Omar Rezk, managing director of Entlaq Holding: Each week, My Morning Routine looks at how a successful member of the community starts their day — and then throws in a couple of random business questions just for fun. Speaking to us this week is Omar Rezk (LinkedIn), managing director of Entl aq Holdi ng.

My name is Omar Rezk and I am the managing director for consulting and strategy at Entlaq Holding, which is a Cairo-based accelerator and consulting firm. I graduated from AUC with my degree in political science in 2018. Before Entlaq, I worked in investment banking, then political consulting, and then finally for Uber, handling Uber Bus operations in the Middle East and Africa.

At Entlaq, we’re split into two business units. The first is an accelerator focused on Egyptian startups from early to pre-seed stage. We do it twice a year and we invest up to USD 50k per startup at the end of the program, which usually lasts between four and six months. Then there is the consulting and strategy unit, where we work with all the stakeholders in the ecosystem — development partners, university level programs, government stakeholders, startups, and the private sector.

We work with startups on several areas, including advising them on policies — how to approach and assess them — using our policy framework. We also handle startups’ partnerships with the government, be it through regulation or government programs that empower the private sector and entrepreneurship.

We also offer B2G services, working with the government through our capacity as a member of the technical entrepreneurship committee, which reports directly to the Madbouly cabinet. The committee includes members from the ministries of finance and planning, the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), the General Authority for Investment and Freezones (GAFI), the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA), and the Central Bank of Egypt.

We see a number of obstacles hindering the entrepreneurial ecosystem. First of all, it’s mainly focused on Cairo. There also aren’t enough women founders and there’s a lack of access to financial resources and support. The key component is outreach. We need education, financial, and policy channels.

Our vision for 2024 is all about expansion. We want to expand access to entrepreneurial tools to every governorate. We’ll boost our geographical reach with our entrepreneurship and universities program that will kick off in 2024. I’m optimistic about where it may go.

We also want to increase data availability. Getting local economic, market, and socioeconomic data is not the easiest job but it would be a great investment catalyst.

The VC curve has started to flatten a bit, but at the same time local startups have shown resilience. Even amid the ongoing economic situation, we still see a lot of Egyptian startups standing strong. It’s not about exponential growth but about consistent growth.

People have been more focused recently on industrial tech and agritech. They’re starting to look at the biggest sectors present in the market and innovating there. Entrepreneurs have also shifted their focus from global issues to local issues.

I wake up around 8 am. I pick up my phone, check Twitter and my calendar to see what I have planned for the day, and then I read EnterpriseAM. I started reading Enterprise in 2017 when I was working at a local consulting firm and basically haven’t missed an issue since.

If I’m up early, I’ll try to sneak in a walk before I head to our office in Downtown. My team and I hold morning meetings in the garden. A big part of our job is being on top of the news — the economic situation, investments, and regulation — in order to be able to forecast where things may go.

Then I usually have lots of calls to make and meetings to attend. I try to free up a day or two without calls and meetings to focus and reflect on our strategy. At the end of the day, I take a look at our tools and trackers in order to see where we stand in terms of our current objectives.

I usually end the day at around 6 or 7 pm. At Entlaq, we try to keep a great work-life balance in order to maintain our productivity. We try to get the most out of our working hours.

After my workday is done, I head to the gym for a workout, then I’ll meet a few friends or head back home to have dinner with my family. I try to spend my commute from my house in New Cairo to the office in Downtown checking in with family and friends.

Succession is one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. It gave me a look into a whole new world of corporate politics and family dynamics.

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