemic pushed the process of digital transformation forward. She also says that remote work gave her the chance to care for her family while at the same time do the work she loves. Tech companies’ value rose, thanks to the pandemic, she says, though some startups suffered from lack of funding in the beginning. People, however, became more interested in new models, like hybrid learning.
This interview, thus, covered different aspects of Hanan’s life and career, specifically her early start in the field of technology, her different jobs, and finally launching her own angel investor company. The interview also covered important aspects of her personal life.
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