Making It

What do you risk when you build your business on top of the world’s frontier AI models?

Youssef Rizk says, “Look at Google’s graveyard.”

Youssef is the CEO of Windfall and co-founder and CTO of Wondercraft, which is the company we rely on to produce our other show Morning Drive, using the AI voice of our very human executive editor.

On this episode of Making It, we discuss the present moment in tech, and take a pause to ponder the future. We unpack AI at the application layer and then think through how it impacts how the work gets done, and who gets to do it. Does AI replace people? Or does it add more work?

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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. 

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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. 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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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.

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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.

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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]

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