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 are Sarah Abouelkhair (LinkedIn) and Abdelrahman Selim (LinkedIn), COO, CEO, and co-founders of 2oolameme.

Our names are Sarah Abouelkhair and Abdelrahman Selim, and we’re the founders of 2oolameme, a physical and digital gaming company that aims to spark joy, laughter, and social connection through its games and experiences.

We’re two college friends who have a knack for entrepreneurship. Despite majoring in architectural engineering (Sarah) and economics (Abdelrahman) at The American University in Cairo, we sought out and took part in entrepreneurship electives, and frequently participated in and won student entrepreneurial competitions, such as the Hult Prize.

We initially worked in our respective fields — Sarah joined Raef Fahmi Architects as a Junior Architect and Abdelrahman was an investment analyst for Alex Angels. Six months after graduation, two life-changing events occurred: The pandemic hit, and Sarah was accepted into her dream master’s program at Columbia University, New York.

2oolameme began with the need to fund Sarah’s master’s. We decided to start a business, and brainstormed potential projects that could be viable during and benefit from the lockdown. Abdelrahman suggested creating a card game, anticipating that people would seek new forms of indoor entertainment. During that phone call, 2oolameme was born. The first game launched within a week, and we sold 1k of them in just ten minutes.

Today, we have 24 original IP games in our portfolio, which are available in 200+ retail stores in Egypt. We have also helped launch several board game cafés. International companies like TikTok, Spotify, Dell, and Allianz have contacted us to design custom games and events for them. Eventually, we expanded into Saudi Arabia with the release of the social gaming app Kooz, which now has 300k organic downloads and 30k monthly active users, all without any media spend.

In just four years, we have become one of Egypt’s leading gaming companies, growing from an initial out of pocket investment of EGP 12k. Kooz, which we are working to expand, has consistently ranked in the top ten of its category on the App Store. Looking ahead, we plan to refine the experience, introduce online multiplayer, and add more games to Kooz to keep enhancing the app and provide a seamless, engaging gaming experience.

The aim is to curate original social games for the Arabic speaking market. Board and card games started gaining traction in the Egyptian market in the 80s with popular titles like Monopoly, known as Bank El Haz, and UNO. For the next 20+ years, there was little innovation, and the market was saturated with imported games or direct Arabic reiterations featuring superficial additions like a man in a turban or a camel.

Our games prioritize cultural relevance. They were initially designed specifically for Egyptians, reflecting our unique humor and preferences. Being a naturally social population, our games had to act as social stimulants, encouraging connection and bonding through play and laughter. Before our launch in 2020, the local board/card game market was sparse. Our success has since inspired a creator economy, with many new board/card game creators emerging.

We build our games around our community. Several of our games are co-created with our audience, with contributors’ social media usernames featured on the cards. We host launch events open to our customers, celebrating together and enhancing their experience.

We’re planning to expand both online and offline. We’re working on expanding our product range to appeal to different customer tastes and continuously improving our existing offerings. Our geographical expansion is just beginning. We’re currently present in Libya, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan, and the USA — and there’s still more potential for growth. We’re also developing products specifically tailored to the cultural needs of these markets.

The best part of our job is seeing our team’s ideas come to life and witnessing their positive impact on our customers. Developing a game that brought joy and entertainment, especially during a challenging time, was highly rewarding. And we particularly enjoy the game creation process, which involves a lot of thought, innovation, and rigorous testing to create a hit game. As for the worst part, we don’t have any real complaints — it’s all part of the journey. The most challenging aspect was managing a team at a young age — Sarah was only 23 with 2oolameme kicked off.

Our advice is to let the market be the ultimate test for your product or service. Take action, launch quickly, and continuously improve. Keeping an idea in your head only delays the learning process. Get to market swiftly, engage with your customers, learn from their feedback, stay agile, and grow.

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