OUR FOUNDER OF THE WEEK- Every Tuesday, Founder of the Week looks at how a successful member of Egypt’s startup community got their big break, asks about their experiences running a business, and gets their advice for budding entrepreneurs. Speaking to us this week is Mahdi Al Olabi (LinkedIn), founder and CEO of R2S Logistics.

I’m Mahdi Al Olabi, and I’m the founder and CEO of R2S Logistics, a firm that delivers e-commerce products locally and internationally and offers warehousing options. I graduated from the University of Toronto, where I double majored in Political Science and Economics.

Right after my studies I joined e-commerce startups in Canada such as Indigo and GroceryGateway — they were hot e-commerce businesses at the time and prepared me for the journey to come. I eventually joined Souq.com, where I was involved in the operation and technical setup and eventually became head of operations in Egypt. As my experience grew, I noticed that logistics and technology needed to be better, faster, and cheaper to enable thousands of businesses to deliver their product more efficiently to their customers.

The key to figuring out our strategy was to look at how advanced markets digitized and the impact of e-commerce businesses and consumers. Doing so illustrated the technology, services and quality needed to support these markets.

Epic people are what makes my logistics firm incredible. We have a great working culture and we love to make miracles happen when it comes to lifting new e-commerce businesses off the ground and ensuring their success due to the efficiency of my business.

My greatest measure of success is hearing back from friends, who are either consumers or merchants, telling me that they are happy with R2S’ level of service and have had a positive experience receiving or dispatching their product. Unlike most business owners, salary week is my most rewarding one, as I find a great sense of fulfillment when I hire new employees and pay salaries. I also love that we have operations all over Egypt, which is a trip to discover more about Egypt in disguise.

Looking forward, I’d love to see R2S growing further and supporting entrepreneurs and SME scale their businesses in Egypt and other emerging markets by offering creative and innovative technology driven solutions to facilitate and enable their growth and success. It is also important to note that e-commerce stores never close — people are shopping 24/7. Therefore, we have to ensure that we deliver a smooth, wallet-friendly, and fast shipment experience to make sure that the convenience of e-commerce businesses are met.

With every challenge lies an opportunity, and as with any business, we have to create solutions to maneuver the current economic challenges. For us, focusing on one’s core business is fundamental and I advise other businesses to refer to their data as a guide to support their decision-making process through these unique economic circumstances. Being nimble and light will help businesses be flexible and ready to cope with the fluctuations that the market is experiencing. Another chance for learning will be from other markets who are going through similar challenges.

In the future, I would like to see more women in the logistics workplace, which is my motivation to launch the R2S eCommerce Academy for Female Entrepreneurs. I would also love to see more safety regulations put in place for delivery personnel in Egypt and I am searching for chances to use greener and more sustainable tools for delivery and packaging e-commerce shipments.

My advice to young entrepreneurs: It’s crucial to be prepared and choose your partners wisely — and lean on them.Falling and failing are two different things, as the latter is a lesson in disguise; learn from them and pick yourself up and continue. Most importantly, have no shame in hiring people who are better than you — they will be the ones to make your business soar. If I were to look back at my younger self, I would advise him to be prepared for all the trials and tribulations that go into building a new business and to be ready for the ride.

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