Karim Shehata, CEO of Basata 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 Karim Shehata (LinkedIn), CEO of BasataHolding.

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My name is Karim Shehata. I’ve been working since I was 15, so I’m almost 30 years into corporate life. I’m currently working as the CEO of Basata, but I’ve moved between four or five businesses over the last 20 years. I also have two amazing kids — so my life is a balance between the corporate guy, the family guy, and an Egyptian heart and soul.

Basata means simple in Arabic — and simplicity is a big part of what we try to do. We’re in the business of financial inclusion, moving money into the digital world, building tech for businesses, merchants, and consumers to enable them to do their jobs better. My part is the easiest part of all, I think, because my part is just looking for good people to work in the business and trying to make their life as comfortable and as effective as possible. We’re trying to grow in the Egyptian market, and we’re growing regionally beyond Egypt as well.

My day-to-day responsibilities can be divided into two parts: There’s the regular operational part, where I check on our figures, our teams, how our sales performed the previous day — just making sure that everything is on the right track. Then the other part is about looking ahead into the future, and where we could do better. That doesn’t happen on a daily basis, but we try to consistently look at the bigger picture and overall market by holding talks with our colleagues and partners. We try to see what we can learn and where we can add value.

Basata is the result of two different types of investors coming together to create a fintech firm. The founders of the business are divided into the MM Group for Industry and International Trade — one of the largest distributors in Egypt. They distribute and manage everything from top up and recharge cards to Maseratis and Range Rovers. On the other side, the second largest investors in Basata are private equity firms and financial investors. The two sides met around 10 years back and decided to bundle everything together. So it became a mix between distribution and financial understanding to create fintech companies. That’s how Basata was created.

It was first formed as an acquisition vehicle for other businesses. So it started as a holding company, acquiring Bee and then another stake in a company called Masary and scaling them up. The next step was moving into the regional market — we’re looking into Jordan and other markets as well, Oman, Saudi, and the GCC. All of this came as a result of two businessmen and friends meeting to bring distribution and fintech together. And here we are, under the umbrella of Basata — which has a 30% share of the Egyptian market, growing rapidly in a few years in a market that is very dynamic and exciting.

It’s been very interesting to see how quickly Egyptians have adapted to tech. I’ve worked in different industries including telecom, banking, aviation, and there’s always the question of whether people will adapt to new technologies. When I worked at Visa, for instance, the question was — would Egyptians use their card at any point of time to pay for anything? Now, we’re seeing the adoption of cashless payments at a rapid rate. The embrace of cashless transactions and payments has been magnificent, and it happened at a phenomenal rate.

There’s also a general awareness of financial services, products, and non-banking financial services that wasn’t quite there a few years back. The average Egyptian is now aware of NBFS and of payment in installments and how they work. I would say it’s also growing really quickly and positively. This can be attributed to the government. The amount of policies and financial flexibility that the government has shown in that sector specifically has been very interesting to see. They opened up a lot of possibilities for agent banking, prepaid cards, Instapay, all these kinds of excellent products in the market.

During my mornings, I usually pray, get a small bite, get some coffee, then I check Enterprise online to see what’s new in the market. During weekdays, I’m usually doing calls and checking on the business, which generally starts very early in my day. I also use all the possible apps to check on my kids, using everything from texting to Snapchat to make sure I get a reply!

One of my mentors told me that I need to always have a point of reflection during my day. I’d say that’s my one constant every day — to just take five minutes in the middle of the day to assess how the day’s going, how things are moving, and what’s still pending. I ask if I’m generally on the right track in terms of getting things done at work or if I’m checking on my family enough. It’s a way for me to stay focused in the middle of all the chaos.

I’m not an organized person, so I generally get a lot of help from my personal assistants and the people around me as well. They help me keep everything intact and be on top of my meetings and obligations. Prayer times also help me organize my day, and give me little reflection points throughout the day so I can be on top of things.

What’s next for me? During Covid, I picked up painting as something I do regularly. It had been a hobby that I had started 10 years back but had never properly pursued until then. It’s something I want to keep doing, study it a bit more, maybe travel to different parts of the world to try to improve at it. On the family side, things are thankfully as good as can be. I couldn’t ask for more.

I try my best to keep a healthy balance between working and seeing my family. Both my kids are football players, so I try to spend some quality time with them and watch them play on the field, and discuss their future plans in sports and everything else. It’s been a bit more challenging to keep up with hobbies like painting, but I try to devote at least a few hours per week to getting that done. My personal time is something I really value, and it’s something that adds a bit of balance to the tension of the workweek.

I also really like podcasts. I listen to podcasts about everything from nutrition, health, sports, technology, and everything else. I’d really recommend the Mindvalley Show with Vishen Lakhiani. As for books, I’d recommend Atomic Habits, Usual Suspects, and The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari.

On the professional side, it’s a bit trickier. Basata currently feels like a job I want to do forever. I have a really exciting role, and the whole fintech and payments ecosystem in Egypt and our region is really exciting as well. In addition to that, what I’m seeing from the team and the people around me, developing their skills and flourishing in the business — all of it has been really rewarding. So professionally, I don’t see things changing much in the near future.

The best piece of advice I’ve been given is that we’re here for a short time, and then it stops. Although it may sound dark, there’s also an uplifting side to it, in terms of making the most of what we have and telling people we love that we love them, and keeping up with spirituality and being close to God as well. My friend just said it to me casually one day, but it’s something that stuck with me.

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