The best investment decision I ever made: Karim Badr and Hanan Abdel Meguid

In each issue of Money Matters we ask senior members of our community for investment advice based on personal experience. Speaking to us this week are Karim Badr, CEO Private Equity, CI Capital and Hanan Abdel Meguid, CEO of Kamelizer Spaces.

Karim Badr, CEO Private Equity, CI Capital

The best investment decision I ever made was buying a 3-bedroom chalet in Almaza, on the North Coast. I bought the chalet for EGP 1 mn in 2014 and paid EGP 20k in monthly installments over the course of five years. I spent EGP 4 mn on finishing and furnishing it because I decided to go all out. Today, the value of the property is EGP 45 mn.

There is nothing like real estate investments in Egypt, and Sahel real estate is on steroids. There’s limited supply and high demand. I also bought an apartment in Katameya Creeks in New Cairo in 2021 for EGP 10 mn, which I thought was super expensive. It is now valued at EGP 60 mn. The trick is to choose a good location with a good developer.

But today the real estate market is different. You can’t make the same kinds of returns, so I wouldn’t advise going all in on real estate. You need to have a diversified portfolio that includes real estate split between Cairo and Sahel. I think you should make short-term investments, cash is king, and don’t get tied to anything. Short term investments in stocks, bonds, and commodities are the way to go.

Hanan Abdel Meguid, CEO, Kamelizer

The best investment decision I ever made was moving ahead with Kamelizer Spaces at District 5 despite my initial concerns on cost. The co-working space was nothing like I’d ever ventured into before. It was larger and more ambitious and I initially felt like I was getting in over my head. The cost of rent was quadruple that of comparable locations. No one knew where the dollar would land post devaluation so everyone was pricing at the high end of the range.

In 2023 after two devaluations I was confronted with the decision of whether or not to continue with the space. From an investment standpoint, if I was only looking at my excel sheet, it wouldn’t have made sense. The rational decision should have probably been to cancel or hit pause until things stabilize but I decided to ignore all that and continue. I liquidated some of the passive income assets that I had in order to stay the course and that was the best investment decision I ever made.

With Kamelizer, I discovered a great location and new category of experiential real estate that I’m now heavily focused on. The multi modular events space and the shape shifter capabilities of the shared areas is all very flexible. You can change the functionality of the layout which initially required more investment to get the space ready. Once things were up and running and people started using the space I discovered that there were many different revenue streams that could come out of the space that I hadn’t initially thought of. You should follow your gut. I found my life with this investment.