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 Omar Kamel (LinkedIn), co-founder of Kiwe.

My name is Omar Kamel and I am the co-founder of Kiwe. I graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration, and a Masters in Management from the EU Business School Barcelona.

Kiwe is Egypt’s first youth finance app. My partners — Mohamed Khalifa (LinkedIn), Fatma Khalifa (LinkedIn), and Galal Abou El Dahab (LinkedIn) — and I initially started the application after we ourselves were youth studying abroad. We were introduced to different forms of digital payment apps and we’re impressed with how much easier it was than using cash.

Whenever we would come back to Egypt and use cash, we’d always notice the difference in efficiency. That’s when we decided to create Kiwe, one of the first platforms of its kind.

It took us a while to get the app out there. The idea of the app came in 2018, but it wasn’t until 2022 that we were able to launch and introduce it to customers. In its early stages it was my graduation project — for both my bachelor and masters degrees. We first launched a small model of Kiwe and began marketing it, starting with small transactions like parking payments, bazaar payments, and purchasing event tickets through the Kiwe app.

It’s hard to stand out within the financial sector since we are under specific legislations and guidelines that we need to follow. But one thing that we are doing differently is the fact that we’re targeting younger audiences. Through Kiwe, they’re able to transfer or request payments, set saving goals, and track their spending.

We’re speaking the youth’s language. We market through the platforms they use and highlight the tech savvy features and interfaces that would appeal to them.

We were even the exclusive financial partner for Shababco — a bazaar revolving around young business owners and young consumers. Attendants were able to buy their tickets or complete their purchases from the booths through Kiwe.

I wouldn’t consider myself successful yet. Not even close. There have, however, been little moments in the journey where I felt proud. I was very young when I joined the industry. I was 22 and trying to enter a very heavily regulated field where there were quite a few barriers to entry. It wasn’t easy. But overcoming these obstacles and being able to finally launch Kiwe was quite the moment of pride because we knew how hard we had worked to get there.

In five years time, I hope we can confidently say that Kiwe is the younger generation’s favorite finance app across the Middle East. By then, our goal is for the app to also educate the users on their finances. Things like how to budget, how to save, how to spend, and, eventually, how to invest. We want Kiwe to not only be a banking app, but also a financial education platform — which is a competitive edge that we have.

We’ve experienced some struggles along the way. The economic situation, for example, led us to a hiring struggle. We are looking for people at certain calibers with positive attitudes that will care about the company. The rates and salaries elsewhere are competitive, but we are learning to be patient and continue to look for the right fit for our team.

There are even things that we wish could’ve been different about the industry. Perhaps more space for young entrepreneurs to bring creative ideas into a heavily traditional sector, or flexibility within the regulations to welcome innovative concepts. But in general, we’ve learned to be flexible. Most struggles we encounter are out of our control, so we’ve stopped taking things personally and started to adapt and continue despite them.

Struggles aside, there are rewarding moments that make it all worth it. Seeing people believing in our business and ideas or actually seeing a stranger using Kiwe to make a transaction. It’s extremely motivating.

I’m trying to maintain a work-life balance, but it’s hard. I feel like at this point in time I want to allocate more of my time towards work. Entrepreneurship should not even be considered work. I wake up every morning and move towards something I love. So for now It’s at 60% work and 40% leisure. Maybe in the future that will shift.

If I were able to go back and give my younger self some tips, I would tell him to keep an eye out for the details, and give 101% to anything and everything without looking at the immediate result. Things have a way of manifesting later than we expect.

I don’t think I’m at a point where I can give entrepreneurial advice. But the one thing I can say is: Go for it, and figure it out as you go.

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