Maha Mandour, founding partner of COREangels MEA: 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 Maha Mandour (LinkedIn), founding partner of COREangels MEA.

My name is Maha Mandour, founding partner of COREangels MEA and managing director of PTS Investments Holdings. Three years ago, I had a dream to become part of the venture capital ecosystem. I come from a tech background, but most of my experience was in the venture building model, which is why I was interested in launching PTS as a venture building company in the MEA region. We’ve been working with two arms — one of them being COREangels MEA, an angel network fund. We now have five companies in our portfolio, and we’re still growing further in the market.

Being managing director is not an easy job. I don’t really work on a daily routine, as much as on a weekly routine. My day-to-day responsibilities involve following up with our managing partners, our technical team, and our business operations team on a daily basis. However, on some days, I’m just answering emails and attending online meetings. I’m also a single mom — so that’s also a huge part of my day. My kids are usually in the office with me, and they even get assigned some tasks to do on their vacations.

I received a diploma from the Information Technology Institute (ITI) with a specialization in triple play services, back when that was still a novel field in Egypt. When I was done studying, I found myself being asked to open a whole new department for a number of different companies using what I learned at ITI. So, I had to do everything from R&D all the way to selling a final product and building a team for companies I worked for, and that’s something I’ve had to do several times for multiple entities. It made me feel as though I was a mini company of sorts. But, I was really passionate about it.

Those experiences are also why I’m a big believer in the corporate venture builder model. It’s a way to ensure that entrepreneurs aren’t alone when they’re building their startups, that they have people around them that incubate them and help their ideas grow. It’s definitely a trend that I see continuing in the coming period.

I’m definitely passionate about the work and I enjoy the challenges. Even with raising the kids and all the challenges that come with working in PTS — to me, it’s not work, it’s a passion. It’s one thing to just go do your set of tasks for the day and go home, and another thing entirely to be doing what you like — and I like what I’m doing a lot.

PTS acts as a venture builder and we have a strategic vision to build companies into complete ecosystems under the umbrella of PTS Holdings. We have a company that works on the programs and projects, we have the venture studio, and then we have COREangels MEA. It’s a member of COREangels International, which works to create cross-global investment openings among different regions. It’s a network of 11 funds, and our portfolio currently holds 90 companies. It’s a network of experienced business angels.

I met the founders of COREangels International three years ago when the company wasn’t focused on our region at the time. But I was drawn to their model because they don’t just fund a startup — they also mentor the startups that they invest in. I don’t come from a place of just wanting to put some funds in a startup and stop there, so I was drawn to the idea of helping startups with finding where we can add value.

We help startups expand both within the MEA region and beyond, and we provide them with the venture studio services to help their growth. We also follow up with our startups on a quarterly basis and provide hands-on guidance, which decreases their risks of failure, and we provide startups that we think have potential with the chance to acquire more funds through a fundraiser with an international investment committee.

AI startups are a particularly attractive sector for investors in the current moment. Fintech in general is a huge market — especially in Africa. Agritech is another booming industry that investors have been attracted to in the region. In terms of trends in the VC industry, I think corporate venture capital will be booming in the region very soon.

I enjoy reading Enterprise, but I also check LinkedIn and Twitter first thing in the morning to see what I missed during the night. I wake up at 5 am, perform the Fajr prayer, and then I have an hour before the kids wake up for school — the most precious hour of the day. I’m not a big breakfast person, I’ll usually just have my coffee and check my emails before waking up the kids and heading to the office at around 8 am, where I have another hour to myself before catching up with our operations manager on the status of the tasks at hand. I then have a break at around 2 pm, where I go pick the kids up from school and bring them over to the office to have a quick snack together before they have to do their schoolwork.

One constant in my day is having to watch a movie with my kids during the last hour of my day before we all go to sleep. If they both want to watch different things, I’ll have to spend an hour with each of them separately — but it has to happen. Another constant for me is the Fajr prayer. When I don’t start my day with it, I always feel like something’s wrong. Even when I’m on vacation, I’ll still do my prayer, have my coffee, and go back to sleep.

Back when I was in fourth grade, I already had a notebook where I wrote down all my tasks and how long I’d need to complete each one. So I’ve been organized ever since I can remember, and it’s carried over until today. I don’t have a notebook now, but my mind is always organized in the morning, when I plan out my day and keep note of everything I need to do throughout the entire week.

My goals on the personal and professional levels are one and the same. On a professional level, I’d like to see PTS continue to expand and bridge the gap between the MEA region and the rest of the world. On a personal level, everyone at PTS is like a family member to me. I dream of having my two kids, Salma and Youssef, one day being at my side at PTS and taking care of the work alongside me and the rest of the team.

I don’t necessarily want to separate my work from my life — on the contrary, I enjoy mixing them together. I like to keep my kids in the loop on problems I’m facing at work and some of the challenges we have to overcome, and then I hear about the problems that they face during their days as well.

When it’s time to switch off and relax, you’ll find me hanging out with my kids and their friends, playing Playstation with them, and throwing a few parties for them over at our house. I’m also a big fan of media that focuses on female empowerment. Whether it’s a book, a show, or whatever else, I find it really inspiring and I just keep searching for more content that centers around that.

My dad was my role model, but he never gave me any direct advice — he just told me that he’s confident in my ability to make my own decisions. But he always said that everyday, God will always give you what you’re due in some way, even if some things aren’t going well. So if work is rough, at least the kids are okay — and if there are challenges with the kids, at least work is good, and so on. It’s a way for me to always see the glass half full, and be grateful for where I am at any given moment.

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