Investing In The Future
Mostafa Kabany, Founder & Chief Executive Officer at Kabnoury Ventures, explains his company’s rapid rise to success and his focus on investing in e-learning.
Kabnoury Ventures has earned a strong reputation in just two years. How have you achieved success in such a short time?
At Kabnoury Ventures, we genuinely believe in founders and we assist them in every way possible to ensure the right development of each startup. Also, before we started operating in 2019, my partners and I thoroughly studied the startup landscape, read a lot about venture capital, and learned from people in the field. These factors made it easier to start off and succeed in a short period of time.
Kabnoury Ventures was founded in Egypt and is now headquartered in Dubai. What inspired you to start the business and what are your future plans?
I always thought that Fintech and digitalization would arrive late in the MENA region, but then I realized that they were rapidly growing and expanding. This was one of my motives for being part of the tech revolution. I wanted to establish and invest in tech companies that would facilitate or change people’s lives and leave a positive impact. I was already successful in the educational and consumer financing industries, so I thought it was time to digitalize them and make the customer experience easier and more enjoyable by developing two apps. These app ideas were probably a big push towards generating venture capital – not just for my ventures, but for other innovative ideas or highpotential startups.
Now, we are planning on expanding Kabnoury Ventures into North Africa, India, and Latin America.
You have a diverse and expanding portfolio. Can you share any standout examples?
One of our success stories is e-learning app, Scholigit, which has thrived and expanded in a really short time. It’s everything a school consists of in one application. Scholigit has several features and advantages, including a student management system that allows parents, teachers, and students to interact, and that gives students access to everything they need. The app makes it easy to track fees, set up installment plans, and keep up to date with attendance, class schedules, and reports. It also offers notification and messaging functions that enable smooth communication, and allows parents to track their children’s academic progress with direct teacher interaction.
E-learning is clearly a main focus for Kabnoury Ventures. Why are you focusing on this industry specifically?
For me, education is fundamental and foundational for every human. Therefore, by making education more fun and accessible, I believe we can help motivate more students to expand their horizons and enrich their lives. We are currently looking into educational games as well; they are a different yet entertaining way to educate the future generations – and to engage adults who want to enjoy games that challenge their brains!
Large multinational
corporations bring many benefits to the Middle East, including employment, capital, expertise, and technology. As such, governments in the region compete with each other in numerous ways to attract these global heavyweights, on the one hand simplifying rules to make their markets more attractive, and on the other mandating that international companies increase their on-ground presence to take advantage of those markets.
Leading these companies is a tough task. Those that head regional offices for multinationals need to navigate a variety of laws, rules, and regulations that differ from country to country and often change. They also need to keep in mind socio-cultural sensitivities and differences while growing their businesses and increase profitability.
These companies and their leaders are often seen as holding up high international standards of ethical behavior in business. Several of the CEOs on our Global Meets Local list advise Middle Eastern governments about international trends and business, as well as advising international governments about doing business in the Middle East.
Methodology
For our annual Global Meets Local ranking, we first look at Forbes' Global 2000 ranking of the world's biggest companies and identify those with significant operations in the Middle East.
We then analyze the top-ranking executive working at the company's Middle East headquarters. This year, due to the pandemic leading many executives and employees to work from home, we allowed for leaders who, while in charge of the Middle East office, are temporarily living elsewhere.
We ranked the executives based on the following criteria:
• Impact: Published thought leadership, sustainability and CSR initiatives, public image.
• Scope: Designation and geographical area that they oversee.
• Size of business: Number of employees, revenues if given, project value, product reach. • Experience: Number of years of corporate experience.
• Global 2000 rank: Rank of the global organization on Forbes Global 2000 list 2021.
To nominate yourself or someone else for our lists, email: info@forbesmiddleeast.com