It’s fair to say that Bey2ollak has become by far the most popular phone application in Egypt. Founded in 2010, it developed from a simple traffic announcements application to an integral part of the Egyptian daily commute. Other than the application, their twitter account is also a live feed for the Egyptian streets. We had a chat with one of the main founders, Ali Rafa, to learn more about their company, how they started, and what more they have in store for us.

Who are the people behind Bey2ollak?
Gamal Sadek and I are the original founders; we’re both computer science graduates – from the Arab Academy for Science Technology & Maritime Transport (AASTMT) and Ain Shams University respectively. We have tried doing a start-up before but it was a failure. This time we involved Mohamed Rafa, our current CEO – who’s is a bit older and more experienced. He’s also a computer science graduate from The American University in Cairo.. We also approached my brother in law, Yehia Ismail, who was an art director at a creative agency in Bahrain, to be responsible for the identity, the logo and user experience. We needed someone to handle the marketing, and that’s when Mostafa EL Beltagy joined us. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from The American University in Cairo and was working with Vodafone back then. Last but not least, our sales and operations manager, Walid, who actually built the social media for Bey2ollak with Gamal.

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When did you start implementing it?
The idea hit us back in July 2010 but we only started to take it seriously by the end of August. We finally launched Bey2ollak on October 10th, 2010.

How did the name come about?
Gamal was actually driving back from Sahel to Cairo when he called me at work and kept saying “Folan bey2ollak el taree2 kaza, we folan bey2ollak el taree2 kaza.” So, we thought why not name it “Bey2ollak”? Gamal bought the domain name as soon as he arrived to Cairo.

How did the process go?
After we picked the name, we launched it on Blackberry application, because BBM was very common at the time, also because there was another application, called ‘Circle Tie’, which had spread quite successfully.

WHAT HAPPENED DURING the launching DAY?
We made a broadcast message with the download link; Mostafa was actually the only one with a Blackberry so he sent out the broadcast to his network. The following day everyone headed to work (Mostafa and I were working in different departments at Vodafone back then), and I kept hearing some colleagues whispering about this new application that tells you about the flow of traffic on different streets. At this time, we had no idea how many users were on the application. We were pleasantly surprised by an e-mail from Vodafone, congratulating us for the amazing application and offering to sponsor Bey2ollak; they had no clue we were Vodafone employees too. Mostafa and I headed to Mohamed Ayouty who sent out the email and revealed our identities as Bey2ollak founders. By the end of the day, there were already 5000 users on Bey2ollak and they kept increasing with every click on the refresh button.

What was the sponsorship like?
It was a barter deal in return for marketing deals such as SMS shots, Facebook and Twitter posts and advertisement on Saramdy network (a mobile website). It was a good deal, especially that the presence of Vodafone logo on the app made it more credible.
People loved the little details about Bey2ollak; who was the one behind the expressions you used (7alawa, zahma, mashy, mafeesh amal, fa3el kheir)?
Yehia was actually the one behind the logo, the language and the best part “bey2ollak esbor shwaya” instead of “Loading” It gives a feeling of ownership to the user.

It’s a family business. How does your relationship survive the tough business atmosphere?
I think it’s because we know that when we argue it’s usually for the best interest of Bey2ollak; it’s also because each one of us has their own job description.

What kind of struggles and challenges did you have to face?
At first, we were clueless if people will report or not.
Everything was self-funded and we had to refuse some of the ads because we felt they won’t be suitable for the user; we wanted the user to benefit from the ads. That’s when we accepted the Coca Cola ads; it had value, because it was like a quote starting with ‘bey2ollak’. Generating revenues was very hard at first.
Most of us were working full time jobs besides Bey2ollak; we were totally swamped.
Duplicating the application in other countries was also very challenging, because you needed to identify a marketing gap and customize it based on the country.
Finding good caliber is an absolute challenge for most of the entrepreneurs. Presence of interested investors who are willing to take risks in startups is also a hardship; most of them care about a quick return on investment.

How do you guarantee that all the inputs and reports of the users are accurate?
Till now, it’s still challenging; however, we have several ways that counteracts it. Technically, we have a ranking system for all the users who are classified into old and new, regular and credible or not and accordingly the system neutralizes any errors. Additionally, we have the option that users could report each other by pressing on ‘3eib keda’ button; if a comment was reported by a number of users it gets automatically deleted, and if a user was reported several times they become blocked.

What are some of the awards you won?
In 2011, we won the ‘Next Gen.’ competition; it was a one week workshop where top-notch entrepreneurs from Denmark, America and startups from Egypt were followed by an elevated-pitch. There were four winners and we were one of them. The prize was an office in Smart village from 2012 till 2013. We also headed to America where we spent a one week internship in one of the startups that participated in the Next Gen. event.
The second prize was in 2012, Google Ebda2. It was a major prize and we won 200,000$. It started with 400 contestants who were eventually narrowed down to only one contestant to win it. And we did.
There were several other prizes; the last one was in Dubai last month where we named the most helpful application.

What are your plans for the future?
In a couple of months, we’re planning to start a global version in Istanbul, with a Turkish look and feel. We’re very excited about it.

What advice do you give to starting entrepreneurs?
1- Think out of the box.
2- Don’t let the struggles stop you.
3- Launch as quickly as you can; don’t be meticulous and don’t wait for the perfect conditions.
4- Conduct a market research.
5- Don’t let the money drive you; focus on the business model but don’t expect revenues from the beginning. Try to create something valuable.
6- Always listen to the feedbacks and consider them.

Finally, how do you manage to balance between work and family life?
When we started Bey2ollak, none of us were committed yet so it wasn’t really a problem. Now, I’m newly married and I try to give my best at the office to make sure I have free time outside of work. I also try to avoid working on weekends as much as possible.

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