Karim Hussein on Egypt's Vibrant Venture Landscape

01/18/22 • 46 min

I’m really excited to share today’s episode, which features an interview with Karim Hussein, a Managing Partner of Algebra Ventures, Egypt’s leading institutional-quality venture capital firm.

I was thrilled to speak with Karim for several reasons.

First, I find Egypt to be one of the most captivating countries in the world, not only because of its rich history, but also because of its energy and potential. It’s the largest market in the Arab world, with a population of 100 million people — one in five of whom live in Cairo.

Second, Egypt’s startup scene is vibrant — with more than 80 venture investments inked last year — and it’s approaching another inflection point of growth.

Third, Karim’s background in deep tech — and his bona fides as a successful entrepreneur — enable him to provide high-fidelity insights on the depth of the country’s technical talent and the quality of its entrepreneurs.

Karim does a masterful job covering the landscape of Egypt’s startup and venture ecosystem. He also shares some great book recommendations at the end for those who are keen to learn more.

With that, I hope you enjoy my conversation with Karim Hussein.

This podcast was recorded in January 2022.

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Learn more about Algebra Ventures.

Follow Algebra Ventures on LinkedIn.

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Karim’s Book Recommendations:

· Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

· Naguib Mahfouz, The Cairo Trilogy

· Max Rodenbeck, Cairo: The City Victorious

· P.J. Vatikiotis, The History of Modern Egypt

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Music credit: Daniel Allan, “Too Close” released on Sound. You can learn more about Daniel’s community-owned DAO that underwrote his latest EP here.
(Disclosure: In addition to the “Too Close” NFT, Portico’s founder Michael Casey owns $OVERSTIM tokens, as well as NFTs of Pat Lok’s “Over U” and Aluna’s “Forget About Me”).

I’m really excited to share today’s episode, which features an interview with Karim Hussein, a Managing Partner of Algebra Ventures, Egypt’s leading institutional-quality venture capital firm.

I was thrilled to speak with Karim for several reasons.

Second, Egypt’s startup scene is vibrant — with more than 80 venture investments inked last year — and it’s approaching another inflection point of growth.

Karim does a masterful job covering the landscape of Egypt’s startup and venture ecosystem. He also shares some great book recommendations at the end for those who are keen to learn more.

With that, I hope you enjoy my conversation with Karim Hussein.

This podcast was recorded in January 2022.

—————

Learn more about Algebra Ventures.

Follow Algebra Ventures on LinkedIn.

—————

Karim’s Book Recommendations:

· Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

· Naguib Mahfouz, The Cairo Trilogy

· Max Rodenbeck, Cairo: The City Victorious

· P.J. Vatikiotis, The History of Modern Egypt

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Previous Episode

Gopal Jain on India’s Transformation

In today’s episode I speak with Gopal Jain, co-founder and Managing Partner of Gaja Capital, one of the leading private equity firms in India.
It was a real pleasure to speak with Gopal because he’s lived through the boom-and-bust cycles within India’s private equity industry, so he’s able to place today’s environment in context, and impart some of the hard-earned lessons he’s gleaned over the last two decades.
Gopal and I cover a lot of territory in this conversation, so I’ll spare you the rundown of topics. But I’ve been marinating on two of the things that Gopal said since our conversation.
The first is that a couple decades ago, upwards of 80% of India’s most talented engineers and entrepreneurs were migrating to the United States; whereas today, most are choosing to launch startups within India, with the benefit of a robust private markets supply chain of capital at-the-ready.
The second is that Gopal thinks that India’s PE industry could grow from $50 billion in deals to $100 billion over the next five to 10 years. And if that happens, he thinks India could detach from the EM complex and become a standalone market like China.
I was also really enamored with Gopal’s “5+1” construct for explaining the foundational infrastructure that is accelerating India’s digital transformation.
One of the things we didn’t talk about — but I think you should know about — is the Gaja Capital Business Book Prize, which has some great suggestions to add to your bookshelves. I’ll be adding a few volumes to mine.
My audio came out a bit odd in places, so I apologize if it’s a bit distracting. The good news is I don’t speak much.
There’s so much food for thought in this episode that I don’t want to keep you waiting any longer.
With that, I hope you enjoy my conversation with Gopal Jain.
This podcast was recorded in November 2021.

Learn more about Gaja Capital and its Business Book Prize.

Follow Gaja Capital on Twitter.

Bain & Company, India Private Equity Report 2021.

Bain & Company, India Venture Capital Report 2021.

Next Episode

Nnennia Ejebe on the Art of Control Deals in Africa

In today’s episode I speak with Nnennia Ejebe, a Partner with Adenia who is based in the firm’s office in Accra, Ghana. Adenia has been investing across Africa since 2002, and it is a pioneer of control deals in mid-market African companies.

Nnennia provides an amazing overview of private equity investing in Africa, not only of the compelling macro and micro trends that are fostering a richer investable market, but also the variety of benefits that percolate down from the pursuit of a control strategy.

We also get into the entrepreneurial pedigree of Adenia, and how this pedigree impacts the investment philosophy, strategy, and value creation initiatives of the firm.

As I share during the discussion, I am consistently energized by the work we’ve been doing in Africa — whether that’s with funds, transactions, or advising start-up founders. I am keen to spread my enthusiasm for the continent, and I can think of few better resources to inculcate a drive to learn more than Nnennia’s masterclass.

She also offered up some great reading and viewing recommendations, so be sure to check the show notes for links to additional content.

With that, I hope you enjoy this conversation.

This podcast was recorded in March 2022.
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Learn more about Adenia Partners.
Follow Adenia on LinkedIn.
Listen to Adenia's Alexis Caude on the AVCA podcast.
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Nnennia's reading / viewing recommendations:

Books by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Diana Chapman, Jim Dethmer & Kaley Klemp, The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership
Michaela Coel, I May Destroy You | BBC / HBO

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Music credit: Daniel Allan, “Too Close” released on Sound. You can learn more about Daniel’s community-owned DAO that underwrote his latest EP here.
(Disclosure: In addition to the “Too Close” NFT, Portico’s founder Michael Casey owns $OVERSTIM tokens, as well as many other music NFTs; his Sound collector profile is available here).