Gratefull

Sitting quietly on the first day of the new year in my living room with a cup of hot tea in my hand reflecting on my life, how I ended up here. The decisions I took, the successes, failures and regrets. I can’t put my gratitude in words, no plan I can think of 14 years ago when I joined the workforce could have landed me where I am today and I wouldn’t ask for anything more.

Chapter 1 | The remote control

I was raised into a hard working family with both parents being career oriented and doing everything they can to build a better future for me and my sister, this resulted in me spending a lot of time with my grandmother who helped shape who I am today as a person.

We had a rhythm, she cooked for some time, we studied for some time and we watched tv after. She had a lovely early color tv with a huge dial top right to change channels, I was in charge of that dial.

Then one day she bought a newer tv with a remote control, for some this was a nice day, for me it was a big deal, how can she change the channel from her seat!!! This little event fueled my curiosity and set me on a path to become an electronics engineer. I knew at 9 what I wanted to do when I grow up.

Chapter 2 | Are you mad?

During college, I was a very good student, 3rd of my class, I loved what I studied, never missed a class and never owned a notebook - To be honest I had one for my sophomore year and I misplaced it so stopped having one. I was so captivated by every subject that I needed no help remembering classes. And as every keen student, I complimented my studies with a couple of summer internships at the usual suspects, I had one at the satellite control center and aimed to do one at Vodafone.

During my internship interview at Vodafone, the recruiter told me exactly what I didn’t want to hear “I am sorry but there are no available slots” I felt myself sink in the chair. Yet she quickly followed up with with “however, we have an opportunity in the marketing team where I think you would fit perfectly, would you want to go for an interview now?”. 

What? Marketing ? I have no idea what marketing is. Doing what? A thousand thoughts raced through my head but I snapped back to reality and said yes. No idea what I agreed to interview for.

While waiting in a room for the interview to start, I called my parents “are you mad? You are an engineer! What are you gonna do in marketing ? Stand on the corners selling SIM cards? Don’t be absurd.” Said both doctors.

They made a lot of sense and everything was brewing in my mind while I was ushered into the room for the interview, it was an amazing interview with an amazing character. It was stimulating logical problem solving and numbers and by the end of the hour I got the opportunity. And rather than the 1 month program I stayed on for 3 months and teared up on my last day.

That recruiter’s decision changed my life, she kickstarted my marketing career which introduced me to some of the smartest people I ever met in life that I still consult to this day.

Chapter 3 | The NO that took me around the world 

When I graduated I jumped through a couple of roles until Vodafone came calling again and I joined in a heartbeat, easiest decision to date.

Across my journey at Vodafone I was blessed with some amazing managers, learned a lot and helped define who I am as a person and as a leader. But there was this role that eluded me for a long time.

I got a call one day that the role was free, and they wanted me for it. I just had to go through the recruitment process for fairness. I was ecstatic. I took a couple of days off and spent them in tandem with the weekend to work on my presentation, why me and what I would bring to the role - to this day I have never prepared for an interview in a similar way, it was the Moby-Dick to my captain Ahab.

I had the interview, it went well , then I had a planned end of year family trip for a couple of weeks, on the 3rd day I got a call “ sorry, we decided to go another way”

It did not make any sense, I was depressed, shattered. I sulked for the rest of the trip.

When I went back to work, I did my best to keep a stiff upper lip, congratulate the candidate that took the role, I landed another role but the NO always was in the back of my mind.

The other role helped me a lot to develop my core set of skill, I worked on some super interesting stuff, met some amazing people and become a much better people manager due to the sheer amount of problems and politics I had to deal with. One of the people I worked with was an amazing talent that ended up going to HQ in London and on a random Tuesday I got a call that she recommended me for this amazing role looking after 1/3 of the world. 4 interviews and 2 weeks later I signed the offer and a month later I moved to London.

Had I not got that NO I would have never had this chance to work with the best talent across Vodafone , do what I do best in 10 different countries and solve amazingly complex and fun challenges across 3 continents. 

Chapter 4 | Your Uber has arrived

As my tenure at Vodafone approached 10 year mark, I started to think about changing companies, maybe even changing industries. Go outside my comfort zone and learn something new.

While exploring my options, I had two offers to join two leading telcos in very senior positions. Both with very lucrative salaries and benefits. While my mind saw it as the logical straight forward swap, my gut was not really bought on the idea. 

I started to read about the gig economy & the different new business models and Careem and Uber Eats stood out as a fit exactly to what I wanted to do, join an underdog (very different than Vodafone) and build exciting stuff.

I emailed the Careem head of HR a couple of times and started a dialogue and applied to the Eats Egypt GM role but both never turned into interviews .

One day while chatting with one of my close Vodafone friends, he told me Uber was looking for a head of marketing for Egypt. Over my trips, I took more than a hundred Ubers and I chatted with each driver, It was very inspiring how a simple idea with a sophisticated technology platform has helped them live a better life, economic empowerment is a topic that means a lot to me personally and a cause I would be superhappy and proud to be a part of.

If that wasn't enough, The 5 interviews got me even more excited. A week later I got the role. 3 months later I moved back to Cairo.

Uber helped me unlearn some of the things I considered as business fundamentals.

On day 1, we had the yearly planning and I joined as a spectator, I kept trying to hide my astonishment at the young smart talents and the bold ideas being thrown, we had a huge list of ideas with 20 minutes to go, very ambitious stuff. I waited for the prioritization stage, but it never came, we set out to do everything we believed was right for the business - and we did by H1.

Year 1 we outperformed the targets, but due to a global restructure I lost my role. I overachieved most of my personal OKRs and found myself looking for a role! Lovely.

After the obligatory sulking process, I found another role, build MENA marketing for Eats, super challenging, we are the underdogs, exactly what I wanted.

I moved to Dubai, hired a team, built the function and started to see results and beat targets then came the global marketing restructure, I lost 8 amazing talents. All I would hire again in a heartbeat. And I found myself doing a role I did not sign up for. The firefighting was unbelievable and kept me busy for 2 months until the Eid breaks.

I went back home, had 2 weeks off, spent most of it by the beach. Reflecting.

Then one day I got a call, the Egypt Eats GM role position is open, and they wanted me to do it in the interim. Wow! A role I applied for almost 2 years ago is offered to me, yet now I was much better prepared for the uphill battle.

It was a textbook change the engine mid flight kinda ordeal but after a slow start we got some momentum and ended the year ahead of targets.

Reflecting

How can a kid mesmerized by a remote control end up as the GM of one of the biggest markets for the number 1 food delivery platform globally? 

How could I have planned this?

Looking back it is clear that I needed a mix of luck, perseverance, hard work, NOs and amazing support community.

I am really grateful. I wouldn’t change a thing.

Excited to see what the future has in store.