OUR FOUNDER OF THE WEEK– Every Tuesday, Founder of the Week looks at how a successful member of Egypt’s startup community got their big break, asks about their experiences running a business, and gets their advice for budding entrepreneurs. Speaking to us this week is Omar Ebeid (LinkedIn), founder and CEO of e-payments, loyalty and data analytics startup ZealPay.

My name is Omar Ebeid and I am the founder of ZealPay. I studied mechanical engineering at the University of Surrey, and have been coached by some of the world’s top businessmen and life coaches from a young age. I am especially grateful for my experience with Alex Hall, one of the UK’s top entrepreneurs. I’ve been highly influenced by him, learning entrepreneurship first-hand as his PA and business development executive.

My first take at entrepreneurship was a real estate company to attract investors to Hull, the UK’s city of culture at the time, while promising capital growth and higher-than-usual ROIs. Alex and I turned the project into student housing, attracting international investment and contributing to the growth of Hull’s economy.

I launched Zeal in 2019 to bring mobile payments with integrated loyalty to the Egyptian market.

I first came up with the idea when I was in London buying juice, and the cashier asked me for a loyalty card. I told her I hate loyalty cards because I always lose them. Then she showed me the Yoyo Wallet, which is basically a loyalty card on an app. I was intrigued to look more into the company to evaluate if the business model could work in Egypt. I met the founder, who suggested I bring Yoyo Wallet to Egypt, but I was more interested in starting my own business. We parted ways but it was only the beginning of our journey together: He is now one of Zeal’s investors.

The biggest challenge I faced when starting out was my inexperience. I had no idea what it takes to start your own business and I lacked the necessary resources. But I persevered, studied extensively to educate myself, and learned from others who had been in similar situations.

The best part about my job is the opportunity to meet interesting and innovative people. When you meet these successful figures and realize that they are humans just like you and me, you begin to believe in yourself and your ability to achieve more. Also, once you believe that you are developing something not to generate money, but to have an impact on the world, no one will be able to persuade you out of it. That is when I realized that work no longer felt like work. I enjoy it so much that I don’t mind sitting and working on weekends.

The worst part about my job is the impact on mental health. When you treat your investors’ money as if it were your own, I believe it takes a significant toll on your mental health. Investors believed in me enough to put money into my startup when they could have put it somewhere else with ROI. Knowing they opted to invest in Zeal is a huge responsibility.

If I were to give one piece of advice to emerging entrepreneurs, it would be to find two to three mentors that you can really trust. The reason I say two to three is to ensure that you always have access to skilled people who can help you validate your decisions and fill in the gaps. One could be your financial counselor, while the others can assist you with tech issues or even your mental health. I've benefited greatly from being coached by Alex in the past, and now being mentored by Yoyo Wallet helps a great deal.

Zeal just had a major pivot. We’ve created a new software that integrates with card machines worldwide. When you pay with a credit card, we provide merchants with data analytics, allowing them to follow and retain customers with specialized bundles and offers. Every transaction you make with your card is automatically mirrored on Zeal. You download the app to track your spending, while merchants gain a better understanding of their customers to offer more personalized solutions. In a nutshell, we are providing physical retailers with access to the benefits of e-commerce.

Zeal recently signed with the leading payment acquirer in the Middle East, and the largest US terminal manufacturer in the world. We will be announcing this partnership very soon. The startup has also raised USD 1.5 mn so far. My family and I invested, as did Saudi Arabian angel investors.

Zeal’s goals include partnering with as many payment acquirers and banks as possible in order to give retailers the power of e-commerce, and to expand in Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. We recently got accepted into Barclays Eagle Labs, and London Funding House, which will facilitate our entry into the London market.

The three most important KPIs I look at on a daily basis are the number of transactions processed; the total processed volume; and tracking customers’ purchases.

If I had to exit Zeal I would do it through a large acquisition or an IPO, and I would definitely want to stay on as an employee or an advisor. I would still have pursued entrepreneurship if I hadn’t had Zeal. I have a notebook of other ideas.

The last thing I read is Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore and I recently started watching Friends for the first time ever.

US entrepreneur Jim Rohn inspired me a lot. I enjoy how he approached life and business, and I regularly listen to his audiobooks. The podcast How I Built This with Guy Raz also inspires me. He interviews top entrepreneurs, game-changers, and innovators. I start picturing myself there and it inspires me to keep working so that one day I can be a guest on the show.

I believe startups that are killing it are UniPal, founded by Ali Alalawi in Bahrain, and Merky founded by Ahmad Nabih in Egypt.

If I had money to improve one thing it would be to hire more people. With our goals and strategy, I believe the most important thing we need to do at the moment is to expand our team and onboard people of the right caliber in order to handle the influx of work.