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 Hassan Fayed (LinkedIn), founder and CEO at Aydi, an HR platform targeted at the agriculture sector.

My name is Hassan Fayed, and I am the founder and CEO of Aydi. We assist blue-collar workers — farmers — with seasonal staff hiring, management, and compensation.

I spent the majority of my career working in Dubai. I was the head of innovation at the Dubai Airport Freezone, which is one of the largest special economic zones in the MENA region. I specialized in building in-house ventures, including Dubai CommerCity, Tradeling, and Scality. I continue to serve on the boards of Scality and Tradeling.

My family is in the agriculture business, so I grew up very close to that sector. I used to spend the first month of my summers harvesting grapes in the fields, and that's when I first noticed the problem that Aydi is attempting to fix. Agriculture is the world’s largest employer as a sector, with more than 1 bn seasonal employees worldwide — and 80% of them have purchased their first smartphone in the last five years.

The issue that these people are facing is a lack of year-round employment opportunities. Contrary to us, who have LinkedIn and other social media platforms, these people have nothing to publish or any profiles with which to advertise their qualified talents. And due to the seasonal nature of the labor, it is very difficult for the landowners and handlers to identify skilled workers, hire them, and keep them on board. There are also instances when the farms’ management are unaware of who their employees are, who is going and who is staying, what issues they are having, and so on. Additionally, the entire process — including payroll and finances — is conducted primarily on paper. It's an extremely antiquated method of operating.

What we are attempting to do at Aydi is provide an end-to-end solution for farms that allows them to recruit suitable workers, and manage their workforce in terms of tracking attendance, productivity, and satisfaction scores. It also serves as a route for farmers to report any issues that may arise, as well as allows the management to identify who their top performers are and award bonuses to them among other things. We also automate payroll and digitize payments to these workers.

I decided to establish Aydi because its business mission resonated with me. I was constantly seeking out different ways to manage teams of workers more effectively and to introduce new strategies. I felt that the next step was to create something that I want to be a part of for the foreseeable future — and be excited to wake up everyday knowing that this is my profession. Our vision is to become the world’s top platform for unlocking and improving human productivity in the agricultural sector. I believe that when automation enters this industry, it will drastically improve productivity, and allow workers to adapt to new technology and solutions.

The best part of my job is being in the field — visiting various farms, chatting with farmers and hearing about their experiences. It also gives me great pleasure to witness the positive impact our product is having on their lives.

The most challenging part of my job is the initial process of trying to educate our clients. The majority of farms we work with don’t employ any kind of robust software and instead use pen and paper to record everything. The hardest aspect is breaking through their initial reluctance to adopt new ways of working; it’s an industry that greatly avoids introducing new technologies.

We are currently working with around 20 of the largest commercial farms in the country as our clients, and we are planning to expand our business even further by publicly launching our product, making it available for both individuals and independent farm-owners to use. We also want to establish a presence in another market by 3Q this year.

I collaborate closely with our leadership team to find solutions to problems. We also have excellent investors on board, including both angel and VC, who are very helpful when it comes to addressing challenges. I also turn to my family and friends when I need to make a decision that is consistent with my own personal values and character.

I sacrificed everything to start my own company [laughs]. A business’ development takes endless hours of work. I gave up my social life and a promising job in Dubai. I also see my family and my dog much less than I would like. My family first found it difficult to understand why I would take the risk of leaving my well-paying job and choose to launch a business. However, as they came to realize the product's value over time, they became quite supportive.

Whenever I have some spare time, I try to sleep and eat [laughs]. Jokes aside, I love water sports and participate in diving, wakeboarding, and kitesurfing. I also compete in golf, and enjoy spending time with my family and friends.

The last great thing I read was Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Russian novel The Brothers Karamazov. I recently watched White Noise, and I listen regularly to the All-In podcast with Chamath, Jason, Sacks, and Friedberg. It's a one-and-a-half hour weekly podcast where four extremely bright and accomplished people talk openly about a variety of things that are happening in the world that week.

I believe that OpenAI is killing it on a global scale. The level of technological innovation that they are bringing, as well as the worldwide impact that it will have over the next decade, will be unlike any other transformation we have witnessed.

If I could give someone who is thinking of starting their own business just one piece of advice, it would be to hire the best and the brightest. You will never succeed in your goals, no matter how capable you are, if you don't surround yourself with people who are more skilled than you are. The best catalyst for growth is having a very strong team.