Global Courant 2023-05-05 07:24:08
Motherhood is a profession as old as creation. But many parts of the world still underestimate its power today.
In Egypt, for example, birth rates have been declining for years. From 2020 there were about 23 births per 1000 people in a year. You could draw a straight line between this fact and how until a few years ago the country had minimal support for moms online. “When I gave birth to my son in 2015, I couldn’t find any credible support platforms for mothers here in Egypt. Nobody seemed to care about giving mothers the right information, knowledge and emotional support,” said Nadia Gamal El Din, founder of Rahet Bally, an all-inclusive platform for mothers. This necessary gap would fuel Nadia’s commitment to building a community of support for mothers across North Africa.
Nadia Gamal El Din, founder of Rahet Bally.
Made in 2015, Rahet Bally is a helpful platform that helps Egyptian mothers in different stages of motherhood. The platform provides online femtech services and on-the-ground facilities that help with finances, physical health, social support, and emotional well-being. Rahet Bally has different sections and many different products and services to make life easier for mothers. For example, in their financial and economic sections, they offer discounts on hospital and clinic visits, schools, real estate, and transportation. For 300 Egyptian pounds a year, mothers can give their children a better life without breaking the bank.
The second vertical line provides support for mothers’ physical health through both physical and online fitness and wellness facilities, along with babysitting activities for babies 40 days or older. In addition, Rahet Bally hosts two major family festivals every year that attract about 20,000 mothers from all over Egypt. At the festival they offer activities that ensure that all family members can enjoy themselves. “We work with Egyptian brands that have mothers as part of their audience, who then provide them with an incredible experience,” says Nadia.
A photo taken at a Rahet Bally event for mothers and their families in 2018.
The name, Rahet Bally means peace of mind in Arabic, which is what Nadia was after the day she conceived and brought the platform into the world. Nadia had just given birth to her son and was anxiously seeking help as she became a mother for the first time. “I had so many questions with little to no answers. My friends hadn’t given birth yet, I had no siblings and my mother couldn’t remember what she used to do to me as a baby. So I was very lost, confused and upset,” Nadia recalls. Frustrated with the lack of credible support platforms for mothers in Egypt, Nadia decided to take matters into her own hands. “Even though motherhood is the oldest profession and part of life, no one cared enough to give mothers enough information, knowledge and emotional support they need,” she explains. With the birth of her son came the birth of a platform that would influence millions of mothers across the continent.
Nadia immediately created a Facebook page, where she regularly onboarded doctors and experts she encountered during her postpartum checkups. “I would take my son to the hospital and while I waited in the waiting area I would let them know I was not coming in as a patient. Then I would pitch my idea to them,” she recalls. The platform connected Egyptian mothers with professional medical support that was free and available 24/7, and within just over a month had grown to more than 20,000 mothers. “It started with me wanting to support other moms going through the same journey from the bottom of my heart,” says Nadia.
Rafeh Saleh, founder of Cubit Ventures, a North Africa-focused venture capital fund, and three-time judge.
In 2019, the Jack Ma Foundation created Africa’s Business Heroes Prize Competition to support outstanding African entrepreneurs with a $1.5 million grant. The program aims to recognize 100 entrepreneurs over 10 years and provide them with funding, training and other support. To date, Egypt has had the largest number of winners, with 5 top 10 finalists winning over $795,000 in grant funding. Last year, Rahet Bally entered the contest and won 3rd place along with a prize of $150,000.
According to Rafeh Saleh, Co-Founder of Cubit Ventures and ABH Judge, “Rahet Bally is special and produces high quality content that meets the needs of his target audience in the MENA region.” Rafeh Saleh, who has been a critical part of the competition’s success for three consecutive seasons as an esteemed ABH judge, says resourcefulness and resilience are two qualities that set successful entrepreneurs apart. “Entrepreneurship is a marathon, not a sprint,” he says. “We look for founders who have an unwavering belief in their mission and who can build a great team aligned with that mission. Successful entrepreneurs learn to balance careful execution without losing sight of medium to long-term strategy.”
Participating in the ABH competition was a game-changer for Rahet Bally. The prize money set the pace for building the Rahet Bally super app. “It also created a lot of exposure on social media and allowed us to network well with different entrepreneurs across Africa for synergy,” says Nadia. A recent ripple effect is a Rahet Bally partnership with South Africa where Rahet Bally provides children’s products to support mothers with children with special needs. “The program allowed me to travel to Kenya, Rwanda and Johannesburg. Those trips helped us realize many opportunities that we are now exploring,” she added.
In addition to the grant, the contest provided mentorship, networking and publicity opportunities for the platform. “From one year to the next, we see more sophisticated founders and companies across multiple markets and industries and applicants from diverse backgrounds and age groups working on a variety of technical and non-technical solutions to solve acute social and economic problems,” says Rafeh Saleh.
Most notable is the growing percentage of female founders who enter the contest and advance to the final round. Eygpt alone has registered four female finalists in the past three years. In Africa, funding for female business founders remains low, despite Africa having one of the highest percentages of women-led businesses. According to Zahra Baitie-Boateng, head of partnerships and programs at ABH, 50% of ABH’s top ten are women. “We have been successful in attracting and supporting female entrepreneurs through the application process,” she notes in a recent interview with Ventures Africa.
Nadia Gamal El Din, receives the 3rd place award at the Africa’s Business Heroes Competition 2022
For Nadia and the Rahet Bally team, the whole journey has been life changing. When she started Rahet Bally, she had just left a more stable marketing job at Procter and Gamble and was facing a lot of judgment. People would say things like, Why are you ruining your career? Mothers have always been here, what impact could you make? Mothers are fine, they don’t need you. Today, Rahet Bally is home to over 74 million mothers on the continent. With a 98% female-led team, the company is expanding its hybrid model across Africa and building a super app for moms. I tell entrepreneurs not to be afraid to take leaps. As my grandma used to say, challenges are the best you can have. A day without problems is the day you learn nothing. You just have to keep pushing one a day and if you never stop, you never fail. Soh, don’t be lazy to fill out the ABH application. Just do it. Travel, learn and discover.
A crucial part of ABH’s success is a group of valued judges who not only broadly assess entrepreneurs, but also inspire them. The league is looking to expand its judges to further support the contestants on their ABH journey. Seasoned entrepreneurs, venture capital firms, academics and business professionals from all industries are invited to join the ABH community of judges here (https://apo-opa.info/3HbA9AA).
