Neveen El Tahri is one of the women who proved that nothing is impossible. After graduating in 1980 from Cairo University Faculty of Economics & Political Science, and working in private sector for twelve years, Neveen decided to start her own company. She is also successful at her personal life; she is a wife, a mother and a grandmother too!
WAS IT RISKY TO START ONE OF THE FIRST BROKERAGE COMPANIES IN EGYPT IN A MALE DOMINANT FIELD?
I worked with Egypt’s top private sector bank, Chase National Bank (now CIB), for 12 years before reaching what we call the glass ceiling and no longer enjoying the job. In May 1992, I took the toughest decision to resign giving up a secure salary to God knows what next; I took on a number of free consultancy jobs, as well as teaching. In 1993, the Capital Market law was under discussion and talk of bringing back our 40 year dormant stock exchange revival with brokerage licenses seemed interesting. When the executive regulations of Law 95 finally came out in 1994, it had me eligible, given my financial background, so I felt at par with everybody else in a new market. I started my first company and haven’t stopped since then.
WHAT KIND OF STRUGGLES DID YOU FACE STARTING YOUR OWN COMPANY?
1) Obtaining the brokerage license was definitely the toughest. I had to take what is normally a couple of minutes oral exam in two hours because I was a woman in a man’s world. I was later told by a panel member “if we do give you the brokerage license, it is because of your good reputation as a banker but it will be at my own personal risk.”
2) On the exchange, the deals would be done between the boys and men together; we were 15 companies sitting around the Courbet and I was the only single woman being left out. Back then, it was us, the founders of the companies, who had to carry out the execution.
3) When employees were eventually allowed to do the execution, the founders had to gather information to analyze the company. It was almost as tough as handling a matter of national security.
4) On many occasions, the deals were negotiated during evening dinners or over drinks and as a woman with a husband and kids at home, I was not part. It took double if not triple the effort to become an accepted player.
5) My first loan was a tough struggle. Although finally granted by one of the reputable banks run by someone who knew me personally, they still requested signed blank checks and asked for my father to be a grantor…All the things I ask people never to accept nowadays was the only way forward back then.
WE KNOW THAT YOU’RE BLESSED WITH A BEAUTIFUL FAMILY, HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO BALANCE YOUR CAREER AND PERSONAL LIFE?
It would have never been possible without the family’s support; thanks to my understanding husband who wanted me to succeed and my mother in law who babysat my kids daily from 8-4 until I returned from work. I think any woman should clearly have her family as a priority; the time needed for the family is the most precious and important one. Everything else can always come later but not that time.
Time management is the key to balance career and personal life, all usually at your personal account of sleeping or looking after yourself. I would take my kids to swim practice at 6AM then drive them to school before heading to the office, pick them up from my mother in-law’s, go to football practice, arrive home to spend quality time with them and listen attentively to all their stories. After they go to bed, I would pull out the work that needed to be finished after working hours to achieve equal output to my colleagues at the credit department.
However, you look back in time and you feel happy that you managed to balance your career and family. Today I am a grandma and the proud mother of Dina, who holds a PhD from Harvard Law School and teaches at Sciences Po in Paris. My son Tino has an MA from UCL and an MBA from INSEAD; he worked for Mckinsey before finally coming back to Egypt and launching UBER. God bless them.
WHY HAVE YOU FOUNDED A FAMILY HOLDING COMPANY “DELTA FINANCIAL INVESTMENTS”? TO EXPAND?
My first family holding company was named Delta Holding, which later became Delta Financial Investments. By 2007 we already had 3 companies, (ABN AMRO Delta Asset Management, Delta Securities Egypt and Delta Financial Investments), all with different partnerships. The aim was to have the holding company that would have all our family ownerships under one umbrella to facilitate future setting of good corporate governance.
TELL US MORE ABOUT ‘DELTA SHIELD FOR INVESTMENT’.
Delta Shield was established in 2008 with the aim of focusing on small and medium enterprises and acting as an incubator for start-ups and early stage start-ups. The focus was more on the small enterprises acting like an angel investor with hands on and providing full business development services to our chosen partners. Over a few years of trial and error investments, we ended up creating a nice unique model for the incubator with co-working space and business development support, and a more advanced model for the accelerator and growth of companies aiming to grow and maybe list on one of the exchanges.
Today these 2 businesses (incubator & accelerator) have been spun off to a management company “Delta Inspire”; Delta Shield has become an advisor for family businesses or medium-sized companies working on corporate governance. The aim is to transition these businesses to the next level in terms of succession, whilst preparing them to be more investable and bankable.
‘DELTA INSPIRE’ IS THE NEWEST COMPANY AND IT FUNDS NEW START-UPS. TAKE US THROUGH IT, IF ANY ENTREPRENEUR IS INTERESTED TO BE FUNDED.
Delta Inspire is the management company described above, and is managing the “138 Pyramids” Fund (although in the form of an investment company). The name “138 Pyramids” comes from the fact that Egypt has 138 Pyramids; we chose the name to imply that the history of progressive Ancient Egypt was in the building of Pyramids and today we shall use the shaping of Egypt’s future also with Pyramids, in the form of Egyptian companies built by Egyptians.
• What are the criteria of the entrepreneur? Preferably with a couple of years’ experience and not coming with an idea from scratch but an idea that has shown a keen demand already. The business has to have the ability to scale, locally and even beyond. More importantly the business can employ more people as it grows, both directly and indirectly.
• How can they apply? They can log on to our website www.138pyramids.com and check out the criteria, Q&A and application. We arrange to meet them and access if they can become one of our upcoming 138 Pyramids.
• How will you help them? We not only have seed money; we act like a one stop shop for entrepreneurs. From establishment, to strategically work on the future plans, make sure they have the legal partnership documents in place, have office space, an audit firm to pursue their financials along with the accountant to keep record, and investment bankers once partnerships or raising either debt or equity is needed. We also allocate an industry mentor to guide them from day one as well as having them on their boards.
WHAT ADVICE CAN YOU GIVE YOUNG WOMEN IN THE FIELD AND WOMEN IN GENERAL? HOW CAN THEY FEEL EMPOWERED AND PURSUE THEIR CAREER?
Women are much more entrepreneurial than they think; they have less pressure than men do as the expectations by virtue of our culture are less demanding. They can afford trial and error with more ease; let them go out and build or help build companies and be part of entrepreneurial businesses. Women are achievers; they focus more on self-fulfillment rather than material success. Let them seek the role they feel inspired to do and reach out for the support they want and they will get it; I bet they will succeed.
