Bassem Fayek, managing director and partner at Boston Consulting Group, Cairo: 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 Bassem Fayek (LinkedIn), managing director and partner at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Cairo.

My name is Bassem Fayek. I’m currently managing director and partner at BCG, Cairo, but I originally majored in electronic engineering at AUC. I graduated in 2008 and I began working in investment banking for about a year before getting into consulting, and I haven’t looked back since. I was BCG’s first local hire when it began operations in Egypt back in February of 2020 — when Covid first happened. So it was just me and my laptop, and my role was to build up the company, the team, and the whole setup of BCG Cairo.

BCG’s ultimate purpose is to unlock the potential of those who advance the world. In more technical terms, we advise clients, address their biggest challenges, and help them realize their biggest aims. Our three main priorities while setting up shop in Egypt were, to first advance local firms and help them grow regionally and globally. Secondly, on the other side of the coin, we wanted to help international firms advance their contributions to the Egyptian market. Finally, we wanted to support the government and national priorities — we were the strategic consulting partner for COP27 and we were the consulting partner for the Egypt-EU Investment Conference that took place recently.

My day-to-day responsibilities revolve around those three priorities, as well as building up the Cairo team and work related to recruitment.

Getting started right when Covid hit represented a challenge, but it was also an opportunity. It removed some of the expectations of having people fly in and out to conduct their business, and — with BCG being a global firm — it was a lot easier to quickly provide access to expertise by just jumping on a Zoom call. It took maybe less than six months for business to really pick up, and we’ve since built a strong business case in Egypt that has rapidly accelerated our growth.

The most prevailing trend in both our industry and others is, of course, AI and its integration into our workflow. I imagine it’s kind of like how everything changed with the introduction of Excel, in that it’s transforming how we use computers. It’s a similar context and the magnitude and potential impact is much bigger.

Consulting and routine don’t really go together very well, but I always try to make sure there’s at least one hour in my morning dedicated to spending some quality time with the family and playing with my 12-month-old son Adam for a bit. I try to leave the time between the morning and the afternoon for meetings with clients, then maybe spend the period between 4-8pm doing internal team meetings to discuss projects or to solve problems. I also keep the 7:30-8pm slot empty so I can spend some more time with Adam. If there’s another really urgent meeting I’ll have it done after that.

I usually read EnterpriseAM Egypt during the first 30 minutes of my day, especially the first section, which I get through pretty quickly with my morning coffee or while having breakfast, before reading the rest while commuting to work.

The one constant in my day is that I’m always surrounded by highly ambitious people. Be it my team members here at BCG, other partners, or CEOs and ministers — setting a high bar for me to sustain, maintain, and grow from as well. That’s what keeps this role exciting for me. The attrition rate is really high in the consulting industry — so after having done it for 15 years, in a very rough market like Egypt’s, what keeps you going is the people you’re working with.

Other than spending more time with my family, my current goal on a personal level is to start working out again. I used to be a crossfitter prior to Covid, but I’ve since had to stop going to the gym and I haven’t picked it up since then. I think it’s more about finding the mental capacity than it is about finding the time — so that’s one thing I’d like to add to my morning routine. On the professional level, I aim to continue to help grow BCG Cairo. Our goal over the next four to five years is to grow three-fold at least.

Work-life balance and consulting don’t mix great together either. While consulting is definitely a demanding field compared to other industries in Egypt, we’ve managed to keep the level of voluntary attrition at a much lower level than the industry average. I think while our teams are challenged, they’re excited about what they’re doing, and it’s the same thing for me. The mindset comes from the top.

To me, it’s not about finding work-life balance — it’s about whether you’re really excited about what you’re doing and if you feel like you’re making an impact. I try to do things like avoiding overnight flights, I try to get a minimum of 6-7 hours of sleep, and I usually have no work on weekends — except the odd meeting on Fridays here and there, which I keep in the morning to avoid messing up the rest of my day. So I try to do things here and there to maintain some balance, but it’s more of a side thought.

Two books that stand the test of time for me are How to Win Friends and Influence People and The Art of War, both of which I’d definitely recommend. Another interesting one was called The Lean Startup, and one that’s on my reading list is Atomic Habits.

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