Omar Shelbaya, CEO of AXA Egypt: 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 chief executive officer at AXA Egypt Omar Shelbaya (LinkedIn). Edited excerpts from our conversation:

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My name is Omar Shelbaya, and I’m the CEO at AXA Egypt. I’m 55 years old and I’m married with three boys. My oldest is 30 years old, the second is 27 years old, and the youngest is 20 — two of them are actually getting married, one this year and the other very soon. I’ve been working for more than 30 years, 29 of which were in the ins. industry. I’ve worked in several areas of ins. — as a broker and within corporate entities. I’ve been with AXA Egypt since its inception in 2015. So, you could say I know a little bit about ins.

Like any other CEO, my job is to take care of three things — business, people running the business, and our clients. Managing a business involves strategy and implementation, which are actually the easiest parts. Setting strategies, having KPIs, and running the day-to-day isn’t the difficult part of the job. Managing people can be a bit trickier, as everyone has different aspirations, emotions, backgrounds, and perspectives. You have to manage them professionally and emotionally, as human beings and colleagues. Around 50% of my time goes to managing people. Then, you manage your clients. And by clients, I don’t just mean the end customer, it includes brokers, partners, and the end customer. Without clients, there’s no business. If you don’t understand their needs, frustrations, and aspirations — especially as they evolve — you risk building something convenient for you, but irrelevant to the clients and the market.

Ins. is not very popular in Egypt. It’s not compulsory like in many developed countries, where health, motor, or home ins. is a must. In Egypt, retail ins. isn’t required, and people don’t wake up excited to buy life or health plans. So, we have to educate clients, show the benefits, and deliver on the promise we make during the sales process. At the end of the day, ins. is just a promise on a piece of paper, and what matters is how you deliver that promise when it counts. It’s not only about the payment, it’s about being there with the customer during their time of need, whether that’s a hospital stay, the death of a family member, or planning for retirement or education. It’s about empowering the customer to live a better life.

The biggest shift in the industry is digital transformation, like most industries post-Covid. It is important to empower the customer to access services and benefits through digital platforms. Physical interactions and call centers are becoming obsolete, as everyone wants to use their mobile phones to access everything. At AXA, we have the MyAXA app, where customers can request approvals, choose where to receive services, pick reimbursement options, check policy limits and savings plans, see account values, and even switch investment funds, all at their fingertips. It used to be a frustrating paper-based process, but now clients have full control over products and services via their phones.

My morning routine is a bit unusual as I wake up between 2-3am and go to bed by 9pm. I have a gym in my backyard where I do a mental and physical detox from the previous day. It’s quiet, with no interruptions, and I use that time to reflect and plan the day. After that, I get ready for work, check emails, and by 7am, I usually have a meeting over coffee with a colleague. We talk about everything from personal lives to business. On my way to work, I read reports and KPIs, and I check EnterpriseAM. Then, I’m in meetings from 8am until around 6pm. After that, I commute home, which takes me around an hour, have dinner with my family, go to bed, and repeat. I sometimes have business events in the evenings, for which I have to alter my routine a little bit. I don’t socialize during weekdays, only on weekends, as it keeps me focused and well-prepared for the next day. I have to stick to my routine. I don’t get off track unless absolutely necessary.

Minimalism is my motto, so I try not to keep too many things on my plate. At this stage in my life, my main focus is work and family. If you are trying to focus on too many things at once, you will get distracted. You have to prioritize what is important to you and what aligns with your goals.

Personally, I’m looking forward to my boys getting married and maybe becoming a grandfather in the next couple of years. Professionally, I want to give back, whether to my colleagues, the company, or the community. I could have some experience or knowledge that I could pass down, especially since the average age of staff at the company is around 29 years — roughly the same age as my sons — so I’m comfortable having these discussions with them and mentoring them, and it’s a way to give back.

Improving our products is also another way to give back to the community. We’re focusing more on life products, especially preparing people for retirement. It’s a major gap in the Egyptian market. AXA operates in over 50 countries with 100 mn clients, so we can bring in global expertise and propositions to deliver unmatched value to the Egyptian market.

Having a work-life balance is essential, but most of the time it is difficult to achieve. I’m responsible for a company with 1k employees, 2 mn customers, and my own family, so there’s not much time left. You have to choose what to focus on. I spent the past five days with my kids on holiday, which was lovely, but that’s rare. The work is demanding, clients are demanding, and time is limited.

When I’m not at work, I relax by putting my phone on silent at 8:30pm. Everyone knows not to call after 9pm. If someone does, I call them back when I wake up, so people learned quickly that I set this time aside for myself.

A book I would recommend is How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. I read it when I was 18, and it changed my life. It explains how people see the world differently, not because they want to, but because they do. It teaches you to understand the other side, engage with people and influence them, and gain friends. It’s an easy read, you can finish it in a night.

The best advice I received was from my father. It’s an Arabic saying which translates to “life is full of things you don’t need.” It ties into my minimalist approach. Don’t chase material things or short-term joy. Stay focused on what really matters — your priorities, your family, and your goals.

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